Thursday, May 12, 2011

Everyone Loves an Underdog Upset



The other day, I was browsing through a list of sports movies on netflix. Though each of the individual sports were different, there was something common about all of them. This nagging feeling made me desist. So I sat there staring at my screen, perplexed like Buridan's ass. I was about to make a cynical comment about our abundance of choice when I noticed something. Most of the movies had keywords like "Heart Warming, Unbelievable, Quest, Rise" etc. I tilted my head sideways, smirked and I knew I had a new blogpost coming.

Didn't you love the Count of Monte Cristo, V for Vendetta, Forrest Gump, Rocky Balboa and others in its ilk? Didn't you love it when the funny looking fat little man sang Opera? Well, didn't you ? I know you did. There's something primal in our instincts that makes us revel in joy when the common man, the unknown, the insignificant, the underdog stages an upset. Some of it is surely borne out of our empathy for the underdog, for most of us have felt that way. Sometimes, it is a chance to romanticize, imagining ourselves in the shoes of the underdog. Nothing, I tell you, nothing compares to the feeling of achieving goals that others said were out of you reach. Extraordinary feats by ordinary men, that's the stuff that legends are made off. A toast to the underdog..!