O.J. Simpson's Story Taps into America's Collective Psyche, with Ezra Edelman | Big Think

O.J. Simpson's Story Taps into America's Collective Psyche

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How someone views O.J. Simpson depends on who they are, where they come from, and their perspective on race, justice, power, and the media. These elements came together in what can only be called "the trial of the century" when Simpson was tried for committing the double murder of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman. The television broadcast of a low-speed chase of Simpson's Ford Bronco, and the dramatic fitting of the bloody gloves found at the scene, remain seared in the collective memory.

Ezra Edelman, director of ESPN's O.J. Simpson: Made in America

, comments on a telling interview Simpson once gave, confessing that his biggest goal in life was to become famous — not to be the world's greatest football player. He wanted people to see him and recognize him, and this is what likely informed his behavior. He was so comfortable on camera, many fans felt like they knew him personally as they watched the trial on their TV screens. Simpson loved to be loved by America.

There are many ideas to be reconciled when viewing the O.J. Simpson trial. Football fans saw their hero being taken down. Some saw it as a violent man hurting a woman, the domestic violence angle earning sympathy. It was seen as a black man being arrested for a crime as a pretense for racial injustice — an idea that is still very strong in today’s culture.

Despite the O.J. Simpson trial being long over, it left behind something to be discussed. It left something to be talked about, as many still have an opinion of the trial, and want to think it through. It was a trial of the century, and made its lasting impression.

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EZRA EDELMAN:

Ezra Edelman is the son of children's rights activist Marian Wright Edelman and Georgetown University law professor Peter B. Edelman. He has two brothers, Joshua, an educational administrator, and Jonah, co-founder and CEO of Stand for Children. Edelman graduated from Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. before going on to acquire his baccalaureate from Yale University. He is best known as the director of the 2010 HBO Sports documentary Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals, and the Emmy Award-winning Brooklyn Dodgers: Ghosts of Flatbush. He did a special on the former Big East Conference called Requiem for the Big East. Edelman also wrote and directed the 2016 five-part documentary series, O.J. Simpson: Made in America for ESPN's 30 for 30.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Ezra Edelman: In some ways when you look at the tale of O.J. Simpson it goes well beyond O.J. Simpson. And it really is a conversation and a story that involves everything in our culture – race, celebrity, power, masculinity, the criminal justice system, the media. Like it goes on and on and on and on. And I think people respond to this story specifically in terms of who they are and where they come from - black, white, young, old, male, female. There’s something in this film that will personally speak to you.

O..J.’s drive I think was very simple. He says it plainly in an interview that’s in the first hour of the documentary. He said when I walk down the street I want people to know me. He had an ambition to be famous from the time he was young. He didn’t an ambition to be the greatest football player ever. He didn’t have an ambition to be rich. He had an ambition to be famous. Now what that means in some ways is O.J. had also an ambition to be loved and loved by everybody. And I think it informs this story in a very powerful way because it speaks to how all of us were seduced by him. And the image that we saw on the screen both frankly as a football player not just because he was wildly successful but that he was so graceful on the football field. So beautiful in a way that when we’re watching as a viewer, as a fan he brought us pleasure. And so we’re connected to this guy even though he’s just an image on the screen. And the same goes for him when we saw him running through the airport in Hertz commercials. I as a young kid adopted that when I was in the airport and I would try to be like see people in front of me I would try to avoid people and run around them like I was O.J. running through the airport.

And so there’s this thing that we feel like we know this person, that we feel connected to this person. And it informs so much of why we were so shocked and it was incomprehensible that someone like that could stand accused of murder when we enjoyed such .....

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