What if you just jump without the rope?
Julio Torres is one of our finest modern day bards. The actor, comedian and writer is taking the film industry by storm; brilliantly using humor, tragedy and experiential narratives to encapsulate the stifling nature of contemporary life.
Many of Torres’ plotlines hone in on feeling invisible for reasons including social status, cultural identity and generally being perceived as not fitting within the status quo. Although they face an uphill battle to be seen, the protagonists in his works embody powerful (sometimes even supernatural) traits that help them navigate the dilemma-filled labyrinth of the human condition. Torres utilizes his comedic canon and fantastical storytelling skills to blast down barriers of physical and psychological proportions.
In the film Problemista (2023), Torres explores feelings of alienation and the struggles of bringing outside-the-box ideas to life. He plays a character named Alejandro who is an aspiring toy designer, but has a hard time finding his footing in the field. To make matters more complex, he is on a work visa that’s quickly expiring. Facing deportation, Alejandro is desperate, but also determined to live out his goal. He finds an unlikely adversary and kindred spirit in Elizabeth (played by Tilda Swinton), an art critic whose headstrong nature motivates Alejandro to be assertive and turn his dream into a tangible reality.
In the six-part series Fantasmas (2024), Torres plays a character named Julio, who is experiencing pitfalls because of his social status and mental health related issues (like myself, he exhibits OCD intrusive thoughts, especially related to health). The show takes place in the (near) future, or more likely an alternative timeline to the current day, where to make a living, find shelter and get medical care, you need to show “proof of existence.” In order to be exempt from this requirement you need to be “exceptional.” Individuals who are famous influencers are exempt from the rule. As a person who marches to the beat of his own drum, Julio has an incredibly hard time fitting in, let alone becoming an influencer.
One particular scene in the series is an apt scrutiny of the field of fitness influencers. While there are many great resources for getting in shape, there’s a massive amount of bad advice. Julio has to get in shape in order to be cast in roles that he hopes will make him exempt. He takes a jump rope class, but realizing that the technique of jumping rope is too difficult, he questions the point of using the rope, and confronts the instructor by saying “What if you just jump without the rope?”
While it’s easy to get swept up in the fervor of Julio’s rebellion, it’s incorrect to imply that jumping sans rope is an equally comparable workout to jumping rope. Although it sounds appealing, there are no shortcuts to getting in shape.
Jumping is a very good exercise on its own, but with the addition of the jump rope, you’re training so much more than you would simply by jumping. Even if you mimic the hand/wrist movement, without an actual jump rope you’re missing out on several beneficial aspects such as using the rope as a form of resistance training and developing balance and coordination via the precision of flicking the rope and timing your jump to clear it.
Torres devises scenes where characters look for shortcuts and attempt to cheat the system, only to realize that putting in the actual work makes them stronger and happier. In setting his characters up to fail, they learn to use failure as a motivator to break boundaries and feel more efficacious about themselves when they end up succeeding.
The experiential journeys taken by characters in Torres’ work is why I am invested and emerged in everything I’ve seen by him. I sincerely want the protagonists to have a happy ending, in part because of Torres’ excellent character development, but also because I relate to their experiences. Like Alejandro, I’m an artist and dreamer who often gets stuck in a rut and feels letdown by the lack of engagement with my work. Yet, my passion drives me forward and I persist. As Andres (the character Torres plays in Los Espookys) says, “Some people enjoy the journey more than the destination.”
So if you want to jump without a rope, do it because it’s good exercise. But if you’re doing it to avoid the challenge of jumping rope, then reconsider and take on the task. You’ll eventually get it right, and feel really good about your triumph!
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