The epidemic is raging, and sports events around the world are suspended. At this time, watching sports documentaries at home is the best choice for fans to quench their thirst. Netflex seizes the historic opportunity to release Jordan's documentary "The Last Dance" ahead of schedule. Once launched, it will explode public opinion with high quality and high reputation. This documentary has a total of 10 episodes, and 4 episodes are currently broadcast. In North America alone, the average number of viewers per episode is as high as more than 5 million. The sports world likes the new and hates the old. Why can the sports leader in 1997 still attract the audience in 2020?
Dramatically, stories are always built around crises — crises that both drive the story and shape the hero. The first episode of "The Last Dance" took 5 minutes to give the foot a crisis: 1. This team is aging; 2. The head coach and the team manager have a bad relationship; 3. The second leader Pippen strikes; 4. . The No. 3 figure Rodman is constantly on the court; 5. Big changes in basketball history are coming, and the seemingly gorgeous but fragile old dynasty has long been the target of the challengers.
Internal worries! foreign aggression! Crisis! It is very similar to the current world - human beings have common enemies, but it is difficult to unite!
The way of storytelling adopts a multi-character, multi-thread narrative that is epic like "Game of Thrones". In addition to the protagonist Jordan, the second protagonist of the second episode is Pippen, and the second protagonist of the third and fourth episodes is Rodman. And the story always starts from the plight of reality and dials back to the antecedents of history. So, although the documentary focuses on the story of the Bulls in one season in 1997, in fact, the film solidly tells the history of the entire Bulls dynasty and how they got through the difficult times in 1997.
For example, when talking about the Bulls' losing streak since the start of the 1997 season, Jordan attributed the reason to his teammate Rodman's misplay. So the focus of the narrative naturally turns to Rodman. From his childhood: he was born in a poor black single-parent family, went to college by playing basketball, and was an innocent big boy when he first entered the workplace. After entering the "Bad Boy Legion", he gradually became the most notorious "Flower Tai Sui" in the league. Somewhat dramatically, he was one of Jordan's biggest stumbling blocks in the early days of the Bulls dynasty. When Rodman was gaining notoriety in the basketball world, the Bulls turned his foe into a friend and called him to their house. Since then, he has become a bull warrior. The chapter of memory also took him and Madonna dating, and this experience also made him more bohemian. When the memory ends and the story goes back to the crises of 1997, we see that Rodman, who is talented but lost his enthusiasm for the game, is a major crisis facing Jordan.
rodman and madonna
In the 3rd and 4th episodes just launched, the focus is on Jordan's leadership. "Los Angeles Times" columnist Mark Heisler once said: "Jordan is not a natural leader." Even Jordan's coach Phil Jackson said frankly that "Jordan will not use personal charm to unite the team", if you want to give an example He always motivated his teammates with these words: "Man, I'm going to play, I'm going to blow up some people. Are you going to join me?" Before 1990, you always saw an angry Jordan, A Jordan who kept yelling at his opponents and berating his teammates. However, in 1990, Jordan transformed from the league's scoring champion to the team leader. In the interview, Jordan said that at that time he learned to share his power, to trust his teammates, to help them improve, and to make the team stronger. Ultimately, in 1990, the Bulls went from powerhouse to champion.
In 1997, Jordan had been on the Iron Throne for five years. How to handle the crisis brought on by Rodman? Jordan and Phil Jackson also had a feud, and Phil Jackson allowed Rodman to go to Las Vegas for a 48-hour vacation. But Jordan's reason for objecting is: "If you let him leave, he will not come back on time. If you let him go to Las Vegas for vacation, he will not come back at all."
As a result, the master and the apprentice were half right. After 48 hours, Rodman did not return; however, Jordan was able to pull Rodman back from the hotel bed. After years, Jordan still protected Rodman's privacy in an interview, saying: "I won't tell you where he is or who he's with, I just pull him up. , brought back to the training room."
It can be seen that in dealing with this crisis, Jordan and Jackson's strategy is to tolerate Rodman's difference.
Phil Jackson went so far as to say that Rodman was the "Black Card" in Indiana culture (Rodman was a huge fan of Indiana culture) -- he was different, walking backwards, but a genius. Therefore, secular society regards him as a heretic. This divine operation really tamed the arrogant heart of the arrogant soldier Rodman, and also inspired the bloody courage of the scholar to die for his confidant. In the end, the problem player turned back and took on the team's offense and defense.
Looking back at the five major crises of the Bulls, except for the last one, there are internal contradictions everywhere. This is very much like human relationships in a pandemic crisis. In the face of the catastrophe of all mankind, the elderly continue to die, and the world's major economies continue to quarrel and even blame each other. A major change in anti-globalization seems to be coming. How the world needs a leader in 2020!
"I'd be happy if we could bring even a little light to people who are in the dark," said Hehir, director of The Last Dance. "Sport is an indelible part of our cultural fabric, and people can Forget some of the things you want to avoid in your day-to-day life through sports."
In 2020, what we want to escape is not only the difficulties of life, but also the ubiquitous depression. At this time, is there anything more exciting than watching a real hero reunite the team at a time of crisis and achieve success amid a chorus of doubts?
The world in 2020 needs such leaders!
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