My Love Affair with Ninjas
Reality TV.
The mention of it evokes strong reactions across the board.
"I love all the drama."
"I love watching famous people in these shows because it shows they're just like us."
"It's all fake, there's nothing real about it."
"Good glayvin, I'll never get those brain cells back."
via GIPHY
Myself, I tend to lean toward the latter two, whereas Tamara is all about the first one. And to each their own - people like what they like, and I advocate for letting them and not bashing someone else's taste just because it's not our own.
But I'm here to talk about my favorite "reality" show, which is less "reality" in the now-traditional sense of the word - following celebrities around or putting people in unrealistic competitive scenarios - and more a sporting event-type competition.
If you've never watched American Ninja Warrior (inspired by the Japanese show Sasuke), it's a series of obstacle courses athletes traverse on their way to national competition in Las Vegas, where they then take on four more obstacle courses of progressing difficulty in an attempt to get to the top of "Mount Midoriyama," a 75-foot rope climb whose buzzer at the top, once pressed, means you have achieved ultimate American Ninja Warrior status.
To date, only two people have achieved it, and both in the same season. In every other year, competitors fall short on Stage 3, the course right before the rope. And every year many of those athletes start from the beginning again, determined to make it the year they finish it all.
It's a simple enough concept, but it's really compelling stuff to watch. It's fun enough at the beginning to see people try - and often fail - and you laugh along with them and quietly cheer when they succeed.
But then you keep watching it, and you start to see the same athletes getting up and trying again after the previous year's unsuccessful runs, and you start to not just cheer them, but urge them on in your mind and heart and from your couch, your body moving along with them sometimes as you try to will them across tilted platforms that get progressively higher and a rope swing and a log they have to hug as it rolls down a track and narrow boards that tip over if your even slightly off balance and poles where they only way to ascend is to grip a ring and jump it up over progressively higher pegs and i-beams with narrow ledges you have to traverse while hanging upside down...only to find they still have to get up a curved wall 14 feet high with only a short track to get a running start.
And that's just the qualifying course. The next one is twice as long, adding more difficult obstacles, and even then you only get to go on to Vegas if you get "far enough, fast enough."
With each year the list of your absolute favorites grows from the one or two who you found interesting - whether they be by day a priest or cameraman or professional stunt woman or former used car salesman or flight attendant or 5th-grade teacher - to the ones who keep trying, keep fighting past whatever personal struggles they face, keep getting up even after dramatic and frustrating falls.
They become your heroes. They become inspirations to you. They become people you want to emulate because of their strength, physical or emotional or mental or otherwise.
I can't overstate how much positivity comes from this show, and how refreshing that is when so many other shows trade on drama and backbiting and snarky comments and the dark things in life. The excitement and enthusiasm of the hosts is infectious. There is no negativity on this show whatsoever - everyone absolutely cheers on every one, and the only opponents in it are yourself and those dang obstacles. The only heartache is when someone misses a ledge or slips on a log or misses the top of the warped wall by mere millimeters.
And you can't help but feel inspired by the courage and achievement of the runners. Some have diseases that for so many others are crippling. Some are into the years when others start slowing down their lifestyle. Some run despite backbreaking challenges at home. Some are showing in definitive ways that when it comes to physical prowess, a woman can be just as tough as any man.
They all run. And you get to share their journey and their triumph. And they're more than willing to bring you along, be it through social media (I've had the honor of engaging with so many ninjas via Twitter) or visits to gyms and schools in their communities. The Ninja Warriors are a family, and there's plenty of room for all.
Every time I watch this show I start to daydream about getting myself in shape and running a course; even if I didn't finish, just getting a chance would be the coolest thing ever! I don't know that I'll ever get there, to a point where I could even hope to run, but I feel the inspiration nonetheless. And so many others do as well, and are able to overcome their challenges and get on that course. And even if they don't finish, they've got a smile on their waterlogged face, knowing they're part of the ninja clan.
That's why I love this show, and I hope it continues for years to come.
The mention of it evokes strong reactions across the board.
"I love all the drama."
