Over Winter Break-I watched Dead Poets Society one night with my parents. Carpe Diem they say. The next night we sat on the same couch and watched Good Will Hunting. That’s the good stuff, they say.
I guess I would consider myself an emotional person. I cry easily at certain movies that strike a chord for me. Sometimes when I’m walking and listening to a particular song, watching little kids play in the park, or looking at my dog and how perfect he is just because he is a dog, I feel overwhelmed with the beauty in life because the best things, are often the most simple.
I feel this way about the movies stated above movies, more specifically Robin Williams. There is some sort of magic that he brings to the screen that is felt in my soul. I don’t really know what it is-and I think that’s the most special part about him. When I watched these movies-although both are emotional in their own light- I find myself getting emotional at all parts-I think about how touching it must have been to be in a room where something that Robin does is just completely unexpected-and yet makes the whole room stare back in awe. How the hell did he just improvise that?
This is one of my favorites improvised scenes from Good Will Hunting-you can actually see the camera man laugh through the camera shaking. All because of a fart joke-they really never get old do they?
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I know every generation thinks the newest technology is ruining what was so good previously, we love to harp on all that is being lost and destroyed-and how nothing is as good as it was back in the good ol days. I often find myself teetering back and forth on thinking this is true.
On the one hand-people thought the printing press was the end of the world, comic books were destroying kids brains, and that TV was the end all to the Baby Boomer Generation. We always think the newest thing will ruin us-and that those changes will be irreversible. It’s funny to think about people hating comic books when we can’t imagine a world without them now-many parents would be thrilled at the sight of their kid holding a comic book instead of their phone. The point is-there will always be new technology-we will always be progressing..I believe, forward - even with our ups and downs, because the true essence of humanity can never be lost or ruined… we always find our way back.
Yet on the other hand-there is a side of me that hates how when I look outside at a group of kids waiting to enter a lecture hall 90% of them have their headphones on, faces in their phones. I hate how easily I can become distracted by the rabbit hole of reels if I just tell myself “five minutes of scrolling-just to turn “off” my brain”. I hate that every new Hollywood movie is either a bio-pic, musical reimagined, or a book adaptation. They don’t make movies like they used to. I hate how most students pay for AI to do their work for them-just so they can save time to scroll on their phones instead. I feel a nostalgia for a time where we could walk in silence-sit on a train without staring at our phones, eat dinner without having something play in our ears, go in an elevator without scrolling on Instagram, spend two hours on a problem you can’t figure out instead of having AI do it for you. It's hard not to question are we … declining?
I don’t think I have an answer. I can’t control how every individual acts. I can’t see the future. What I can do is change my own actions. I’m not perfect-I still catch myself slipping into the ease of pulling out my phone when I’m bored-but I’ve gotten better. And newsflash-I feel better.
What I'm trying to do more of:
-walking with nothing but me and my thoughts
-no scrolling on reels-when I go on instagram-I only see who I follow
-read more
-watch movies with my phone away
-when I go in an elevator-embrace the awkwardness
-choose other activities besides scrolling if I want to “turn my brain off” (reading, crocheting, walking, writing, headstands, solitaire, even just watching a long form piece of content)
-handwritten notes in class
-watching Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, Mary Poppins, a Julia Roberts Rom Com, etc…
It’s about the everyday actions that add up. The world will change, so will we.
How do we want to change. That’s what matters. That’s the question.
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My sister asked me the other day what sparks my creativity, I listed lots of things but in terms of old movies here are some scenes that inspire me to keep creating.
Dead Poets Society: Walking the Same
Good Will Hunting: It's Not Your Fault
Mary Poppins: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Shawshank Redemption: Final Scene
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Cat
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