The Professional Tragedy

When we were asked to think of a contemporary example of a tragedy, the first thing that came to mind was the movie Leon: The Professional. The movie centers around a young girl whose family is killed by a corrupt police officer who was involved in a drug deal with the girl's father. The girl, Mathilda, was getting groceries when her family was killed, so she survives only by walking to her neighbor's apartment until the corrupt officers leave. While the girl was unhappy in her family, her brother's death strikes her hard. She then realizes that Leon, her neighbor, is a professional assassin and she teaches him to love people and he teaches her to kill. In my opinion, it fits most of the criteria for a tragedy very well, but it provides an interesting twist on those criteria at the same time.

The first criteria for a tragedy is that the hero must be someone of "noble stature." While Leon is not of typical noble stature in any way, he is presented at the beginning of the movie as the only person with his life in order, living comfortably in his apartment, and maintaining a well-respected and comparatively moral position in his career even if it is an innately immoral career. So, compared to the rest of the characters, Leon begins the movie in a relatively high standing in the audience's eyes, since they don't yet know he's an assassin and they just see that he helps out a little girl willingly when she most needs it. Then, the tragic hero must be good, but not perfect, which Leon definitely fits because he's good-natured, but he is still a professional assassin.

In terms of Leon's troubles being tragic rather than pathetic, I think they definitely are. He leads to his own eventual death by taking in Mathilda and allowing her to show him how to really care for someone and enjoy life. Here is where I think this movie provides an interesting twist on a tragedy. The action that Leon takes that leads to his untimely demise is actually a positive thing in his life. Still, it leads to a revelation on his part that enjoying life is important and worth whatever costs it may involve, so even though he dies as a result of this choice, it is not a complete loss for him.

Finally, the movie is structured in a way that makes the audience sympathize with Leon even though he is an assassin, which subsequently causes them to fear for him in times of danger and experience genuine sadness when he dies, which is also a criteria for a tragedy.

Overall, in my opinion, this movie definitely qualifies as a contemporary tragedy.

Comments

[Essay Writing]

Thanks alot man for writing up such an awesome blog post and yeah this professional tragedy usually get to happens with most!