Macho man

[Neville Briggs]

I saw on the TV program last night that there was a repeat of the movie Rambo, starring Sylvester Stallone. The movie is one of a series depicting some sort of ultra testosterone bloke, John Rambo, Vietnam war veteran soldier who goes around with his shirt off, showing his enormous muscles and defeating hordes of enemies with his bow and arrow and super strength and determination.

Since I am interested in words, I was interested in the name of this character. It occured to me that John Rambo is a very close approximation to the pronunciation of the French name Jean (Arthur) Rimbaud.
Arthur Rimbaud is a very famous literary figure, much admired by the trendy set in Australia, such as the artist Sidney Nolan and friends. Arthur Rimbaud was a poet of the modernist/symbolist kind, with a reputation of being outrageously dissolute, and as well being a homosexual who lived with another poetic man; the very antithesis of the 1980s Hollywood macho man.

I wondered if the screen name Rambo, applied to the fighting hero, was a little Hollywood tongue in cheek, aimed at the poetic types.

You see my poetic friends, words are not just words, they can be bullets.

[Heather]

....or a long bow......

[David Campbell]

It's just a name, Neville, apparently borrowed from a brand of apples (crisp and juicy!) known to the author of the 1972 book on which the films are based. Nothing to do with French poets. Yes, the films are extreme in terms of violence, but the main character in the novel suffers serious PTSD after being a POW in Vietnam. So there was a sub-text. Rambo actually dies at the end of the book.

David

[Neville Briggs]

A coincidence.. Can we be sure