Looking through the eyes of Love

I’m old. Let’s face it I’m probably a good deal older than a lot of people who read the Vocal pieces or write for Vocal but I love TV and all things Netflix, Hulu and some of the Australian streaming services like Stan where I live in Australia. A quiet night at home, especially during winter, just me and my dog and being able to chill and watch a great Netflix or Hulu series, wrapped in a warm blanket, sugary cup of tea in hand, is my idea of heaven.

When I was growing up, I loved this movie called “Ice Castles” because I was really into ice skating and roller skating when I was kid and lived close to a roller skating rink and not too far from an ice rink. While there are no roller skating rinks close by now to where I live, there are quite a few ice skating rinks and I still love ice skating and go often.

“Ice Castles” came out in 1978 when I was thirteen years old. It starred Robbie Benson who I had a huge crush on with his dark hair, olive complexion and big green eyes. I ended up being a lesbian but that didn’t take away from my huge crush on him at the time, being just thirteen years old.

I watched the movie over and over again and loved it and the song Looking “Through the Eyes of Love” became a big hit for Melissa Manchester and I loved that song.

This is the description from Wikipedia about the 1978 movie “Ice Castles” about the storyline.

Alexis "Lexie" Winston is a sixteen-year-old girl from Waverly, Iowa who dreams of becoming a champion figure skater. Her boyfriend, Nick Peterson, dreams of being a hockey player.

Coached by a family friend and former skater, Lexie enters a regional championship over her father's protests. There she is discovered by an elite coach who sees her potential despite a lack of training and a relatively advanced age for figure skaters. Over her father's objections, Lexie moves from Waverly to Colorado Springs to train at the legendary Broadmoor World Arena. She becomes unpopular with the other skaters in training because of the attention lavished on her natural talent and the media attention her coach obtains for her in an effort to make her known to the skating world. Lexie proves and enhances her skating abilities and qualifies for the senior championship level. Lexie's life changes drastically in the process. She becomes a star, alienates her boyfriend, and begins dating a grown man, Brian, who is a television broadcaster, following her training.

Lexie becomes uncomfortable with the changes in her life and in herself. Lexie leaves a party for skating sponsors and goes down to the outdoor rink nearby to skate. Her coach and the party goers notice her, and are watching through the windows as Lexie skates. She attempts a difficult triple jump, but lands off the ice onto a set of tables and chairs that are chained together near the edge of the rink. Lexie suffers a serious head injury, with a blood clot in her brain that robs her of her eyesight. She can see only light and blurry shapes. The doctor is uncertain if her injury is permanent.

Lexie goes home and becomes a recluse. Nick, who still resents her affair with Brian, demands that she get out of the house and back onto the ice. Despite their mutual resentment and Lexie's depression, they work through their estrangement and rediscover their love for each other. With help from Nick, her father Marcus, and original coach Beulah, Lexie begins to believe she can still fulfil her dreams. She is virtually blind, but can still see the boards at the edge of the rink, so she learns how to skate around her disability. She enrols in the sectional championship and competes once again. Lexie presents a flawless, beautiful program and wins an enthusiastic standing ovation from the crowd. Her disability, however, is discovered when she trips over the roses, thrown onto the ice by adoring fans after her performance, and falls to the ice. Nick rushes to her side and says, "We forgot about the flowers," as the crowd realizes that she has not recovered from her injuries but, instead, has risen above them."

I kind of love this genre of movie, you know overcoming adversity against the odds to live and pursue your dream and then throw in a sport or recreational activity like ice hockey and figure skating, it's just the best. I love the genre of movie where you have to strive to be and do your best and that for me is a winning combination.

The movie “Full Out” based on the true story of Ariana Berlin who was primed to become an Olympic Gymnast before she was in a car accident that left her in an induced coma for five days. She suffered from two collapsed lungs, two broken legs, a broken wrist, a broken collarbone and cracked ribs. The accident took her away her hopes of being an Olympic Gymnast. She fought back, recovered with the support of her family and her coach Valorie Kondos Field (played by Jennifer Beals) in the movie.

Ariana Berlin herself plays Valerie Kondos Field’s Gymnastics assistant while Ariana Berlin is played by Ana Golja (she is known for playing Zoë Rivas in the teen dramas Degrassi: Next Class and Degrassi: The Next Generation)

In real life Valorie Kondos Field (often referred to as Miss Val) is an awe-inspiring woman who has faced her own adversities battling breast cancer but was head gymnastics coach of UCLA Bruins from 1991 and retired in 2019. She coached them for a period of 28 years and was never a gymnast herself. She never competed as a gymnast but she was a dancer. She wrote a book in 2018 called “Life Is Short, Don't Wait to Dance: Advice and Inspiration from the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame Coach of 7 NCAA Championship Teams.”

Ariana Berlin following her accident Berlin found it hard to get back into gymnastics training and decided to get into hip hop and breakdancing. She was one of the youngest members of the San Diego breakdance troupe Culture Shock.

While performing hip hop at Sea World San Diego with her dance troupe she met Valerie Kondos Field.

After meeting Miss Val and spending time and being surrounded by gymnastics shows at the park, Berlin realized that she still really loved Gymnastics.

She communicated to Valorie Kondos that her long time dream was to compete for UCLA. The car accident had cut that dream short but she wanted to return to Gymnastics and competing. She wanted to be a walk on for the UCLA Bruins if she could regain her Gymnastics skills.

Valorie Kondos Field respected her work ethic and her ability to work with others and to perform outside of her chosen field and was thrilled to have her on the UCLA team.

Ariana had to work extremely hard, returning to the gym to regain her gymnastic skills. At Miss Val's humorous suggestion, she graduated a year early from high school so she could join the UCLA Bruins gymnastics team at seventeen.

