A Plot with a Point
Disney’s Million Dollar Arm is another great sports film for people of all ages. It tells the story of a sports agent who after leaving a larger firm to start his own firm finds himself down on his luck. He is unable to pay his bills and is trying to stay afloat placing all his hopes in the possibility of signing a deal with a decorated football star. After a few meetings the deal falls through and the agent enters into despair.
With no hope in sight, the agent frantically searches for another quick win, eventually coming up with the idea to put on a sort of talent search reality show touring across the country of India to find a cricket bowler who he hopes he can turn into a professional baseball pitcher. He soon has a busload of prospects and the competition begins. Two young men are chosen as the winners and fly to America to train for 10 months for the possibility of signing a contract with a major team.
These young men have lived in poverty their entire lives and this opportunity is driven primarily by their desire to help their families. As their training begins they see the agent seemingly paying them less attention. He drives them like cattle, waking them up in the morning, dropping them off at practice, picking them up in the afternoon and taking them home. There is almost no social interaction with them, for in his eyes they are nothing more than a business investment.
A Utilitarian View of the Human Person
This is where I think the take away from this film really comes in. In a sense it is a critique of our post-modern American culture that too often sees people not as brothers or friends, but as numbers, as a means to our end – which in most cases is our own financial success. Our endless pursuit of dollar signs drives us to lose sight of what makes us human, turning us into machines without compassion, care, or love for our neighbor.
The agent in this film represents this utilitarian view of the human person and thank God he is depicted in a negative light. Not only does he treat these boys as his meal ticket – paying no attention to the emotional impact this journey is having on them – but his treatment of women is deplorable. He actually says in the film that the boys are getting in the way of him living his “single life”, which as we see is comprised of numerous one-night stands. A conversation with his friend and business partner – who happens to a be a husband and father of young children – also reveals that this agent is only interested in women who can be classified as models.
Again we perceive the utilitarian approach to relationships and sexuality. His worldview is extremely self-centered. He is interested only in fulfilling his own selfish desires almost always at the expense of others. The women he brings home are there for one purpose and that is to appease his sexual appetite. There is no desire for companionship. Interestingly enough, when he ends up sleeping with his tenant, the Indian boys ask him if he is planning on marrying her. His response is again a reflection of our depraved American culture:
“Just because I spend the night with her doesn’t mean I have to marry her.”
No need for interpersonal commitment, my pleasure and sexual gratification is all that matters. It is more than mere sexual promiscuity, it is the me3 culture, the deadly poison of the self-centered, utilitarian worldview that has infected so many people.
The Take-Away
In the end it is in this tenant – who serves as the evangelist, speaking in truth and bold honesty and backed up by her lived example – who the agent is finally able to see his own wretchedness. Reminiscent of St. Peter’s exclamation after his encounter with Christ in his boat, “depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man”, it is in the witness of this woman that he is able to see the horrible man that he really is.
It is a reminder that this country—and really our world in general—is in dire need of bold witnesses, people who can both talk the talk and walk the walk, speaking the truth with love, brutally honest, and heroically virtuous. People willing to enter into relationship with those they find deplorable, so that in the end God can reach out and touch them, inviting them into conversion of heart, and change of life.
Question: Is there someone in your circle of influence who comes to mind when you read this post? How can you be the bold witness that leads them to life change? What is holding you back from doing so? Commit yourself to taking practical steps this week to be that light that shines in the darkness.