“Who put this thing together? Me, that's who, who do I trust? Me!” – Tony Montana
A growing trend and a favourite broadsheet soap box topic, is the continued decline of young males with regards to examination results. This fact is often misconstrued as girls doing better, but the hard fact is a decline in academic results. This is even across all the classes.
However, could this even be false thinking? Hysteria created by the inane chattering British press. A young male is meant to fail, his future is already written according and the only way this path can be changed is through hard work and luck.
Although there is always that caveat, that if success does come, then the test was too easy in the first place.
So what the context of today’s blog? As you noticed the title is reference to Tony Montana, and will be giving you my entire take as to why young men not only fail, but fail to even try.
Tony Montana is a classic anti hero, an infamous figure of fictional opulence and success. The portrayal by Al Pacino became an aspiration to many, not to be emulated, but as a cautionary tale of making it.
Now is this fear of making it? No, it is about fear about when you do someone taking it off you, and you fighting to the death to keep it.
The film plays out as many other theatrical releases do about similar subject matter, however the haunting electro soundtrack, which encapsulates the drug fuelled confusion, intensity and irrational anger and apathy that the anti hero has enraging in his ego and maniacal mind of portrayed sociopath.
Tony Montana starts off as someone with a dream, but the fork in the road showed one easy path and one unknown. As he was in a new country, familiarity and ease will always win.
The story is familiar; however there is the one part of the film that I can personally relate too. The feeling that he had sitting in that chair towards the end of the film; watching his life collapsing all around him. The look and the drooping of his jaw, the scowl that his ego did not allow to invert, but pierced the soul of the world who dared not give him what he wanted and felt he deserved. Ironically life did give him what he deserved.
I have had that feeling, watching your life unfold. Even to the point of the dark overture playing to a crescendo thumping away in your mind, the choir and drums gathering tempo towards the inevitable explosion. You have always two choices. 1. Snap or 2. Run.
I ran, and sincerely hope that no-one ever gets to that position, and my literal atonement, is my soul and words that lays before you today. When you can feel the tendons of sanity tensing in your mind and the pain is so intense, that you feel that its immediate rupture would be a release, and the downward spiral could be so intense that you will not feel the pain of dying.
So what did the fable of Tony Montana do to my generation? It mostly alluded to the fact that the greater the persons self made success, will result in the hardest and fatal of falls. All the good times, the sex, the money, the drugs and the power, meant nothing. As you realised that your own death with not be a glamorous finale, worthy of your life and accomplishments.
Did the film stop people from daring to dream? No, it just stopped people from daring to achieve anything other than having just enough to get by.
The manner of business that Tony Montano was is irrelevant, and hopefully you can see through this and apply the appropriate metaphor.
Your dream should not be someone else’s life; your aspirations should not be those of others, your peers or your hero’s. You are responsible for your own actions, your own dreams, and your own outcome to all the hard work you put into making it a reality.
The Montana syndrome is my metaphor for those young men of my generation, who chose not to be great and the fear of having it all and losing it, was greater than not having it in the first place.
I slid down that well, but with every ounce of my sweat and through grit and obstinate refusal, I will claw my way out of that deep shaft and bask in the warmth of the sunlight on my face, even though my eyes are hurt by the light, the pain will reduce to reveal the observation of beauty all around us. Wealth, health, happiness and spirituality are all a by product of actually taking the first steps on your journey.
We can all feel helpless, but the biggest paradox of the universe is that there must be balance, as the greatest gift is to give two parallel experiences. As it all boils down to my friends, that this is the equilibrium of the universe.
So who put this thing together? Us, that’s who, who do we trust? Us!
Surely life is not this simple is it?
Thank you once again for reading, today’s blog is not fluffy or meant to be comical. The oft used quote of “I will not die with my music still left in me” is totally relevant.
When did we develop into having such low expectations? Is this not the biggest plague and risk to our planet? The planet has so much benevolence, if only we asked for what we wanted and dared to dream and dared that little further into actuality.
My name is Scott Lee Everest, and I have enjoyed being your host this evening....... remember to always wear sunscreen.
A growing trend and a favourite broadsheet soap box topic, is the continued decline of young males with regards to examination results. This fact is often misconstrued as girls doing better, but the hard fact is a decline in academic results. This is even across all the classes.
