Of Mice and Men and Point Break

Special thanks to sparknotes.com for the refresher and imdb.com for helping with quotes.

The predatory nature of human existence....

Both of these works introduce some phenomenol characters with extraordinary depth. George in 'Of Mice and Men' is the Johnny Utah of 'Point Break'. They are hard working, driven leaders, yet profoundly lonely and cynical. In 'Of Mice and Men', George travels around with Lennie, a large, somewhat brain-dead man, as migrant farmworkers. Lennie is portrayed in 'Point Break' as the "live for the moment" Bodhi. Johnny Utah, the quarterback who led Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, went to law school to appease his parents. He then joined the FBI and his first assignment was to go undercover as a surfer to solve a series of bank robberies in the Los Angeles area by ex-president clad surfers. He befriends Bodhi, hoping to find out who the bank robbing surfers are, initially unaware that Bodhi is the leader of the gang. As their friendship flourishes, their respective organizations encourage them to essentially take the other down. This is the internal conflict that both Bodhi and Utah suffer throughout the film. Lenny, who is essentially a grown infant, is dependant upon George to take care of him the same way Bodhi is dependant on Utah not to arrest him.

Fraternal bonds and the idealized male friendship....

George and Lenny have a dream to one day own and work a farm together. Bodhi and Utah have dreams, although those dreams are somewhat mutually exclusive. Bodhi wants to go to Australia to ride the wave of the 50 year storm. Special Agent Johnny Utah wants to make sure he "always gets his man". Both pairs share these dreams and that is what holds them together. When one takes into account the harsh, lonely lives all of these men lead, it is no wonder they turn to each other in times of need.

Futility of the American Dream....

The American dream is a common topic of American literature around the era of the Great Depression. It is also a common topic on this blog. George and Lenny failing to realize their dream of farm ownership is certainly symbolic of this. You may be saying, how is that true in 'Point Break'? Bear with me and allow me to distinguish between 'Special Agent Johnny Utah' and the 'surfer Johnny Utah'. Bodhi is not one to let society hold him down. He says "the system kills the human spirit." Robbing banks is not about the money for Bodhi. Bodhi isn't doing what he does for himself, he is doing it to show "the guys inching their way along the freeway in their metal coffins that the human spirit is alive". In the end, the system, represented by Special Agent Johnny Utah (not the same as the surfer Johnny Utah), not only kills the human spirit, but kills Bodhi as well. However, Bodhi's crimes cannot be forgotten. On that Australian beach, surfer Johnny Utah (not to be confused with Special Agent Johnny Utah) essentially euthanizes Bodhi. Rather than having him face a fate worse than death (being locked up for the rest of his life), Utah allows him to die riding the wave of the 50-year storm. After Lenny accidentally kills a woman, rather than allowing the novel's antagonists to kill Lenny, George shoots him himself.

Strength and Weakness...

In 'Of Mice and Men', Steinbeck makes many a point about strength and weakness. Lenny is extremely strong. Perhaps intimidated by this, Curley, the novel's chief antagonist and champion boxer makes his strength clear to Lenny, George, and his wife. However, they are revealed as having significant weakness. Lenny's mental invalidity and dependance on George, and Curley's short temper. So perhaps it was all a balance? However, the notion that peace can be achieved through strength is brought up in 'Point Break'. At one point Bodhi says, "if you project weakness it promotes violence," to which the prophetic Roach answers, "peace through superior firepower." This is certainly the way they robbed banks: intimidation, organization and speed.