I watched The Wrestler last night. It was very hard for me to watch because while I bet most of the people watching might think it was just a story, at its core it was very very true.
The bodybuilding world is a lot like the wrestling world in that movie. It’s two sided. On one side there’s the glory of being an accomplished competitor, and on the other side there’s sitting in an empty room with a stack of DVDs you’re trying to sell. While some of the situations were set up to tell a story in a movie, they were portraying real life. You might not be in an actual empty room, but there’s a stack of DVDs in the corner that nobody wants, which reminds you that you’re not nearly as important as you hoped you’d be.
There’s also the bubble effect, which is portrayed in the movie, but I think was a little underplayed. Otherwise sensible people who don’t know you are likely to invite you to stay at their vacation house after 5 minutes of talking to you. The wrong kind of women are likely to throw themselves at you. In fact, more often the wrong kind of men are too, which I’m surprised they didn’t explore further in the film. However, it was painful enough so I’m glad they didn’t.
These factors keep the person believing they are important while preventing them from developing real relationships and sometimes even real personality skills. When everyone reacts positively to you, why would you think that you don’t have an absolutely great personality? You end up turning away any real relationships because they don’t sparkle as much. You see in the film how much charm Mickey Rourke’s character had. But he was still unable to form real lasting relationships.
Everybody who meets you has a hidden agenda, often one they aren’t even aware of. But when they realize that you aren’t actually superman, or that you can’t save them from whatever they needed to be saved from, the friends betray you, and your wife leaves you, the agents stop calling, and the party’s over. And you’re left with no skills, no job, no money, and nobody. It’s tragic.
As the movie suggests, you’re left with one thing. The thing you actually do well, and even if its ridiculous to try again, financially unwise, or even unsafe, you’ll do it. Because it’s all you’ve got left.
I quickly saw the truth about the bodybuilding world. And what I saw was a bunch of good people who were willing to work hard for a dream, being taken advantage of. With wimpy payouts and no appreciation, a quote from Randy “The Ram” to another younger wrestler really stood out to me.
The people who drive the Cadillacs, the ones with the politics, they run the show. It ain’t about ability so you just hang in there.
If your impression is that this is not the case with professional baseball, basketball, or football, you’re wrong. When there are lots of talented people with dreams to chose from, decisions are made for all sorts of reasons.