[img]396|left|Alex Campbell||no_popup[/img] Spoiler alert! I saw the movie Tyson last weekend, and I’m going to discuss it in detail. If you don’t want to know what happens because you’re going to see it, search under my name and read some of my other essays.
My friend Kim told me about Tyson during our preschool’s trip to the circus, of all places. In between the lady on the tightrope and the clown on air guitar, I heard about “this great documentary about Mike Tyson that will make you think differently about him.” I was intrigued. I love documentaries, and Mike Tyson seemed like an interesting character to learn more about.
It was some documentary. Basically, the whole thing was Mike Tyson sitting on a couch, talking for an hour and a half. You didn’t hear any questions being asked, just him telling story after story of his life from childhood on. The editing was very good; at times there was a split screen that made your eyes dance all over…hey, I just thought of something. It made your eyes dance around…like a boxer…in the ring! Very clever. There also were old clips of interviews and his fights spliced in. So there was some back and forth. Hey, I just had another idea. I’ll go back and forth in this essay so you can get an idea of how it will be to watch the movie. Because I think everyone should watch this movie.
It Turned Out to be…
I had an unexpected emotional reaction to this film, and it wasn’t what you might think. I wasn’t reacting to the fact that he raped a woman or bit that boxer’s ear. In fact, those two incidents didn’t even enter my mind when I decided I wanted to see it.
I got emotional because I felt for Mike Tyson. I really felt for his inner child, which shone through the whole movie, old interviews and new. He wasn’t sure who his father was, his mother slept around, and he lived in a do-or-die neighborhood in Brooklyn.
The first story he told that really struck me was when he talked about being the fat kid who was bullied. Someone had taken his glasses, and at the time he thought, “Why would someone do that? Why would someone take my glasses?” You could see that even as an adult he still wondered.
Another poignant part of the film was when he was a little older. He got into raising pigeons. A kid was messing with him, and grabbed one of the birds. Mike said something appropriate to the situation, like, “Hey, don’t touch my pigeon”, and the kid snapped the pigeon’s neck.
Tyson had to survive on the streets. He acted tough, got in with the wrong crowd, was sent to a boys’ home, and eventually was rescued by the man who would be his trainer, Cus D’Amato. D’Amato became a father figure to Mike in his teenage years. Not only did he train him, he became Mike’s legal guardian when his mother died, and talked to him about all sorts of things. Mike trusted him, when it was very hard to trust anyone. D’Amato said that being with Mike was keeping him alive. And then, just when their relationship was being solidified, Cus D’Amato died. Needless to say, this had a profound impact on Mike Tyson, and I dare say it has affected him his whole life.
An Unexpected Reaction
I am not a fan of boxing. I don’t understand it. Just as Tyson wondered why someone would steal his glasses, I wonder why someone would make a career out of punching and being punched in the face really hard, repeatedly. That said, imagine my surprise when I started crying during the scene of the first fight Tyson ever lost. He had been doing so well! He was gaining confidence in himself! He was the Heavyweight Champion of the World! And then he wasn’t, and I cried.
I cried because our society says that boys and men have to be tough, and the way Mike Tyson overcame his rough childhood was by beating on other men at the sound of a bell and getting paid millions of dollars for it.
I cried because no one sat down with the kid who stole the glasses and asked him why he did it, and maybe learned something about that kid.
I cried because I, too, had a hard childhood in Brooklyn, and was bullied as a kid. I didn’t learn how to fight, but I became a truant. My relatives across the country were my rescuers. I felt for Tyson. I felt for me.
Closing the Circle — My Childhood
Not surprisingly, Mike Tyson had difficulties with relationships. He went to jail for three years for raping a Miss Black America contestant.
They showed a clip of him just out of jail, surrounded by his entourage. Someone said something to him — minor, what a kid might say to another kid — called him stupid or something. Well, Tyson let rip a stream of expletives I cannot type here, told the guy what he was gonna do to him, and dared him to come closer. Some would say that was proof that Mike Tyson was crazy, violent, an animal.
You know what I saw? His inner child. You could hear it in his voice, which was high-pitched and wild. I could see he went right back to being the fat kid who got picked on. How was he going to survive, with no father figure to guide him, after three years in prison, where he was surrounded by violence on a daily basis?
The people who were supposed to take care of his career took advantage of him. He lost a lot of money. He got caught up in drugs and alcohol. He participated in some boxing matches, but his heart wasn’t in it anymore. He did it to pay the bills. Now he’s in his early forties, raising six kids part-time. His goal? To stay clean and live long enough to become a grandfather.
This film touched me in a lot of ways. Not only did I find that the great boxer Mike Tyson and I have some things in common, but it made me think of a tragic incident in my life a little differently.
My mother was raped when I was a child, and I was there in the apartment when it happened. It has affected me my entire life. Thirty-four years later, I watched a movie about a violent, accused rapist, and felt compassion, not rage. I saw Mike Tyson as a human being, not as his violent acts. I am trying to imagine my mother’s rapist as a human being. What was his childhood like? Who bullied him? How can we help people like this? How can we change society? I believe a good film is one that raises questions, makes a person think, and generates discussion. Tyson does it all.
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at campbellalexandra@hotmail.com
