Air (2023) Movie Ending, Explained: Under Ben Affleck’s able direction, the new sports movie ‘Air’ really takes off. The story is not a biographical film or a dramatization of how Nike became the present-day corporate entity. ‘Air’ cleverly mashes together the behind-the-scenes debauchery of Nike’s deal to sign Michael Jordan and observant commentary about a revolutionary reform in sports history. There are marked and worthy inklings of the American culture at the time and how basketball today is the nation’s heartbeat. Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, and Ben Affleck himself star in the central roles, while Chris Tucker and Chris Messina portray supporting yet pivotal characters.
‘Air’s cinematic universe is short and streamlined. But there is a lingering stoicism that keeps the viewer at a distance from articulating what the film is really about. ‘Air’ is thoroughly engaging yet confounding when you switch off the screens and think about what you saw. It is purposefully understated to disarm you with its brilliance and creative genius. We are at hand to break down ‘Air’ for you with an ending explainer and a discussion of the film’s major themes.
Air (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The film is set in the 80s, specifically beginning in 1984, when Nike was the third biggest sports shoe player in America. It stood behind Converse and Adidas but didn’t vibe with America’s youth. It had a respectable market share in the business, but it wasn’t the best. Nike had a strong presence in the running shoe market. But that was all set to change as Sonny Vaccaro, Nike’s genius yet eccentric marketing genius, believed basketball was going to be the flavor of the future. His obsessive streak to sign Michael Jordan, in turn, revolutionized sports history and changed the fortunes of Nike. It built the company into the machine as we know it today.
How does Vaccaro convince Deloris about the Nike deal?
Michael Jordan was more inclined to sign a deal with Adidas. The German shoe company had a thumping ~64% share in the sneaker market in America and represented the most elite-level athletes in the business. Being associated with Adidas meant you were qualified as great just for the sake of this association. People viewed you differently if you bore the Adidas name. That was Jordan’s primary driver to make a deal with Adidas. Converse was his second option which had the likes of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird on its roster.
Understand Jordan’s predicament with this analogy. If you tell some up-and-coming kid today that you potentially sign with a brand that represents Lionel Messi and Roger Federer or a brand that represents Eden Hazard and Nick Kyrgios, which would they choose? So, coming back to ‘Air.’ Sonny Vaccaro, played by Matt Damon, is caught in two minds. David Falk (Messina), Jordan’s manager, had already rebuffed Vaccaro’s attempts to approach Jordan or his family.
If he were to do that, Vaccaro could have landed in a lot of trouble. His career would have been over, and Nike could potentially lose out on lucrative deals with elite athletes. But Vaccaro desperately wanted to sign Jordan, even if it meant taking that risk. He was inspired by Goerge Raveling’s story about how he met Martin Luther King one day due to chasing the instinctive feeling that makes all the difference.
Vaccaro went to North Carolina and to the Jordans’ house. He sat down with Deloris, who called all the shots for Michael. He persuaded her by foreshadowing what Converse and Adidas executives would tell the Jordan family in their meetings to pitch themselves as his sponsor. At those companies, Jordan would be “one of the greats,” but Vaccaro was offered to make Jordan the best one at Nike, and instead of the player serving the company, it would be the other way around.
Later in the film, when the meetings would eventually happen, Vaccaro was proved right. Deloris was convinced to get Michael into a meeting with Nike, which he had originally refused.
Why was Vaccaro willing to bet his career on signing Michael Jordan?
Vaccaro was an oddball at Nike. He didn’t have many fancy degrees or wasn’t very charming to be a slick executive. All he had was insight and gut feeling. He was a visionary, even if his ideas and methods weren’t traditional. Watching him instantly reminds me of Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane from Moneyball. In fact, throw in Adam Sandler’s Stanley Sugerman from Hustle, and it gives you the complete picture of Vaccaro. He was tasked with the herculean task of making Nike’s basketball division the best in the biz. Without his involvement, it was likely that Nike would have been late to the party and missed out on the NBA revolution ushered by Jordan’s introduction.
Not only did Vaccaro recognize that the NBA would be a money minter in the future, but he also saw how Jordan could change the game. He saw greatness in the 18-year-old Jordan like very few people could profess to do. In hindsight, it all looks relatively easy to do. But that is the deception of looking back at things that fools many self-anointed visionaries. Vaccaro was betting his career on Michael Jordan because he was a gambling man.
