Friday Night Lights Compare And Contrast

The TV drama that has incredulously captured the hearts of viewers across the nation does not look anything else on television these days. Set in the small town of Dillon, this west Texas town in “Friday Night Lights” is the type of place where football is worshipped and often depicted as a religion, much like how the rest of the great state of Texas is portrayed by the general population. But with all due respect to God, it might even be more than that. Peter Berg created the television series in perfect harmony to the film Friday Night Lights, an adaptation of a novel itself, which he also directed. The results are anything but a worn-out storyline: this “adaptation of an adaption” is actually good, really good. Berg incorporates the same

theme, emotion and outstanding cinematography that ultimately breaks through critics’ prejudgments of the sports drama, and tells the story of an entire small town community that finds unity in their local high school’s football team every fall, every Friday night.

Friday Night Lights has been called many things, most of which were labels before the pilot episode of the first season even aired: “high school drama”, “sports drama” and the most undignified of them all, “teen drama”.

The series is in due course, a television drama. The show surpassed all media expectations and expanded their audience past the younger generation that would indulge in a “high school drama” and goes beyond the sports spectators. Friday Night Lights takes a small piece of humanity and creates an entire realm that despite all of its praise and glory, is confronted by many issues that today’s society can relate to without having to be part of a football team or even a sports

fanatic.

The underlying storyline is classic: after being reputed to fail, an underdog football team battles through a 13 game season to get to the state championship, blood, sweat, tears and all. The pilot episode introduces an extraordinary line of characters that embody the small Texas town with such natural southern drawl and charm. The show however, is anything but cliché. The leading roles of the Taylors are cast to Kyle Chandler (coach Eric Taylor), Connie Britton (Tami Taylor), and Aime Teegarden (Julie Taylor), who are generally the town’s adored family. Quite candidly, Eric and Tami Taylor are the probably the greatest TV parents of all time. Raising a teenage daughter doesn’t come easy (especially with the stunts and pouts Julie Taylor puts on throughout the season) but the Taylors manage to lay down the law while being employed at their daughter’s high school (Tami is hired to be a student guidance counselor) and endearingly so, become parental figures for the array of troubled youth in the town of Dillon whose parents struggle with their own vices. Their marriage isn’t perfect, but it’s as perfect as one can be, with undeniable chemistry on screen from both cast members.

Taylor Kitsch gives a phenomenal performance as Tim Riggins, the team’s womanizing, die-hard running back that seems to have reached his prime in as a Panther football player.

Tim is a representation of most of the town’s worshipped members of the team in the past; they all seem to have sadly peaked in high school (unless recruited by college scouts, which is far-fetched but not impossible). The town of Dillon repeatedly lets the Panther players get away with a lot, all the while over-glorifying them and failing to instill proper discipline (which Coach Taylor is left to do), which evidently shapes the future of Riggins and football players like him. They are ultimately, tragically setting them up to peak as a Panther football player. He might be one of the show’s most troubled players, living at home with his older brother Billy (head of all their financial struggles), a dead beat father who’s nowhere to be seen, and has a beer in his hand so often it almost becomes comical. Despite all this, Tim Riggins is without a doubt, one of the most talented players on the team, as well as a heavy partier. He embraces this very well, but you can almost spot the discouragement in his eyes when he overlooks the crowds of people from his float in the town’s homecoming parade and stares at the older men with their fists in the air. With their salt and pepper hair, worn-out high school varsity jackets and championship rings, Tim knows he is destined to become another one of them, living

their days at the local bar and reminiscing their glory days.

What truly enhances Friday Night Lights and allows such mesmerizing and great visceral depth are the cinematography, as well as the soundtrack music by Explosions in The Sky. The band is widely recognized as the “Friday Night Lights” theme artist (also provided music for the film adaptation) and the orchestral sounds give instrumental chills that simply cannot be forgotten. The cinematography has a documentary feel to it, not to be confused with the “found footage” genre that films have recently adopted and exhausted. It gives heartfelt moments a lot more meaning, from the boisterous, hardy chanting of “Clears eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!” in the vintage locker rooms before the games, to the silent prayers on the field where the team gathers around and take each other’s hands to allow a moment of religious gratitude. With the right camera angle, the right music, every game underneath the stadium lights in Dillon, Texas on Friday nights looks hard-fought, poignant and inspirational.