However, could this even be false thinking? Hysteria created by the inane chattering British press. A young male is meant to fail, his future is already written according and the only way this path can be changed is through hard work and luck.
Although there is always that caveat, that if success does come, then the test was too easy in the first place.
So what the context of today’s blog? As you noticed the title is reference to Tony Montana, and will be giving you my entire take as to why young men not only fail, but fail to even try.
Tony Montana is a classic anti hero, an infamous figure of fictional opulence and success. The portrayal by Al Pacino became an aspiration to many, not to be emulated, but as a cautionary tale of making it.
Now is this fear of making it? No, it is about fear about when you do someone taking it off you, and you fighting to the death to keep it.
The film plays out as many other theatrical releases do about similar subject matter, however the haunting electro soundtrack, which encapsulates the drug fuelled confusion, intensity and irrational anger and apathy that the anti hero has enraging in his ego and maniacal mind of portrayed sociopath.
Tony Montana starts off as someone with a dream, but the fork in the road showed one easy path and one unknown. As he was in a new country, familiarity and ease will always win.
The story is familiar; however there is the one part of the film that I can personally relate too. The feeling that he had sitting in that chair towards the end of the film; watching his life collapsing all around him. The look and the drooping of his jaw, the scowl that his ego did not allow to invert, but pierced the soul of the world who dared not give him what he wanted and felt he deserved. Ironically life did give him what he deserved.
I have had that feeling, watching your life unfold. Even to the point of the dark overture playing to a crescendo thumping away in your mind, the choir and drums gathering tempo towards the inevitable explosion. You have always two choices. 1. Snap or 2. Run.
I ran, and sincerely hope that no-one ever gets to that position, and my literal atonement, is my soul and words that lays before you today. When you can feel the tendons of sanity tensing in your mind and the pain is so intense, that you feel that its immediate rupture would be a release, and the downward spiral could be so intense that you will not feel the pain of dying.
So what did the fable of Tony Montana do to my generation? It mostly alluded to the fact that the greater the persons self made success, will result in the hardest and fatal of falls. All the good times, the sex, the money, the drugs and the power, meant nothing. As you realised that your own death with not be a glamorous finale, worthy of your life and accomplishments.
Did the film stop people from daring to dream? No, it just stopped people from daring to achieve anything other than having just enough to get by.
The manner of business that Tony Montano was is irrelevant, and hopefully you can see through this and apply the appropriate metaphor.
Your dream should not be someone else’s life; your aspirations should not be those of others, your peers or your hero’s. You are responsible for your own actions, your own dreams, and your own outcome to all the hard work you put into making it a reality.
The Montana syndrome is my metaphor for those young men of my generation, who chose not to be great and the fear of having it all and losing it, was greater than not having it in the first place.
I slid down that well, but with every ounce of my sweat and through grit and obstinate refusal, I will claw my way out of that deep shaft and bask in the warmth of the sunlight on my face, even though my eyes are hurt by the light, the pain will reduce to reveal the observation of beauty all around us. Wealth, health, happiness and spirituality are all a by product of actually taking the first steps on your journey.
We can all feel helpless, but the biggest paradox of the universe is that there must be balance, as the greatest gift is to give two parallel experiences. As it all boils down to my friends, that this is the equilibrium of the universe.
So who put this thing together? Us, that’s who, who do we trust? Us!
Surely life is not this simple is it?
Thank you once again for reading, today’s blog is not fluffy or meant to be comical. The oft used quote of “I will not die with my music still left in me” is totally relevant.
When did we develop into having such low expectations? Is this not the biggest plague and risk to our planet? The planet has so much benevolence, if only we asked for what we wanted and dared to dream and dared that little further into actuality.
My name is Scott Lee Everest, and I have enjoyed being your host this evening....... remember to always wear sunscreen.
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2 comments:
I think many miss the lesson within the Montana story, and as a result lose out.
Here was a motivated, industrious, driven man with principles and vision, climbing to achieve his dreams. He achieved his dream, but at the expense of his principles.
I think we all know how that played out!
For me, that's the real lesson learned from Tony Montana. Pity the youth of today kind of miss it.
Great point of view, it is what is unique about life and the theatre it creates. Each person takes a different feeling from every performance.
If only we could all adequatley mimic maintained wealth and success?
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