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| The Triumph of the Family |
“Embracing
the Family”
A Review of Fighting with My Family by Nick Olszyk
MPAA Rating, PG-13
USCCB Rating, A-III
Reel Rating, Four Reels
Professional
wrestling is sometimes looked down upon as “fake,” and while the matches are
scripted, the skill, design, and storytelling are no different than any other
performing art. In many ways, Fighting
with my Family could also be interpreted as clique, “a true story” about
unknown woman’s rise to fame, but has it been rarely done with such joy, heart,
and craftsmanship. With its frequent cursing, references to past drug use, and
constant – yet thematic – physical violence, it is certainly not “family
friendly,” but is one of the best “family” films of recent memory.
Paige (Florence
Pugh) comes from a household where wrestling is everything. Her parents were
both former wrestlers who founded WAW (World Association of Wrestlers), a
British knockoff of WWE, and her older brother Zak (Jack Lowden) hosts
wrestling classes for the street hoodlums of Norwich to keep them away from
gangs and drugs. After years of training and sending audition tapes to the WWE,
Paige and Zak finally get a chance to perform for a coach, but only Paige is
chosen to move on to a professional training camp in Florida. Initially, it
seems like Zak takes this rejection rather well and encourages Paige to take
the opportunity. Yet, things get more and more complicated for everyone, and
Paige soon discover the hardest blows come from outside the ring.
One of the best
analogies for the family is a circus: a variety of odd yet talented performers
who are completely different yet work together for a common cause. When Zak
invites his girlfriend’s “normal” parents over for dinner, his father delights them
with the story of how “some people find religion, but my wife and I found
wrestling.” Prior to this, both of them were drug addicted convicts but now
beat each other up for audience amusement. This is probably not the impression
Zak hoped to make on his future in-laws. Wrestling might be an odd choice for
family cohesion, but it is only a symbol of the genuine love that all of these
members have for one another. When Paige experiences problems at the training
camp and wonders whether to quit, her parents are upset but let her they will
stand by her no matter what she decides.
While Paige is the
one her parents are ultimately rooting for, Zack quietly emerges as the real
“hero” of the film. Angry about being left out, he confronts the coach
(brilliantly played by Vince Vaughan) who dismissed him. Zack has the talent
but not “the spark.” He might have a little success, but it would ultimately
lead to decades of chasing a dream that would never materialize and ruining his
life in the process. This same situation happened to his older step-brother who
was just released from prison for robbery. Zak wisely allows his pride to
subside and instead devotes his time to his girlfriend, their newborn son, and
the rag tag group of street kids – including a blind teen – who show up at his
gym for a chance to release their anger and have fun. While billed as a biopic
of Paige’s rise to fame, it was wonderful to see Fighting with my Family highlight the unsung champions who stay
behind in their communities and make life better for those on the ground
level.
Paige
also has demons of her own to face. Most of her WWE counterparts are slim, sexy
California models who are there as eye candy with little wrestling experience.
At first, she resents these women as inauthentic but soon understands many of
them come from similar difficult backgrounds. If they embrace the “fun blonde”
motif, then she can embrace “weird goth” motif and thus create a compelling
storyline for the audience. It’s so rare that a film encourages its viewers to
embrace their necessary roles rather than brake them.
This
theme reaches its zenith in the final scene when Paige defeats AJ Lee to become
the youngest Diva Champion in WWE history. In her victory speech, Paige
dedicates her win to “the oddballs and the outsiders.” Behind the fishnet
stockings, colored hair, and lip piercings, the implication of Fighting is that the nuclear family
itself is the outsider, while is why a film that has a very “traditional”
message feels so revolutionary. Paige becomes her best self when she embraces
her family and her unique role within that family and society. As the great
English writer GK Chesterton – whose girth may have help him be a WWE star in
another Universe – once quipped, “the most ordinary thing in the world is an
ordinary man, an ordinary woman, and their ordinary children.”
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