He understood very well that losing 99 chips out of 100 doesn’t push you out of the game. But winning just one of them not only gets you back but wins you the game itself. Funnily enough, Carles Rexach and Joan Gaspart took a risk by bringing a skinny, tiny 13-year-old boy from Rosario, Argentina, to Football Club Barcelona. Such was their urgency that they signed a contract on a paper napkin. And today, Argentinian is regarded as the great football player of all time. That is what Vaccaro saw in Jordan; the potential to change an entire country.
Analysis of Major Themes in ‘Air’ (2023)
Taking Risks – “You’re remembered for the rules you break”
“You miss 100% of the shots you do not take”, Michael G. Scott. Yes, the overarching inspiration from ‘Air’s story is the courage to take risks. It took Vaccaro betting everything on this one chip to change the fortunes of Nike. But it worked. Vaccaro is a gambling man. He knows he’s not going to win every hand. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop taking them. If perfection is the name of the game, men like Vaccaro wouldn’t exist. But they do, and that is why we get to see stories like ‘Air.’
His philosophy is a life lesson that people don’t like preaching precisely because of the existing elements of risk. You need to win one big hand that compensates for all the other failures in your life. All the other hands that you lost – stop mattering when you win the one that matters the most. Those who do like taking risks and putting themselves out there in sight of the vagaries of destiny often accomplish great things. It is not about gamification of life and trivializing life decisions but approaching them with a renewed belief in yourself that you might be right.
Belief – up in the air until it actually happens
Belief and trust are what compelled Phillip Knight to put his own neck on the line and get approval for Vaccaro’s plan from the Board of Directors. The whole plan was hinged on the “belief” that Michael Jordan could change the fortunes of the company. Vaccaro’s monologue in the meeting with the Jordans at Nike’s HQ encapsulates the theme of belief in ‘Air’ while also underlining how important it is to back up your bets with this invisible thing that can give us so much hope and drive us forward.
No one believes in you or validates your ideas until they see the end results. The certainty of outcomes is a fallacy that enslaves you mentally, never allowing you to see beyond what you can. It is all a game of dreaming big and seeing your vision materialize into something great that only you can see. And then trying to convince others around you to make it happen.
Commentary about the Changing Dynamics in Sports
The issue of image rights has been somewhat alien to the current generations. Even though the number of people watching sports and idolizing icons has increased manifold, ‘Air’ brings out many reforms in its understated commentary on the issue. As more people got television sets back in the day, the number of eyeballs for sports in general increased. Some players and games became more popular than others, and hence, made more money for the broadcasters. Gradually, advertisements began gathering pace and meshed with this evolving world. That is the board lineage of how image rights for athletes became a reality. We will be discussing it further in the next segment.
Air (2023) Movie Ending, Explained:
‘Air’ ends with Nike getting the deal as Doris gave an ultimatum to Vaccaro, which he discussed with Steve Knight (the CEO), who agreed to the demands. Nike did everything possible to ruffle the feathers and get its neck further than Converse and Adidas. They took big risks to get Michael to the negotiating table that paid off. But an even bigger risk was agreeing to Deloris’ demand that seemed preposterous at the time.
What was the demand from Deloris that reformed sports globally?
Deloris wanted the family to have a share of gross sales of Air Jordans, the sneakers named after Michael, worldwide. She firmly believed that Jordan would change the game of basketball in America and the world over. And for doing that, he deserved a cut. It had never happened in sports until then, as we saw Vaccaro plead with her to rethink it. But Michael’s belief in himself was reflected in Deloris’ confidence, and she stuck by her stance. Knight gave the green light, thinking it wouldn’t cost the company too much.
As the credits are about to roll, we see Knight saying to himself that the amount could be close to $3 million. But the actual sales figure for the Jordans that year for Nike was a staggering $162 million, proving Deloris and Vaccaro’s confidence true. Sales today from the Jordans are roughly $4 billion, and the Jordan family rightly gets it’s due for taking basketball and Nike to the next level.
The dining truly epitomizes the sculpting of the American dream. There is a slight artistic rage against mass media for “ building you up into something that doesn’t exist and then tearing you down when you cannot be that thing anymore.” It was a conscious, impactful, and apropos take that only elevates ‘Air’ in our perception.
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