The "Con" Artist

How Director Michael Hazanavicius’ movie The Artist correlates with LeBron James recent struggles.

The Artist is writer/director Michael Hazanavicius’ ode to Hollywood’s past that depicts the period of the silent movies as they transfer into the new world of talkies in the late Depression Era 1920’s. Hazanavicius main character, George Valentin, played by new to America Spanish star Jean Dujardin, is a legendary Hollywood silent movie star. George’s good looks, charm, and superb entertainment value makes him feel and seem larger than life to his many adoring fans. George is at the top of the entertainment world and nothing, in George’s eyes was going to change that fact. Not even the impending transformation from silent to talking pictures. George believed that fans came to see him mug for the camera and not for effects like sound. George was the ultimate star and when talkies began to come around George bristled at this “fad” and continued to make his own silent pictures. 

George completely underestimated the power that sound and speech would have on the power of film. No longer did orchestra’s have to play in the theater for sound, but rather the sound was incorporated into the movie. George’s silent movie days were over and so was his fame and fortune. See, it was George’s pride and ego that would not allow him to admit, both, defeat and failure. Instead of looking towards the future, George languished in his past, certain that the old days of his glory would somehow reprise themselves. And when the old days don’t come back it is a very bitter pill for George to swallow. 

Now, how does this character of mega superstar George Valentin manifest itself within the mega superstar LeBron James? Pride always comes before the fall.

Many people have watched James last two games, against the Warriors and Clippers, respectively, to see a superstar athlete going silent when the game matters most. The first night, against the Warriors, I called it an aberration; an anomaly of sorts that reared its head, but still had to be watched to see if it becomes a trend. Not one game makes a man, but two in a row I believe holds some weight. In the final quarter and overtime LeBron has been terrible with his shot selection, shooting under 25%, settling for jump shots and drives that he does not look to finish, but to draw contact and get to the free throw line. I would be all fine and good with LeBron attacking the rim to get free throws just if he wasn’t the one that had to shoot free throws. James missed 8 free throws in total and 4 of them were in crucial spot to either tie or take the lead. It even lead to my cousin texting me when LeBron got to the line, “Time to shit his pants.” Right on cue LeBron missed and kept on missing to another Heat loss. 

The maddening aspect of all of this extends past the game and to JBJ’s post game comments when he said, “The outcome the last two games were not good, but tonight the way we played we can hold our head up high after this loss.” No, no you can’t actually. LeBron, you stuff the stat sheets, you are a physical marvel, and are one of the top 5 players in the game right now. So when you dismiss this game and your performance it is alarming and concerning to people like me who want to see you succeed, not because I like you, but because with all your tools you should be a guy we tell our grandkids about the way we will talk about Jordan, Magic, and Michael. You should not be lumped together with Karl Malone who I will not speak of when I talk to my grandkids.Everyone, myself included, want to see greatness and even the people that hate you deep down want to see greatness from you, though they never will admit it, because as people we want to see and talk about greatness, not about failures. 

LeBron’s 4th quarter problems are a problem that reach back to his past. Much like George Valentin, LeBron looks to his past- his days ruling Cleveland, fans worshipping him for not being Kobe, and how he was going to supplant Jordan. LeBron was a mega, mega star that we all saw as this generations Jordan, the guy with a huge smile and child like playfullness to him that made it easy for us all to root for. We all wanted to see greatness. 

Then LeBron had his Roy Hobbs in The Natural moment with “The Decision”- His Memo Paris- that cost him his bravado. To me “The Decision” was and forever will be the key moment in LeBron’s career and a reason why he has had such terrible play in the 4th quarter of big and little games. Much like George Valentin, LeBron thought that he was bigger than the game; the crowd, his fans, everyone came to see him- no matter where he played. That severe misjudgment cost him more than fans, it cost him his confidence. 

LeBron was so use to people loving him- from his circle of friends, to Cleveland, to the NBA world- that he felt invincible. His fourth quarter struggles were not an issue so much in Cleveland when he shouldered the load and carried a very subpar team. But when LeBron saw his name cast as the villain, with many of his fans turning on him, it took away some of that invincibility, some of that bravado. He thought time and his performance in Miami would heal all wounds, but of course it has not. The feeling of hatred and loathing for him have only intensified and grown exponentially, especially after his Final clunker. For the first time LeBron James was not the “wonderboy”, but rather he was branded a jerk, a traitor, and a terrible person for turning his back on his hometown team and leaving for Miami.  Now when LeBron is at the line with a crucial free throw it comes knowing that everyone in the building, watching at home, listening on the radio wants nothing more for you to miss. No matter how you slice it that tiny recognition will mess with your head. Just ask A-Rod.

So what does LeBron do to fix his confidence problem? How does he rectify a wrong that, I believe, is a thorn in his ever lowering confidence level? What most of us do- Deny, Deny, Deny, Counter accuse. When we hear James talk, when we see his body language on the court, when we see him smile it is not the same as the earlier days in that it is forced and contrived. It is like LeBron is trying to remember back to how he use to be and act like that. The results for that so far have not worked out. James looks and sounds like a person who knows he is at fault, but is too popular and famous and rich to face his most severe critics- His old fans. Those are the people that get into the head of an athlete that is use to and needs to be loved by just about everyone. And if he is not he lashes out to point the finger at any and everyone else. 

If I was Spoelstra and it was the fourth quarter how do you handle such a situation when your star player can’t get it done; not because he is not good, but because he feels his naysayers creeping to the forefront of every terrible jump shot and every missed free throw. You go Top Gun on him. When Goose died, Maverick (Tom Cruise) was so shaken at what happened that he lost his confidence. He couldn’t handle the pressure and the past of his friend’s passing. So what did his squad leader do? Did he pull him out of the plane and sit him down? Nope. He just kept sending Maverick up in an attempt to get him out of his funk. Spoelstra has to do the same thing for LeBron and he did last night by running two curl to the basket plays for LeBron to get to the hoop in the final possessions. The results were Leron getting to the line for his untimely choke job missing the free throws. The pointing being though, you have to get James mind and end of the game performance right before his terrible play takes on a life of its own. This habit of breaking LeBron starts at the top with Spoelstra and Wade, ending with anyone else in his inner circle to do something new with LeBron- challenge him. 

LeBron is a great, great player. What he is suffering from is what many of us suffer from time to time, which is allowing pride to get in the way. James needs to admit his wrongs from “The Decision” and whether he receives forgiveness or not he has to bury the past. The Heat, no doubt, will keep feeding him the ball and it is now up to LeBron to stop his slide before his career becomes Malone like- remembered for what you didn’t do, rather than all that you did do.

The time for talk is over LeBron. It is now time for you to silence your critics.