"I love watching famous people in these shows because it shows they're just like us."
"It's all fake, there's nothing real about it."
"Good glayvin, I'll never get those brain cells back."
via GIPHY
Myself, I tend to lean toward the latter two, whereas Tamara is all about the first one. And to each their own - people like what they like, and I advocate for letting them and not bashing someone else's taste just because it's not our own.
But I'm here to talk about my favorite "reality" show, which is less "reality" in the now-traditional sense of the word - following celebrities around or putting people in unrealistic competitive scenarios - and more a sporting event-type competition.
If you've never watched American Ninja Warrior (inspired by the Japanese show Sasuke), it's a series of obstacle courses athletes traverse on their way to national competition in Las Vegas, where they then take on four more obstacle courses of progressing difficulty in an attempt to get to the top of "Mount Midoriyama," a 75-foot rope climb whose buzzer at the top, once pressed, means you have achieved ultimate American Ninja Warrior status.
To date, only two people have achieved it, and both in the same season. In every other year, competitors fall short on Stage 3, the course right before the rope. And every year many of those athletes start from the beginning again, determined to make it the year they finish it all.
It's a simple enough concept, but it's really compelling stuff to watch. It's fun enough at the beginning to see people try - and often fail - and you laugh along with them and quietly cheer when they succeed.
But then you keep watching it, and you start to see the same athletes getting up and trying again after the previous year's unsuccessful runs, and you start to not just cheer them, but urge them on in your mind and heart and from your couch, your body moving along with them sometimes as you try to will them across tilted platforms that get progressively higher and a rope swing and a log they have to hug as it rolls down a track and narrow boards that tip over if your even slightly off balance and poles where they only way to ascend is to grip a ring and jump it up over progressively higher pegs and i-beams with narrow ledges you have to traverse while hanging upside down...only to find they still have to get up a curved wall 14 feet high with only a short track to get a running start.
And that's just the qualifying course. The next one is twice as long, adding more difficult obstacles, and even then you only get to go on to Vegas if you get "far enough, fast enough."
With each year the list of your absolute favorites grows from the one or two who you found interesting - whether they be by day a priest or cameraman or professional stunt woman or former used car salesman or flight attendant or 5th-grade teacher - to the ones who keep trying, keep fighting past whatever personal struggles they face, keep getting up even after dramatic and frustrating falls.
They become your heroes. They become inspirations to you. They become people you want to emulate because of their strength, physical or emotional or mental or otherwise.
I can't overstate how much positivity comes from this show, and how refreshing that is when so many other shows trade on drama and backbiting and snarky comments and the dark things in life. The excitement and enthusiasm of the hosts is infectious. There is no negativity on this show whatsoever - everyone absolutely cheers on every one, and the only opponents in it are yourself and those dang obstacles. The only heartache is when someone misses a ledge or slips on a log or misses the top of the warped wall by mere millimeters.
And you can't help but feel inspired by the courage and achievement of the runners. Some have diseases that for so many others are crippling. Some are into the years when others start slowing down their lifestyle. Some run despite backbreaking challenges at home. Some are showing in definitive ways that when it comes to physical prowess, a woman can be just as tough as any man.
They all run. And you get to share their journey and their triumph. And they're more than willing to bring you along, be it through social media (I've had the honor of engaging with so many ninjas via Twitter) or visits to gyms and schools in their communities. The Ninja Warriors are a family, and there's plenty of room for all.
Every time I watch this show I start to daydream about getting myself in shape and running a course; even if I didn't finish, just getting a chance would be the coolest thing ever! I don't know that I'll ever get there, to a point where I could even hope to run, but I feel the inspiration nonetheless. And so many others do as well, and are able to overcome their challenges and get on that course. And even if they don't finish, they've got a smile on their waterlogged face, knowing they're part of the ninja clan.
That's why I love this show, and I hope it continues for years to come.
Comments
I LOVE this show and the Ninjas for all of the reasons you describe.
It is probably the only reason I regret no network TV and no consistent time for streaming...
SO I have to keep tabs via your tweets ;)