COMM 380: Media Criticism
Defying Expectations
by Graydon Lavallee
Major: Communication, Public Relations
The movie Waves is a sports drama that deviates from the traditional sports film genre. The film, created by writer-director Trey Edward Shults in 2019, follows the story of a young high school athlete struggling with injury and addiction. While it initially appears to follow the typical underdog trope of overcoming physical obstacles, the movie takes a surprising turn halfway through. Shults uses the sports genre to comment on competition, justice, and the pressures of modern American life.
Genre theory is “the categorization of different structural elements and patterns which can be found in a collection of stories” that “carry inherent and recognizable information” (Aldredge, 2022). As applied to film, genre provides “a framework of expectations–a web of images, plot devices, stock characters, and themes that create a promise with the audience” (Shields, 2020). Genres are “machines that transmit fantasy and ideology” (Ewers, 2022, p.3). The typical sports contest lends itself well to filmmaking (Ewers, 2022, p.2). Every sports contest has a narrative arc with a beginning, middle, and end and a clear conflict between opposing forces often divided into “good guys” and “bad guys.” The sports film genre has given audiences some of the most beloved Hollywood films of all time, including films as seemingly disparate as The Bad News Bears (1976), Chariots of Fire (1981), and Rocky (1976).
Despite their differences, these films share an essential DNA. Genre films share conventions, including narrative, characterization, themes, and setting (Chandler, 2000, p. 13), and sports film is no different. As Waves begins, it seems it will fit neatly in with the sports genre. From the film's opening frames, the audience is drawn into what seems like a classic film of the sports genre. We can identify many typical genre tropes: the training montage, the adoring girlfriend, and the setbacks. However, Shults uses the classic sports film storytelling tropes to subvert our expectations to tell his story.
We are dropped into Tyler Williams’ world immediately during the opening montage. A focused Tyler sweats it out in the gym while his hard-nosed coach curses and barks orders at him and his teammates. Before practice, he sits in a classroom gazing up with determination at the motto “Carpe Diem.” It is reminiscent of other training montages in films like Rocky and Bad News Bears. Rocky, for example, shows the hero running through the streets of Philadelphia to a triumphant score.
In contrast, the Bad News Bears shows its bumbling little league team training montage juxtaposed to Bizet’s Carmen for comic effect. The opening training montage in Waves shows Tyler in a different light. Instead of triumphant, stirring music, we get an almost-ominous electronic score from Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. We can feel the weight of expectations on Tyler right away. We are in a sports movie, but Shults uses this riff on a training montage to show us immediately that it is something different.
With Shults’ background as a former high school wrestler, the wrestling mat is a natural setting for the film (Ugwu, 2019). However, the sport feels like a perfect metaphor for Shults' messages. Wrestling is inherently about combat, a one-on-one struggle of man vs. man. “Wrestling…dramatises unfairness. In wrestling, [the audience] is immersed in a world of injustice” (Ewers, 2022, p.7). This theme is carried throughout the film. We sense the unfairness of Tyler’s career-ending injury, the unfairness of Alexis’ death, and the injustice of Tyler’s life sentence.
Sports films are generally “feel good” (Jones, 2008, p.118). Sports films represent the “athletically inflected American Dream,” and the idea that everyone can overcome even the most unlevel playing field (Miller, 2003, p.iv). Sports films are also a lens through which we can view cultural themes such as masculinity and race. Sports movies often positively portray these concepts. For instance, in Remember the Titans, the team that has just been integrated can unite despite their racial differences and ultimately win the state football championship. In Waves, the Williams family is solidly middle class, but issues of race cannot be escaped, and the resolution is not so neat. Ronald reminds Tyler that as a young Black male, he must work twice as hard to succeed. This pressure drives Tyler on and leads to his drug abuse and eventual downfall in a court system that historically treats Black men unfairly.
The movie Waves deviates from the typical sports film genre, where the protagonist overcomes obstacles to achieve success and happiness. Instead, it explores the pressures and expectations that lead to the downfall of a talented young man named Tyler Williams. Director Shults uses familiar elements of the genre to challenge the formula, making Waves an unconventional and thought-provoking film that comments on the elusive nature of the American Dream for some individuals
Bibliography
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Ugwu, R. (2019, November 17). Trey Edward Shults's fractured family portraits. The New York Times. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/movies/trey-edward-shults-waves.html
Waves also feature twists on several archetypal characters in sports films. The archetypal “love interest” girlfriend/wife is a well-worn trope in the genre (Kettle, 2019). She is exemplified by characters like Adrienne in the Rocky films and spoofed on Saturday Night Live with the “Every Boxer’s Girlfriend in Every Boxing Movie Ever” character. She is a supportive, loving, and concerned presence in the athlete’s life. In Waves, Shults introduces this figure in one of the earliest shots of the film, as Tyler and Alexis drive joyfully down the highway on a perfect day. They seem very much in love: smiling, hugging, singing with feet out the window and hair waving freely in the wind. In a heartbreaking moment, Tyler’s fighting prowess is turned against him, and Tyler accidentally kills Alexis. Shults has turned the trope on its head, and instead of serving the role of the character that encourages the athlete figure onward to victory, Waves’ girlfriend character is the source of the athlete’s downfall.
Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire in ‘Rocky’ (Photo: Everett)
Gene Hackman. Hoosiers. 1986
The gruff but caring coach is another essential character in the genre, embodied by such characters as Burgess Meredith in Rocky or Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. These figures use “tough love” to inspire our athlete heroes to find reservoirs of strength and grit to obtain glory. Here, Shults uses the coach figure ironically. In the movie Waves, the coach is not a motivating figure for his young athletes. Instead, he belittles and swears at Tyler and the other boys, even at the beginning of the film. The coach leads them to repeat the phrase "I cannot be taken down, I am a new machine," which is ironic because Tyler is vulnerable and can be taken down in both wrestling and in life. As the coach continues to yell at the students, we sense that something negative will happen in the future.