Becoming big in the USA
Published: Tue, 01/10/17
A while ago someone told me that they had enjoyed reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autobiography ‘Total Recall’ (I guess named after Schwarzenegger’s arguably, best known film). I came across a copy in a charity shop and decided to see what I made of it. I am pretty sure it is ghost written but it is very readable. For someone of my age Schwarzenegger’s activities in body building and his action, and some comedy, films were very familiar from the mid 70s to the early 90s. More recently Schwarzenegger got involved in American politics and was governor of California from 2003 until 2011. Schwarzenegger was born into the ruins of post war Austria and grew up in very humble rural surroundings. He made to the USA at 21 with virtually no English but, by the time he began his film career properly in 1976 with ‘Stay Hungry’, directed by Bob Rafelson he had won all the major body building titles. During the 80’s and 90’s Schwarzenegger was
one of the world’s biggest movie stars. He is also a very successful businessman. Not bad going all things considered.
As well as being an interesting account of a personal journey Schwarzenegger’s story is also an example of someone who was the right person, in the right place, at the right time. The 1950s and 1960s were a time when American popular culture (including body building) found its way across the globe, even into rural Austria. The late 60s and early 70s were at time when new ideas and activities gained popularity and acceptance. If Schwarzenegger came from Austria to California and made his way into films via body building then Bruce Lee made a comparable journey from Hong Kong to Hollywood and into movies via martial arts. Looking back it was a rather weird period of cultural upheaval and I am still not quite sure what to make of it.
On the one hand there was an awful lot of hype and fantasy around the images that popular figures such as Lee and Schwarzenegger presented to impressionable youngsters of the time. The extremely violent behaviour exhibited in films such as Enter the Dragon (Lee) and Connan the Barbarian (Schwarzenegger) for example set a dubious example to the young of the time. On the other hand both Lee and Schwarzenegger demonstrated the real possibility of personal transformation through hard and focussed training. Lee’s agility and Schwarzenegger’s musculature were both the result of real effort, not just computer generated effects. Of course Bruce died aged 33 in 1972 and Arnie is now 70. Their influence on martial arts and personal fitness lives on but are there any actual lessons to be learned?
When reading a book which reflects on a life lived, or we look back at our own lives, I think it can be tempting to do a lot of wondering ‘what if?’ What if we had had certain opportunities which seem to have come to other ‘successful’ people but not to us? What if we had had different opportunities? Tried harder at the things we did do? Been better advised or more encouraged than we were? Not wasted time and been more focussed when we did have the chance to shine? There is a fine line between learning from past mistakes and wallowing in regret and self-pity. Maybe the only lessons that we can really learn from other people is that we all have to live our lives in our own way. A few people get known as ‘celebrities’ because they somehow captured public attention at a particular time and place but these people are really no different to anyone else, we just happen to know about them. Even then it is easy to overestimate how well
known someone actually is. The person who recommended Schwarzenegger’s autobiography said that his copy was a present from his 18 year old daughter. The girl had recognised the name because her father had mentioned Schwarzenegger a few times but she had no idea who the big man with an odd name actually was.
One lesson that comes through the book is how often Schwarzenegger over estimated other people at first, whether as competition in body building or expertise in film making. The main reason he seems to have been successful is simply that he realised that there was no sense in seeing himself as second best to anyone else. There is an account of entering his first Mr Universe contest in 1966 and hoping to make 6th place. In fact he came out as runner up. There is another account of seeing his first major film project ‘Stay Hungry’ flop at the box office because the production company obviously had no idea how to promote this rather unusual film. Maybe the lesson is: Once you are deeply involved in something that interests then you might be more of an expert than you think. Maybe being successful at something is a matter of finding the balance between being willing to learn and having enough confidence in yourself to trust your own
judgement too.
regards
Graham
PS I have uploaded some new video material. This one was shot at the CQC weapons course last May. It shows how I teach and train with the dagger/tein. It will be available for 3 days before I move it into the members only area. https://www.screencast.com/t/qaAzIxjJo3f