Why Johnny Moxon was a Genius

I have very clear and happy memories of going to see "Varsity Blues" during a theater festival in high school. We were in shittown Escondido, where a group of my friends and I had been acosted by a gang who called themselves, no joke, "That 70s Show," right before we presented two scenes from "Much Ado About Nothing."

After we did our scenes for a thousand screaming, over-applauding, drama geeks, we decided to go see "Varsity Blues" at the nearby, rundown strip mall. What I remember so clearly is that we all weren't 17 years old so we couldn't get in and our drama teacher capital-B BITCHED out the manager of the theater to get us in. It was awesome.

For those that haven't seen the movie, Johnny Moxon(James van Der Beek) is the second string quarterback for the West Canaan Coyotes(Kye-oats), the best high school football team in west Texas. Paul Walker is the starting quarterback and the hero of the school.

West Canaan is a town that shuts down for the football games. They live and breathe football, yet Johnny Moxon is perfectly happy going to school and being smart and getting a scholarship to Brown University. He's smart and doesn't need football to get out of West Canaan. Now, things change once Paul Walker gets hurt and Johnny has to become the star quarterback and suddenly has to deal with fame and Jon Voight and whipped cream bikinis. In the end, Johnny Moxon gets his scholarship to Brown, wins the big game, and gets the girl.

My point is this- at some point, the director needs to clearly show the audience that Johnny Moxon is exceptionally smart. Just saying, "Ah wanna go ta Brown," in his southern drawl doesn't quite do it. The director needed to make the audience believe, without a doubt, that Johnny Moxon was smart enough to get a full scholarship to Brown University.

To do this, Johhny is shown reading a book, stealthily tucked inside the binder of football plays he is supposed to be studying. The book he is reading represents such innovative thinking, creative writing, and unmatched intelligence.

That book is "Slaughterhouse-5."