Obsession and Danger (Second attempt at uploading)

[abassadams]

(Brief note to the Professor and my classmates- I’ve been having some bizarre glitches on ePortfolios lately. The site told me my previous post on this forum didn’t upload, but yet won’t let me submit it again. If this is your second time seeing this post, my bad.)

One thing I noticed throughout Man On Wire is the way that it portrays obsession. It’s no stretch of the imagination to say that Philippe Petit is obsessed with the idea of the walk between the Twin Towers: he dedicates years of his life to the idea, and undergoes intensive training on top of the lifetime of tightrope walking experience he already has. He’s seen putting both his physical pain and personal relationships behind him in his task to tackle the Twin Towers, like his instant disregard for his cavity when he first sees the Towers at the dentist’s office. Petit is portrayed as someone who bends everything to his obsessions and desires- even his own physical pain is no match for his excitement at creating his art. 
However, I don’t think the film is necessarily condoning what Petit did. Despite the fact they present his walk in an overwhelmingly, contagiously, optimistic light, and the fact Petit is the movie’s protagonist, the film also doesn’t shy away from mentioning some of the downsides of Petit’s obsession. Taking, for example, the way Petit treats his girlfriend throughout the film; She’s forever a rock for him, but one which ultimately, once he’s conquered his goliath of the Towers, he moves on from with little sympathy, cheating on her. We also see some more serious notes throughout the film, other downsides to Petit’s spirit of exploration: Petit’s walk doesn’t just put himself in harm’s way. If the rope was to snap in the high winds, it could kill someone- either the officers on the roof, or those below. Petit’s friends could easily face months to years in jail as accomplices, and they don’t even get to walk between the towers. At the end of the day, Petit’s walk is still a group of people, experienced as they may be, handling tons of steel thousands of feet off the ground, with a best-case scenario of being arrested on charges of trespassing and disturbing the peace. I think that despite it’s almost magical portrayal of Petit’s walk, Man on Wire is also not ignorant of all the reasons Petit was critiqued in the first place: Sometimes art can be dangerous, and not just for the artist. 

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