By Chris Toronyi
It's becoming more and more taxing to write about the season. We go up with a fantastic result in the NLD, and then we come crashing down to a degree of reality with the result against Chelsea.
Are we that good? I don’t know. Are we that bad? I don't think so.
We're sitting fourth in the league and can make it to the FA Cup Final so my guess that we do have quality and a manager that can manage. Maybe not Oscar winning stuff, but quality that delivers.
It's a familiar theme this season. It's as if we're all producers providing real time commentary on the dailies (the incomplete footage of a film) that are lacking the music, the special effects. Those kinds of things.
No doubt some of the dailies deserve to be scrutinized, looked over and maybe reshot as to not make the same mistake again. But so many variables go into a shot. Lighting, acting, wardrobe, script and inputs from the director. I'm not sure the final result is always indicative of the effort that's been put in.
But then you have the flops. Or in our case, the games against the likes of Citeh, Liverpool and Chelsea away that make you really think about we're trying to make. Are we too ambitious, have we started to believe our own hype? Why not! That's what supporters and fans are supposed to do. Talk their team up, cheer them on when all seems a bit lost. Passionately support the team's vision, ambition.
I went to see the documentary "Jodorowsky's Dune" this week and did it ever deliver on passion and vision - all with a little bit of crazy. It documents Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious attempt to create a big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel "Dune." You have probably heard of the book, read the book, and maybe seen David Lynch's film version of "Dune." The book pushes the envelope. I would even say it laid the groundwork for something like "Game of Thrones." A masterpiece in storytelling -- if you've got the time to digest it all.
The reason I bring the documentary up is that Alejandro had a vision. His own vision to create this amazing piece of literature, without any hesitation of where he wanted to take it and who he wanted involved in it. He wanted Salvador Dali, Mick Jagger and Orson Welles to be involved. AND he had them lined up. That's ambition. That's vision. That's change.
Throughout the process of assembling the parts to the movie he did receive some push back, but people believed in his passion project. They believed in him. He wanted to create something that would change the course of cinema, storytelling, and special effects. He knew what he wanted. And he mined amazing talent.
But this was one thing that stuck with me that reminds me of Arsene Wenger: Alejandro believed in his team. He had brought on artists that had a following, but might have been just too different for the norm. A bit under the radar to the mainstream, but he believed in them and let them know that every day.
Alejandro's vision of "Dune" never made it to the big screen, but it's amazing how it has affected movies like "Alien" (his assembled team wrote the screenplay and created the monster). And let's not forget they won an Oscar for the Best Effects, Visual Effects in "Alien." Their vision of the film "Dune" can also be seen in movies like "Blade Runner", "Star Wars", "Prometheus" and many more. It's the foundation for modern sci-fi effects and deeper, philosophical storytelling.
Wenger has also been about being deeper, being philosophical, and making his mark in modern football his way. It can be seen all across the sport in all the top leagues and top teams. Wenger in his own way has assembled and produced some amazing talent and provided the foundation for modern football.
I respect the Wenger Way. It will live, affect long after he is gone from the game. Just as Alejandro did for film. Wenger transformed the game to what it is today and will continue to be. A true visionary in his own right. Just like Alejandro.
ArseAmerica Podcast returns this week with a recap of the Chelsea debacle, Swansea and look ahead to the Citeh encounter this weekend with Amy Lawrence of The Guardian and Julian Bennetts of Hayters Sports. As always, you an access the show at ArseAmerica Podcast, subscribe on iTunes and you can also grab the RSS Feed.Thanks for listening.
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'Stateside Gooner' Chris Toronyi is a longtime Arsenal supporter and the host of the ArseAmerica podcast. You can read more of Chris' thoughts on Twitter.
The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Arsenal Football Club or Arsenal Broadband Ltd.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
