Originally Posted Monday, January 20, 2013
I do not do very well with icons. I want to pick at the thread of the fabric until I get hold of a loose thread and then just start to pull. I don't understand those who worship. It just isn't in me.
On the other hand, I love the flawed hero. That is something I can stand up for. He/she/it/they.
I hate a smug face. I hate the benign face as well. I love the face of someone who has done something brilliant yet is still full of doubt.
I like Mr. King. He had some big ones. He got his propers for it, too. He was man with aspirations and desires which he longed to fulfill.
Oliver Stone, a friend of this blog, is off the making of a movie about MLK's life. He rewrote the script a bit to reflect the man. Producers didn't like it so much. They wanted the icon.
God loves a sinner I've been told. So does Mr. Stone. I wish I could see his movie.
King, like Ghandi, enjoyed the company of women. There you go now. Same as Adam and the Fatal Flaw. We are supposed to like Adam more for it, no? It is called the "happy fall" because he was made human--flawed--and given the opportunity to rise again through his own good works. Not perfect, just good.
I attended a little MLK celebration yesterday briefly in my own home town. It was something predictable and hideous. The speeches, the music, the booths full of paraphernalia. Is this really what people want? It had all the hallmarks of church to me, which spooked me irrevocably when I was a kid. I can't stand for it now.
Oh. . . Mr. Stone, make your movie. Give us the hero instead of the icon. The man really did have a big pair. He really did overcome. I'll take the Man, the Myth, and the Legend. Just spare me the Icon.
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