Monday, March 26, 2007

The Perfect Tragedy
I re-watched The Perfect Storm on Saturday and was surprised how sad it was. I had forgotten that all the fishermen die, plus a coast guard rescuer. As I've thought about the movie over the weekend, I realized that this story reallyl is a morality tale. The problem came down to hubris--pride.

The basic story is that these six sword fishermen from New England get this huge load of swordfish that will make them all a killing. But then their ice machine breaks. With a broken ice machine, they can't wait out the storm in a safe place. So they decide to chance it, going straight into the worst storm of the century. Greed wins the day as they head into the storm. Sadly, they all die, their boat is sunk, and several coast guard rescuers put their lives on the line to try to save them.

It reminds me of Icarus flying too close to the sun--that thoguht that we are so tough, so great, so god-like that we can do anything. This Wikipedia link shows some interesting literary and artistic renderings of Icarus and his famous (or infamous) fall.

1 comment:

  1. I am not a George Clooney fan either. He is a little too full of himself. But I suppose being named sexiest man of the year would do a number on your ego.

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