Skip to main content

Your Movie

If you were on the hottest social media app Tik Tok this past summer, you probably know about what it means to be the Main Character. The archetype of the main character is nearly epitomized as being the center of attention, but not in the perfect life kind of way. More like in a "quirky" kind of way.

Recently, as social media has begun to highlight quirky personalities and shame their basic counterparts, the trend has only perpetuated the cycle of homogeneity. Regardless of how unprecedented a goal may be, with everyone aiming for it, it loses its shine. Quite frankly, striving to match an archetype of any sort produces the most boring and predictable movie---for you, as the "main character," and for viewer: your friends. And not only is it boring, but aiming to fit that mold is tiring---unsatisfactory. 

So as the clíche goes: Just be yourself. 

But sometimes, even that's boring. (No offense)

I believe one of the most satisfactory and thrilling ways to live is by being shameless. Not just unashamed, but shameless. Dictionary.com defines the word as "lacking any sense of shame" or "insensible to disgrace"---even when rightfully deserved. Despite the negative connotation of the word, I often choose to describe myself as shameless (something that people don't know). 

Recently, I've learned to embrace shame and being ridiculed. As I've come to see it, nobody cares about me. Seriously, nobody actually cares about the things that you and I do; it's not their life! Really the only people who care about my actions are my friends, telling me "Sabrina, that's sooo stupid" and "that's never gonna happen." Call me an idealist but actually entertaining the random ideas is both possible and one of the most exciting decisions possible. Truthfully, it's the best way to make friends: showing your most genuine and strange side. It's the best way to improve yourself and your personality. Say hi to everyone on the street! In the car next to you! Act like someone you've just met is a lifelong friend! It may take them by surprise but ultimately shamelessness is often appreciated. 

You make friends and make it big when you do what everyone's too scared to do. You're only the main character in your own life.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Gray Area

As we discuss the roles of pictures and words in conveying a story, I become mildly conflicted in several aspects. First, and most obviously, which one does the better job? To me, both forms of storytelling allow for creativity and personal thought. But, while writing is both specific and yet very imagination-based, illustrations tend to be only the latter. A drawing calls for "broader topics" (McCloud 815) of assumptions. And while that may be seen as a good thing, I see it as a source of miscommunication. Because images are open to so many different interpretations, often, the author's intended meaning is not truly understood. Similarly, I regularly find myself wondering if, as readers, we also look too much into the text and find meaning when the author actually had none. What if the author didn't really have a specific theme in mind and just wanted to write an amusing story? Of course, I may just be too simple-minded and unqualified, but I find myself doubting t...
7 comments
Read more

Never Let Anyone Dull your Sparkle! (unless you're the 1920s)

Knowing that the Great Gatsby is set in the 1920s, I had been looking forward to reading the book for so long. This decade has always fascinated me because of its creation of a new society, which--for the first time in history--is relatable to ours. In my perspective, before the 1920s, history was bleak, the human lifestyle seemed near archaic, and nothing was the slightest bit comparable to the twenty-first century. But at the turn of a new decade, Roaring Twenties brought along the "New Woman" and the birth of mass culture, including a surge of trends and technology. A curtain for my car window? Of course, I'll buy it! However, in the Great Gatsby , I seemed to have forgotten that the book I was reading was about my favorite decade! Where's the excitement and innovation? Why aren't advertisements for the Model-T being shoved in my face? Needless to say, I was underwhelmed! But I don't think I was alone in thinking this. In fact, Fitzgerald's mess...
7 comments
Read more

War and Peace

Violence. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. In most ways violence can seem very obvious because of its portrayal in movies, video games, and crime; you picture blood, weapons, and fighting. But there seem to be sources of violence that tend to be less physical.  While looking at an image of a young boy in the arms of, presumably, his father whose head was covered by a bag, it seems that most of us agreed that it isn't  a violent image. In disbelief, Mrs. Valentino exclaimed that it is actually violent. However, in my head, it came across as almost peaceful. Now, I do acknowledge the sadness of this image, but what I really saw was a boy reuniting with his father among the vastness of a desert. There was a stillness that was reflected by the picture instead of the usual chaos that physical violence entails. So what really is violence? We can almost all agree that there should be a line dra...
7 comments
Read more