I'm the guy who said that Nyad's the greatest con artist in the history of marathon swimming. Because of "The Peculiar Rise of the Vanity Biopic," I no longer have to stand on my roof shouting, "How could they make a movie about this charlatan?!" Now I can stand on my roof shouting, "It's part of a trend!"
Seriously, your take on this onslaught of PR-driven films makes complete sense, particularly regarding Diana Nyad. Back in 1979, James "Doc" Counsilman, perhaps the greatest swim coach in history (and a marathon swimmer himself ) told Sports Illustrated that Nyad was "a very mediocre swimmer with a very good publicist."
Nyad's career began in 1970 as a PR-driven enterprise. Her biopic, not her dubious achievements, is her crowning glory. For now.
It IS part of a trend, both macro and micro. For instance, one of the sections I ended up cutting:
"With both Richard Montañez and Diana Nyad, it’s easy to get in the weeds of what is and isn’t true about their lives and careers. And because neither are “famous” in the traditional sense (the healthy sums both command for public speaking tours and memoirs notwithstanding), the more fervently one doubts or corrects the record, the more in danger one is of simply being labeled an “obsessive” or “a hater.”
As Nyad co-director Jimmy Chin told Vanity Fair recently, “When you are at the forefront of your sport, you have a target on your back, especially if you’re an outspoken athlete like Diana.”
Vasarhelyi added, somewhat inexplicably, “We don't say, ‘It’s based on a true story,’ we don't say, ‘It is a true story’—but it is a true story. It’s about this idea of truth.”"
You can easily find a version of this defense from Longoria regarding Montañez as well. "Some people just don't want to see a Latino-American businessman succeed..." or whatever. I think that's one of the micro trends, of using representation as a dodge against criticism. A lot of the rest of it is just boilerplate publicist stuff white people have already been using for decades.
Yep, for a Latino with extended family both entrenched for generations in the LA area and first gen immigrants here in TX, hearing that Flamin Hot wasnt true at all to me raises the infinitely more compelling notion of how much does Montañez believe his narrative and if he can convince me (emotionally) that systemic forces in both journalism and corporations conspired to quash him. At least Eva Longoria knows that 80s cholos looked hilarious
That explains so much about many of the responses I'm seeing — can you send me everything you cut? 😉
I hope you don't think I doubted NYAD was part of a trend. I selfishly find that comforting. Seeing NYAD as part of a disturbing pattern rather than a one-off deification of a con artist makes it more palatable.
I sent a fellow Nyad skeptic a link to your article. He immediately got the Vasarhelyi parallel:
"'We never set out to tell the history of the Cheeto. We are telling Richard Montañez’s story and we’re telling his truth.' ... eerie!!!"
I love it!
I'm the guy who said that Nyad's the greatest con artist in the history of marathon swimming. Because of "The Peculiar Rise of the Vanity Biopic," I no longer have to stand on my roof shouting, "How could they make a movie about this charlatan?!" Now I can stand on my roof shouting, "It's part of a trend!"
Seriously, your take on this onslaught of PR-driven films makes complete sense, particularly regarding Diana Nyad. Back in 1979, James "Doc" Counsilman, perhaps the greatest swim coach in history (and a marathon swimmer himself ) told Sports Illustrated that Nyad was "a very mediocre swimmer with a very good publicist."
Nyad's career began in 1970 as a PR-driven enterprise. Her biopic, not her dubious achievements, is her crowning glory. For now.
It IS part of a trend, both macro and micro. For instance, one of the sections I ended up cutting:
"With both Richard Montañez and Diana Nyad, it’s easy to get in the weeds of what is and isn’t true about their lives and careers. And because neither are “famous” in the traditional sense (the healthy sums both command for public speaking tours and memoirs notwithstanding), the more fervently one doubts or corrects the record, the more in danger one is of simply being labeled an “obsessive” or “a hater.”
As Nyad co-director Jimmy Chin told Vanity Fair recently, “When you are at the forefront of your sport, you have a target on your back, especially if you’re an outspoken athlete like Diana.”
Vasarhelyi added, somewhat inexplicably, “We don't say, ‘It’s based on a true story,’ we don't say, ‘It is a true story’—but it is a true story. It’s about this idea of truth.”"
You can easily find a version of this defense from Longoria regarding Montañez as well. "Some people just don't want to see a Latino-American businessman succeed..." or whatever. I think that's one of the micro trends, of using representation as a dodge against criticism. A lot of the rest of it is just boilerplate publicist stuff white people have already been using for decades.
Yep, for a Latino with extended family both entrenched for generations in the LA area and first gen immigrants here in TX, hearing that Flamin Hot wasnt true at all to me raises the infinitely more compelling notion of how much does Montañez believe his narrative and if he can convince me (emotionally) that systemic forces in both journalism and corporations conspired to quash him. At least Eva Longoria knows that 80s cholos looked hilarious
That explains so much about many of the responses I'm seeing — can you send me everything you cut? 😉
I hope you don't think I doubted NYAD was part of a trend. I selfishly find that comforting. Seeing NYAD as part of a disturbing pattern rather than a one-off deification of a con artist makes it more palatable.
I sent a fellow Nyad skeptic a link to your article. He immediately got the Vasarhelyi parallel:
"'We never set out to tell the history of the Cheeto. We are telling Richard Montañez’s story and we’re telling his truth.' ... eerie!!!"