Super Bowl x Final Destination

Wait… how do these connect?

It’s the biggest game of the year. People huddle around their televisions with snacks of wings, chips, and pigs in a blanket. In their hands, either a bottle of beer or a cocktail of their choice.

The Super Bowl is one of the most watched sports events in America. But along with the upcoming Super Bowl is the announcement of the newest installment of the Final Destination franchise, which is set to release in May.

Alright, you may be wondering how these two things correlate–allow me. I mean, seriously, these things have more in common than you realize. From the crazy anxieties, wild superstitions, and other insane domino effects, these two interconnect more than you may realize.

Anxieties: What’s Our Fate?

There’s no denying that anxiety must run rampant for the teams playing in the Super Bowl. The mental toll of having to win for not only your team, but for your fans, would be heavy.

Athletes have to train day and night, knowing that one moment could either make them an icon or a failure. There’s a fear of not only making a mistake, but also losing control of the game. The paranoia they live with until the game is over is certainly not for the faint of heart.

In the Final Destination franchise, characters live with similar fears. After surviving the initial disaster, they know that Death is coming for them regardless. There’s constant anxiety of survivors' guilt, figuring out how and when you’re going to die next.

The issue is that these deaths don’t just come in natural, painless ways; they border on cruel irony, with each character facing incredibly wild fatal accidents.

Both of these situations involve their fates. The thing is, winning the Super Bowl or trying to cheat death always ends inevitably. You can’t control what’s going to happen, no matter how much you try.

Superstitions, Rituals, and Avoidance

Athletes and fans are notorious for superstitious habits, but it’s especially prevalent for a game as big as the Super Bowl. They wear their lucky jersey or socks, swearing there’s some kind of magic in the threads that will ensure their team’s win.

Athletes will eat the same meals, listen to the same songs, or even touch certain objects to avoid potentially screwing their team. They’re 100% that if they do these same things for every game, they’ll win no matter what.

Then, we have the multiple curses that follow the NFL. The Madden Curse, the Coin Toss Curse, the Super Bowl MVP Curse… it all comes down to patterns.

They’re hyper-aware of patterns, just like the characters of Final Destination. Once a character is next on the chopping block, they begin to notice signs and premonitions more. The number 180 was seen in the first movie multiple times, foreshadowing the deaths of each individual who escaped the plane crash of Flight 180.

Similarly to the fans of the NFL who live in fear of wearing the wrong thing, the characters of Final Destination also stay looking over their shoulders from death. The amount of omens that come from the universe–birds, flies, mirrors–all fall into the realm of creepy foreshadowing.

Even the order in which they will die follow a pattern, based on who died at which time during the original disaster.

In both cases, these people are subjected to the superstitions and patterns of the universe. Whatever happens, happens… there is no controlling it. If death comes knocking, you have to answer it–even if it’s just for your team’s Super Bowl loss.

The Domino Effect

In the Super Bowl, one play can ruin the entire game for a team. One play can tarnish a player’s reputation. One play can, well, make you look like an idiot. With a legacy on the line, every play is to be scrutinized.

Super Bowl XLIX, for example, is known for the infamous pass play by the Seahawks, costing them to lose the game. Similarly, Super Bowl LI saw the Falcons dominating the Patriots… but it was one bad choice that cost them the game. Instead of running the ball, they were met with sacks, turnovers, and rushed plays. This small mistake led to the impossible comeback of the Patriots.

For the Final Destination franchise, characters often die from small incidents. In Final Destination 3, a drink spilled onto the controls of the tanning beds, locking the victims inside and burning them to death. Or, like in Final Destination 5, when a gymnast attempts to do her routine on the balance beam, there’s a nail that falls on it. Luckily, she manages to avoid stepping on it, but her timing gets thrown off, leading to her landing the wrong way and snapping her spine.

In both instances, one small thing can cause a moment of disaster. Catastrophe is easy to obtain if you don’t pay attention to the signs, with just a single thing in control of your fate.

CONCLUSION

The Super Bowl and Final Destination may have a lot more in common than you think, but only one comes out with winners.

What are you doing for the Super Bowl? Tanning? Driving behind log trucks? Or maybe… just stay home with friends.