Initially being a walk on for the team she was then offered a full scholarship for the 2005-2006 season. It was her sheer dogged determination that got her through. She never missed a meet, despite consistent nagging leg pain due to a metal rod in her leg after the accident. She went on to become one of the most successful gymnasts in UCLA history.

The dance scenes in “Full Out” are legendary, especially the end of the movie after Ariana’s gymnastic come back, floor routine where she is able to do a “full out” even with the metal rod in her leg. The end scene in the movie there is an awesome dance/gymnastics scene where Ariana Berlin herself is one of the extras in an all-out hip hop performance. I love the theme of the movie where you get to fulfil on doing what you love, no matter what the odds and by just not giving up.

Why I’m drawn to movies like “Ice Castles’’ which is fictional and “Full Out” which is based on a true story is that they capture the essence of human transformation, the ability to heal and to transform into something bigger than ourselves. Watching movies like that are inspiring and call me to be and do something greater than just exist.

I’m nearly 56 and only now able to have the space, time and have healed enough in my life to just begin to live my life’s purpose. You are never too old and it's never too late.

These movies inspire us to be more and to grab our dreams and go for it, no matter what’s been standing in our way. In my case a lot has always stood in my way.

Some of us don’t lose our hopes, goals, dreams and wishes no matter what our age and for some of us it just takes longer to achieve and we keep putting one foot in front of the other until we get there. My dream is bigger now than it’s ever been and it’s time to live my soul’s purpose. It’s why I love these movies. They have the ability to inspire in a simple way.

Human transformation is why I do what I do and these movies capture the essence of what it means to transform as a human being through adversity.

I have the DVD of the 1978 version of “Ice Castles” and have watched it countless times and “Full Out” I have watched at least fifteen times on Netflix because they inspire me to reach for my dreams and to not give up and to know that I am here to be more than what I have been to date. They are entertaining movies to watch too and there is the love story component as well.

Most of us love a good romantic movie with an inspiring, happy ending and I'm no different be it a cheesy lesbian movie or some cheesy straight chick flick.

Robbie Benson (who is now sixty five years old) pushes the character of Lexie to be her best self, even when she loses her sight. He never gives up on her and is there for her because he loves her even when she betrays him. They find their way back to each other and it's all about love and what we do for love.

The 1978 movie “Ice Castles” led to a remake in 2010 starring Taylor Firth as Lexie and Rob Mayes as Nick. This film was direct-to-DVD sports romantic drama film directed by Donald Wrye who also directed the 1978 film.

While the 2010 remake was good, there was something about the 1978 version that stole my heart. Maybe it’s because I was thirteen and remakes often just never seem as good, even though it was the same director. Maybe it’s just because there was no Robbie Benson to drool over and by 2010 I was a fully fledged Lesbian. I digress.

So if this, then that the 1978 and 2010 movies “Ice Castles” automatically leads me to “Zero Chill” on Netflix because it contains the same themes. I went to “Zero Chill” rather than “Spinning Out” which is also about figure skating because I found it really hard to watch Spinning Out.

Spinning Out is a lot darker and when I’m watching TV for entertainment, I want to be entertained without watching shows that are superficial and vacuous.

I’m a trauma therapist during the day so when I watch TV at night, I don’t want to watch someone spinning out of control. I have enough of that during my work day. So, I loved “Zero Chill” for so many reasons.

“Zero Chill” is a British teen drama series that premiered on Netflix on 15 March 2021. Like the movie “Ice Castles” this series features both ice hockey and figure skating.

The series is focused on the MacBentley family moving from their home in Canada to England for their son Mac to join a hockey team. Twins Kayla who figures skates and her brother Mac plays hockey for a team called The Hammers.

The series stars Grace Beedie as Kayla, Dakota Benjamin Taylor as Mac, Jade Ma as Skye who becomes Kayla’s best friend and Mac’s love interest which causes some friction between the siblings who both vie for Skye’s attention.

The series was filmed in Sheffield, England.

A sub category of the main storyline of the friendship between Kayla and Skye and romance between Mac and Skye, is also the dynamics between the Coach of The Hammers Anton Hammarström (played by Oscar Skagerberg), his ex wife, Elina Hammarström(played by Tanja Ribic ) and their daughter Ava Hammarström (played by Anastázie Chocholatá).

Their family relationship is fraught with tension and Ava's mother Elina pushes her to be the best figure skater without a great deal of compassion and Ava resists and rebels because she wants to play hockey on her Dad's team. she also constantly seeks her Father's approval.

Similar to “Ice Castles” one of the character’s is dealing with a major illness which impacts her ability to skate and she has an over protective Mother just wanting the best for her child.

Besides Mac, who can be rather self obsessed, brooding and a tad annoying at times the characters are well formed and likeable. With similar themes to “Ice Castles” the series focuses on what it takes to chase and pursue your dream. It illustrates the level of determination it takes to achieve your goals.

There is a lot of teenage angst in the show which is fine because that’s all part of being a teenager. The skating scenes are beautiful and encapsulate the elegance, beauty and freedom of skating.

I think it’s the freedom of being on the ice, gliding and moving in sync to the music that I love. Even at fifty six years old I still really love getting on the ice and skating because of the feeling of sheer exhilaration that ice skating provides.

A compilation of some of my favourite scenes from Zero Chill featuring the song “Changing” by Sigma featuring Paloma Faith in the youtube video below.

If you can’t physically get on the ice then watching a movie or a series about ice hockey and figure skating is the next best thing. With Zero Chill you get to be entertained, witness the skill and precision of really great skating and follow the hopes and goals of a determined group of teenagers following their dreams. The icing on the proverbial cake is there is the smatterings of friendship and budding young love thrown in to boot.

I seriously hope there is a season 2 of Zero Chill and if there is a second season, I can’t wait to watch it.