Make 'em Drag Ya

Much as he would yell at athletes on the television, my father liked to offer advice to the characters in the movies that we would watch. One of the most frequent mistakes that fictional characters make occurs during abductions — whether being kidnapped, taken as a hostage, or just forced to accompany the villain in his escape from the hero.

"Make him drag you!" my dad would yell. And so I grew up wondering how it could be that a firm grip on one's wrist is sufficient to coax an entire, sentient body to assist in its own capture.

It shouldn't be, as Donald Sensing agrees in a list of tips that he has given to his daughter, and that I will one day give to mine. The bottom line: do not go willingly.

Of course, as Amy Welborn points out so eloquently, our culture is out to make our daughters accomplices in their own abduction of a different sort.

Posted by Justin Katz at February 7, 2004 4:44 PM
Life