Further thoughts on ‘The Scorpion and the Frog’

Amateur introspection on the classic fable. Also a revisionist movie synopsis for ‘Drive’. This is a fever dream piece.

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash

First, from Wikipedia: A scorpion, which cannot swim, asks a frog to carry it across a river on the frog’s back. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung by the scorpion, but the scorpion argues that if it did that, they would both drown. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: “I couldn’t help it. It’s in my nature.”

Next, watch the trailer for Drive, by Nicolas Winding Refn.

This fable forms the crux of our main character’s decision-making process in the movie, Drive, by Nicolas Winding Refn. Sexy smoldering Ryan Gosling is our scorpion. A bad boy with a bad jacket (it has a scorpion on it if you like things metaphorically underlined), he’s got a bone to pick with anyone who talks a normal amount and at a normal pace. He’s a good driver. Best in Los Angeles. He enlists the help of Bryan Cranston (quite shaky, big limp, meth nowhere to be found) to soup up his Honda Odyssey (Civic? No, a…