Air is a movie about a... shoe. So why is everybody talking about it?

The response to Air, the latest on-screen collaboration between Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, has been about as mixed as a response can get. It's being mocked, adored, revered, and panned, all basically in equal measure. To make matters even more confusing, it's also been characterised as both a commercial flop and a surprise hit (despite failing to recoup its costs at the box office). 

What these contradictions mean, in short, is that the movie is being talked about a lot. 

So, what is it about this story that's drawing so much attention? Why is it that a film about Nike reps trying to clinch the deal with Michael Jordan to launch his first line of basketball shoes in the 80s – a niche story that should really exclusively appeal to nerdy middle-aged men – is gaining so much traction online? 

The truth is, Air was always going to make a lot of headlines despite its central tenet being a violently capitalist narrative about the success of... shoes. 

For a start, it's the first project to come out of Artists Equity, a venture launched by Affleck and Damon to make movies that make more money for artists (writers, directors, designers, and editors alike). 

The philosophy behind the independent studio is an essential antithesis to the broken TV and film industry that has left writers chronically underpaid and forced the Writers Guild of America to organise a mass strike. 

Image: Amazon Prime. 

This means that for the film's writer, 30-year-old Alex Convery, who went from being an unproduced screenwriter to the sole writing credit on one of the biggest movies of 2023, he'll be seeing a slice of the profits. Which is appropriately meta, given that part of the film's focus is the groundbreaking moment that NBA G.O.A.T, Michael Jordan, secures a chunk of the profits from his Air Jordan collaboration with Nike (a chunk that apparently amounts to $US400 million in passive income for the five-time MVP winner every year).

But there's more to Air than pay deals and industry lore. 

Despite being frivolous and silly – and it is very frivolous and silly at its heart – there is goodness to be gleaned from this movie. Yes, this is ultimately a movie about a multi-multi-billion-dollar corporation that involves shockingly little tension because, well, we clearly know the outcome. And yes, it does involve a speech about Jordan's greatness delivered by Damon to the camera delivered with such comical levels of passion and seriousness that it leads you to question if these men are going to perform some sort of blood sacrifice at his alter. 

Listen to Mamamia Out Loud discuss Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's surprise wedding. Article continues after podcast. 

But there is also some emotional value in Air, largely delivered by its single female character (bar a hot office assistant), Deloris Jordan, played by the indomitable Viola Davis. 

Deloris, who has established multiple charities and served as the president and founder of the charitable foundation named for her late husband, the James R. Jordan Foundation, is a widely respected figure and Davis honours her with this performance.

Placing Deloris at the front of the Jordan family (Michael Jordan scarcely appears on screen in the movie) was a conscientious move by the filmmakers that pays homage not only to the mother of the basketball star, but really, mothers calling the shots behind the scenes everywhere. 

Watch the Air trailer below. Article continues after video. 

She's smart and strategic and, despite the banging of the corporate drum that's almost deafening throughout the film, she's shown to speak from a place of love and not necessarily ambition (although of course, those two concepts are so clearly intertwined when you're the parent of the world's greatest professional basketball player).

But even besides the actual value, there seems to be some unspoken value to the film's success.

There's an aspect to Air's reception that speaks to our hunger for narratives that don't... totally matter right now. With the release of this year's next very frivolous, silly and much-anticipated project, Barbie, around the corner, it's possible that Air is just another sign that we're still in our intellectual bimbo era. Thoughts empty, just shoes. 

In a post-pandemic universe where wealth and housing inequality have become more dire than ever before, it seems strange that we could all find ourselves rallying around a such a hilariously superficial narrative (and it is superficial, despite what impassioned Matt Damon monologues may try to tell you). But maybe that means it's also exactly the kind of story we need – one with basically zero stakes. And that's totally okay, as long as we can also laugh at the fact we're cheering for a rich guy and a really really really f**king rich company.

Elfy is an executive editor at Mamamia. 

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