How Pelé became more myth than man

February 25, 2021 10:14 AM

Making a superhero: how Pelé became more myth than man, by Jonathan Liew in the Guardian. "Casa Pelé, the small two‑room house in Três Corações where Pelé was born in 1940, is now a popular tourist attraction. As no photographs or descriptions of the original house have survived, it was rebuilt entirely from the memories of Pelé’s mother, Dona Celeste, and his uncle Jorge, with period furniture and fixings sourced from antique shops. And so what greets visitors today is really only a vague approximation of the house where one of the world’s most famous footballers spent his earliest years: a heavily curated blend of hazy memories and selective detail. As it turns out, this is also pretty much how Pelé himself is remembered these days. It’s 50 years since he played his last game for Brazil. Only a fraction of his rich and prolific playing career has survived on video. The vast majority of us never saw him play live. And so for the most part, the genius of Pelé exists largely in the abstract: something you heard or read about rather than something you saw, a bequeathed fact rather than a lived experience, a processed product rather than an organic document."
posted by dng (15 comments total)

Like Gilgamesh, or JFK's drug habit.
posted by ba at 10:55 AM on February 25, 2021

But the video we do have...

What an amazing player.
posted by Windopaene at 11:08 AM on February 25, 2021 [3 favorites]

Also, he is in the movie "Victory" and his football-playing skills are both highlighted and celebrated.
posted by datawrangler at 11:14 AM on February 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

When I was a kid, Pelé was The Soccer Player. There were posters of him in every soccer playing kid's room. When I took a soccer training course at the Y, the coach was a former teammate of Pelé's, and that's not only why we took the course, but also how we referred to him in our minds. "Our coach used to play with the soccer god Pelé." So this isn't a surprise to me, that he's become a myth. He was one in 1970s suburban Chicago too.
posted by RedEmma at 11:16 AM on February 25, 2021 [6 favorites]

The vast majority of us never saw him play live
is exposure via video of less merit in recognizing putative greatness than seeing him from the stands? i haven't heard kathleen battle or seen michael jordan in person either. does that diminish their greatness?
posted by 20 year lurk at 11:24 AM on February 25, 2021

I actually did see him play live! My parents took me to a Washington Diplomats game when they were playing the Cosmos. Though I don't remember much about the game, partially because it's pretty hard to follow live soccer from the nosebleed seats.
posted by tavella at 12:22 PM on February 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

Disregarding all his problematic personal life and his apathetic views on the political situations; I think the "Myth of Pele" is the right way to think about him. Growing up in India; all we had were descriptions of his exploits and photographs. After watching some of his videos when it became available; where you only get a glimpse of his brilliance; reinforced my youthful reverence of him as the GOAT. But that has faded now. For me the biggest reason for not thinking of him as the GOAT anymore is that he never played in Europe against better competition. Now, that is not his fault at all; but having now seen Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Di Stefano etc., let alone Maradona, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo play at a similar level of skill, grace, athleticism and sheer brilliance against vastly superior competition; takes some of the shine off my youthful reverence for Pele.
posted by indianbadger1 at 12:23 PM on February 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

indianbadger1: For me the biggest reason for not thinking of him as the GOAT anymore is that he never played in Europe against better competition

During his prime, South America and Europe were at about the same level. From 1960-1970 (after that European teams started to be dicks about taking part), South American teams won the Intercontinental Cup six times, to Europe's five. Pelé's Santos won two of those. And considering how dominant Brazil was internationally during his career, it could easily be argued that he was playing at the highest level possible.
posted by Kattullus at 1:37 PM on February 25, 2021 [5 favorites]

Why do we expect footballers to be champions of political and moral philosophy?

Did anyone ask Foucault his opinion on the deep-lying striker in the Hungarian 4-2-4?
posted by Cardinal Fang at 1:43 PM on February 25, 2021

Did anyone ask Foucault his opinion on the deep-lying striker in the Hungarian 4-2-4?

we know what he'd think. he would approve. the 4-2-4 requires tight communication between the 3 rows as the role of the midfielder changes dramatically during the game.

foucault always favoured discursive formations
posted by lalochezia at 1:49 PM on February 25, 2021 [12 favorites]

@KATULLUS:From 1960-1970 (after that European teams started to be dicks about taking part), South American teams won the Intercontinental Cup six times, to Europe's five.

I have never appreciated any of these Club World Cup things as anything more than glorified friendlies. I am sure the teams involved in the Intercontinental Cup played with full strength and with full enthusiasm, because of pride; but it is still no substitute for season long competitions.
posted by indianbadger1 at 2:13 PM on February 25, 2021

"he would approve"
Agreed - from The Order of Things
"A heterarchy is a system of organization where the elements of the organization are unranked (non-hierarchical) or where they possess the potential to be ranked a number of different ways."
(I have no idea why that's in my notes file, but there is is)
posted by thatwhichfalls at 2:32 PM on February 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

I saw Pele play - the Toronto Toros against the Cosmos - and the crowd was so sparse, I was in the second row

He was amazing - the stamina, the grace, the ability to be at the right place at the right time

And he was a good 10 to 15 years older than pretty much all of the rest of the players

It was as if he had a personal wormwhole so that he could be at any place on the field whenever he wanted

He ran effortlessly - running the way a friend runs to another friend - no fierceness, no stopping - just a change of direction to be where he needed to be
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 2:57 PM on February 25, 2021 [8 favorites]

Being immortal is hard work. If you are cursed to live forever, then you have to defend your legend, or at least be held accountable for it, every single day of your existence. Gods do not get days off.
posted by adamvasco at 2:19 AM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

I really enjoyed the Pele doc, especially linking the sporting era to the politics of the time. And the man himself was operating at a higher level on the pitch.

But I felt it was a bit mean not to mention Garrincha, the other genius-level player on that team. (I apologise if they did mention him, and he was onscreen at one point. I don't remember him being named, and of course he isn't around to be interviewed). Pele was the better player, but Garrincha could still make a grown defender cry.

There's also a danger of judging any sports player from the highlights reel in that you don't see all the hard work that leads up to the genius moment, and you don't see all the times it doesn't work. It's worth watching the whole of the 1970 World Cup final if you have time. The highlights are, like all highlights, misleading about the whole.
posted by YoungStencil at 8:08 AM on February 26, 2021 [2 favorites]