While he was with Nicole it was obvious he had anger issues. What I dont understand is why nobody else in his family or friends from his childhood, or his football teammates ever talked about his anger issues? Not one person interviewed mentioned he had a temper. Did he ever express anger to anyone else?
shareGood question. It's quite possible OJ kept his anger in check except when he was at home. I think he did confront one of Nicole's lovers at a restaurant but he didn't get out of control, he just scared the guy by using verbal threats and staring at him.
In short, I think OJ mostly kept his anger in check and really, I think by keeping his anger pent up inside could have led to his "blowing up" and destroying Nicole's and so many others lives.
Just a theory I don't know.
Shall we play a game?
Yeah its interesting. So OJ kept his anger in check his whole life, even in childhood, meets Nicole and then its all released. He even holds his anger in check while playing football which is quite remarkable. You think a guy with an inbuilt temper playing football might explode at least a few times on the field or in training.
shareI wondered about this too but I doubt it was hidden. His jealousy, pettiness and philandering weren't touched on until Nicole but, I have no doubt it was all there. They just framed it, I guess, so possibly for people who didn't actually watch the trial might be lulled bit a false sense of "what a great guy!". Just a guess. There's no doubt it was there, it just wasn't talked about. His buddies will protect him for sure and then there's the one guy who was in complete denial. Only briefly was there vague mention of "losing who he was" as he became more famous.
shareI thought the series was pretty objective and didnt seem to be for or against OJ. Maybe the people interviewed just didnt wanna say anything negative about his life before Nicole. Maybe it was just hard to find people to interview in those early years who had something to say about OJ's negative behaviour. But I am sure there would have been some locker room incidents where OJ had a tantrum which an ex football teammate could have discussed. Especially against his former first coach at Buffalo who was playing him so out of position as a wide receiver, dont you think OJ would have had confronted him about that? That coach would have been an interesting interviewee in this series just to see another side of OJ's anger.
shareThere were former coaches, team mates and childhood friends interviewed. I'm sure many of the people we didn't see either refused to participate or are not available (dead). Everyone in his life definitely would have seen how he treated his first wife. We know abusers doesn't just become one out of the blue. It was edited in a way to not even thouch on the that aspect of his personality. This doesn't show bias in the film at all, it's a chosen narrative though, for sure, a tool which all documentary makers employ. They take the raw data and weave a story but it has to be cohesive, it has to draw you in. This was their chosen narrative and it wasn't biased toward OJ. If it was, we wouldn't have seen the embarrassing clips of his Florida and Las Vegas days, nor would we have heard from the persecution or other critics. It simply told the story without touching on past violent behaviour.
shareWhat I dont understand is why nobody else in his family or friends from his childhood, or his football teammates ever talked about his anger issues?
While he was with Nicole it was obvious he had anger issues. What I dont understand is why nobody else in his family or friends from his childhood, or his football teammates ever talked about his anger issues? Not one person interviewed mentioned he had a temper. Did he ever express anger to anyone else?
It's also possible that he really was not a generally angry man and that there was simply something volatile about his feelings and relationship with Nicole. I have had relationships with certain people where I act like a different person with them than I do with/around anyone else. And it's not "acting" or pretending or me consciously controlling how I behave, it's just something about the dynamic between me and that person. I'm not referring to violence, just to be clear.
I am, of course, not defending him by any means. I'm just saying that sometimes our feelings for or about specific people can be intense and unlike anything we feel for anyone else. That could be what happened here.
"Your petty vengeance fetish will have to do withOUT Mr. Groin!"
he needed to take up surfing. a perfect wave helps one find zen.
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I think it's because all the people who witnessed his anger breakdowns before all that are dead.
sharePossible ideas:
Nicole came into OJ's life just as his playing career was ending. During his Hall of Fame speech OJ talks about that being the toughest time in an athletes life, and how she helped him thru it. Maybe after a few years he missed having that outlet for his anger, and his anger started bubbling up else where. Or maybe he was falling into a depression, or sense of worthlessness since he was no longer able to play the game that he was so great at.
Or it's been suggested that OJ has CTE. One of the signs of that are violent mood swings and changes in someone's personality. There's a story that at USC, they didn't have a helmet that fit OJ, so they had to take some of the padding out of one. Over time this would lead to more head injuries and the potential for long term problems.