Hollywood loves a Rebel Alliance. Way before Luke Skywalker started talking to pensioners in canyons and set off questing against an evil empire armed only with a strip light, the 'handful of heroes' format was a sure-fire winner. Countless cowboy movies such as The Magnificent Seven, and war films like The Dirty Dozen, in fact pretty much every adventure film follows the rag-tag underdog gang against the megacorp / evil empire / ridiculous odds trope. Cinema was just following on the heels of similar tales from the very start of recorded history too. Most of the Greek legends are about the triumphs of humble heroes against ridiculous odds and Celtic, Norse, Hindu, Muslim, Celtic, and Christian writings nearly all follow the same outnumbered but somehow ultimately triumphant underdog / hero format.
Even mountain biking has always followed the ‘rebel heroes’ narrative. Gary Fisher, Charlie Kelly, Scot Nicol, Joe Breeze et al started the craze by escaping into the hills to get away from "Cars. Cops. Concrete." and the over-officious world of road racing. Any intervention into our sport but bigger governing bodies has been viewed with deep suspicion too. And often with good cause if you see how EWS and DH are ‘developing’ since the Warner Brothers / Discovery media Star Destroyer blotted out the sky. Even our brand landscape has way more small ‘have a go hero’ companies who somehow eke out a living between the mega brands than you see with most other sports. We’ve even created a globally successful sport by often conveniently overlooking official access and trail-building rights.
