This Friday, I watched the film Friday Night Lights. I was shocked by how the people of the small Texas town of Odessa hinged their entire lives on the outcome of their high school football games. Not only were the players under tremendous pressure, but their coaches, parents, and guardians were under pressure as well. One theme that I think was evident throughout the film was the relationship between the athletes and their bodies and how that relationship affects everyone around them.

In order to get a scholarship to play professional football, which none of their real life counterparts did, the characters pushed their bodies to the limit. Specifically, in the beginning of the film, the star player Boobie felt invincible due to the positive reactions from everyone around him. It seemed as if his success would never end. When a teammate points out that he didn’t lift before practice, he states, “this is God-given.” However, as he realized he would no longer be able to play football, he felt helpless and as if his life had ended. A heart-wrenching scene portrays him crying in the car after packing his bags in the locker room and saying that he cannot do anything besides play football, which is not an option anymore for him. I think that if Boobie had focused on school more than football, he would have other career options that would enable him to buy his uncle a house.

I think this scene demonstrates that children should play sports recreationally, and not hinge their entire lives on their sport-playing ability. Today, some parents try to live vicariously through their children by pushing them into certain activities and career paths that might not be suitable for their children. Of course, parents should encourage the interests of their child, but forcing them to shoulder the responsibility of winning for an entire town as is portrayed in the film is a tremendous undertaking. Overall, I think that instead of spending money emotionally and physically draining seventeen year olds, the town should be investing in those children’s education. At one point in the film, a radio announcer surmises that the reason the football team isn’t doing well is because “they’re doing too much learning in those schools.” I hardly think this statement is true due to Boobie’s difficulty in reading the word “distinguished” in a letter he receives from USC.

In conclusion, Friday Night Lights is a movie about a football team’s ability to individually fight their way to a better world in which the town of Odessa doesn’t heave so much expectation onto their shoulders. It is a also a movie that reveals the impact of a seemingly insignificant event, a high school football game, on many individual lives. It also exposes the intellectual tragedies that can occur when children are trained to depend on their bodily strength at such a young age.