Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Chasing Mavericks

I just watch the movie Chasing Mavericks:
The inspirational true story of real life surfing phenom Jay Moriarty. When 15 year old Jay discovers that the mythic Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth, is not only real, but exists just miles from his Santa Cruz home, he enlists the help of local legend Frosty Hesson to train him to survive it. As Jay and Frosty embark on their quest to accomplish the impossible, they form a unique friendship that transforms both their lives, and their quest to tame Mavericks becomes about far more than surfing.
I liked it because it had an authentic view of Santa Cruz, of surfing, of the local high school scene, and of a fatherless boy who finds a father substitute who teaches him how to surf. It had many scenes about how the boy misses his dad, how he needs his dad, and how he lost communication with his dad. The real-life characters were credited with being consultants on the movie.

Then I read the Wikipedia article on Jay Moriarity:
Born in Georgia in 1978, Jay Moriarity and his family moved to Santa Cruz, California, soon after his birth. His father was a Green Beret parachutist and a surfer, who introduced his son to surfing when he was 9 years old. He immediately took to surfing and quickly became a respected surfer in Santa Cruz.
His dad taught him to surf!

I have been fooled by a Hollywood "true story" again. When will I learn? I consider myself pretty cynical, but I guess I am not cynical enough. I should have guessed that they would take a perfectly good story about a boy and twist it to make it appear that his dad abandoned him.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Because we all know that Wikipedia is infallible?

That wiki article was written by Jay himself - from the afterworld. Not by close friends and family that consulted on the movie.

George said...

Yes, Wikipedia could be wrong. But it is more likely that the movie producer decided that it was a better story to portray Frosty as a father-figure that Jay never had. Hollywood has ruined many stories like this.

JOHN BARBOUR said...

Hollywood is hung up on Ovid ( always some romance or sex) and/or portraying everyone as being from divorced or broken families. I think it's just a reflection of their lives

Anonymous said...

His dad tight him how to surf and disappeared when he was 9. I don't know what your idea of fatherhoodmis, but in my opinion he was an absent father. Read the biography.