Netflix shows David Beckham remains the rare famous athlete who is somehow untainted by his experiences

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We live in a great age of falsehood. It’s not that the world hasn’t been infested with fakers since time immemorial, but technology has made them inevitable.

The ubiquity of quackery has had two effects: it has become tolerated (e.g. reality TV) and the public has become bloodhounds of quackery (e.g. reality TV viewers) .

Almost all routine interactions in sports are bogus. The coach told an interviewer in the hallway that he thought the team did something good despite the four-goal difference. A player who says he doesn’t care that his teammates make three times as much as he does. The commentator and the color person were laughing like donkeys at each other’s “jokes.”

Every time someone says something into a microphone in the sports world, there’s clearly an element of unpleasantness involved.

Except in the case of David Beckham.

For such a famous athlete, his sports resume is a little thin. Forget about being the best in the world – Beckham wasn’t the best on his team. His England side were nothing but disappointing. He retired early to go panning for gold in California.

So why is his celebrity so resilient?

That’s partly due to his good looks, his even more famous wife, and his early efforts to brand everything about himself.But I think most are, because Beckham is like this. genuine.

Netflix just released a four-hour documentary series about this man and his life. They’re calling it “Season 1,” which sounds like a threat.

The entertainment media has thoroughly covered the gory details about Beckham’s sex life, and the tone of the discussion is extremely healthy. You’re left with the feeling that Beckham is a very decent guy and that he’s well-liked by everyone.

You can fake it. It’s not as easy as most people get fooled, but it’s possible to get fooled.

What gives Beckham an air of sincerity is that he says things no one else says these days.

Here he describes himself as a student: I wasn’t intelligent. Surprise surprise. ”

I don’t mean this as a joke. He is tinged with sadness and pride, like a man who has overcome something.

Many celebrities reveal that they didn’t do well in school, but there are always excuses. He’s the only person here willing to give the most obvious reason. That’s because he’s slow-witted.

Beckham was not popular (“I didn’t have a lot of friends”). His own mother did not value him as a social animal (“He never went out at night”).

All he cared about was sports. When he built it, the first thing he did was buy a bunch of junk. He happily tells us that he spent all his paychecks on cars and clothes.

When the money didn’t come in fast enough, he started selling his image to anyone who would pay him a few bucks. There’s a cringe-worthy scene in the first episode that shows the ancient history of viral marketing. Beckham, seemingly dressed in the dark, sits awkwardly in a barber’s chair to promote Brylcreem.

“Sit up straight, David!” the photographer yells at him. Beckham sheepishly responds.

There’s still a breathy, teenage edge to his tone when he talks about his wife. In one instance, he recalled spending hours each night on the phone with a former Spice Girl.

The narrator asks what he said.

“I don’t know,” Beckham said, surprised by the question. “But haven’t you ever done that? Ever since we started dating?”

“No,” says the narrator. Beckham looks confused.

There’s nothing new or breakthrough in this. Aside from the now obligatory nods to personal issues and mental health challenges, this could have been done at any time since the dawn of television.the only thing is beckham In any case, what’s remarkable about this work is that it reveals an unlikely figure: a famous athlete untainted by his experiences.

It’s hard to remember now just how big a deal he made when the Internet became the main conduit for global communication. From the late ’90s to the mid-’20s, Beckham was the most famous person in the world. But it didn’t end the way people expected. Beckham didn’t win a World Cup, change the game in North America, or become a sports saint like Pele or Muhammad Ali.

He won the trophy, but so did many others. Beckham’s great achievement may be that he married someone who shares his interest in expensive things, but with whom he has more ideas about how to obtain them. His role is to smile brightly and be sincere.

In this case, “authentic” is not synonymous with respectable or good. Beckham is a bit of a dim light bulb whose main passion in life is money.

The key difference between Beckham and his colleagues is that he says: “I like nice things.” he said, sitting in his $20 million villa, speaking ironically of the “working class.” His trick is to reach a level where he doesn’t get caught up in the joke. It becomes a joke for him.

He seems like the kind of person you’d want to have as your neighbor, but he’s not a role model. No sensible person would want their children to emulate him. Obsessing over unattainable goals and winning the lottery means using your newfound power to sell tourists in Qatar. That seems like a terrible waste of influence. Still, he’s very 21st century.

Beckham and his family are the producers and customers of some of the most pornographic brands of consumerism. But fortunately, there isn’t a single example on this show that justifies it. I don’t argue vehemently about climate change or equality. They like things. The end of the.

When the revolution comes, it will be a documentary like this beckham Start doing that.

However, there is no sense from Beckham that this is artificial. Unlike modern American presidents, he doesn’t lie. Even something that would prevent him from looking stupid.

David Beckham is better than other players for that reason alone.