Hard Times, Real Friends, Wonderful Life

By: Alex

Art by Alex 

Tis the season to talk about my favorite Christmas movie, which is also possibly my favorite movie of all time—It’s a Wonderful Life. Frank Capra’s masterpiece of seasonal spirit proves that pure optimism can be found in even the gravest times. But more importantly, he proves that every human life is worth something.

Growing up with It’s a Wonderful Life, this Christmas classic was one of the first videotapes I owned. Though I appreciate it’s traditional value in my house, what I love most about this movie is that no matter how many times I watch it, its timeless themes never lose their worth.

In the story, George Bailey feels his life is worthless because he has nothing to show for it. He’s struggling as a businessman in a job he doesn’t truly love, and he hasn’t yet lived his dreams. As all these realizations come together, George feels he is worth more dead than alive.

George feels like a failure and a waste, and I identify with him in that way exactly. At some point in our lives, we can all feel these overwhelming feelings of anxiety—we question what we perceive as a meaningless life. I’m sure that many can identify; for teens, this is angst in its purest form, all part of growing up, and for people like George Bailey, it’s more like a midlife crisis. But in either case, neither is less serious than the other. Falling into these feelings causes us to question our identities and wonder if our efforts and our lives are truly worth it.

We just want to something to change, something to show us that our lives aren’t as pointless as they seem. In this film, we see that it is possible to notice the redeeming qualities of our lives, even in our most desperate times. Thanks to George’s guardian angel, we see that just by being himself, George has changed the lives of so many and didn’t even know it. By looking back on his life and all the people he has changed, George realizes that his life truly has value.

Even when I feel like the biggest failure, It’s a Wonderful Life has taught me that each person I encounter, every decision I make, has an impact on someone other than me. I learned that those people who love us give us something to show for our lives, even if we don’t have the dreams and accomplishments to prove it. This film shows us that optimism is possible in any situation, especially when we have loved ones around to help us out.

For George, it took a near death experience and a second chance from his guardian angel to realize this. But for us, all it should take is a viewing of It’s a Wonderful Life to know these values are true. Knowing that we’ve accomplished more than we think just by being ourselves should make us feel very lucky. Though we may still feel worthless at times, with the right people around, we all really do have a wonderful life. Remember, no man is a failure who has friends. 

A Triumphant Return

By: Alex 

Art by Alex 

One of my favorite things to do is drive down the highway on a Friday afternoon, appreciating Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Homeward Bound’ on my journey south into Pittsburgh. Though I don’t make this commute often, I love it when I do. There’s something magical about the prospect of going home and getting back to a familiar place. But life gets very confusing when I pack a suitcase for a weekend at home. I love school, and I love home, but living in two different places, it becomes so hard to figure out where I belong.

As I’m bothered by these questions on my drive home, an episode of the television show Freaks and Geeks comes to mind. Even if you don’t watch the show, all you need to know is that there is this one episode where a character named Barry returns home from college. As I watched this episode, I felt so much for Barry--- returning home to a family where nothing has changed; it’s so comforting. 

When Barry comes home, his high school, family, and neighbors were all the same; it was him that had changed. Likewise, when I return home to a room that’s stayed the same, walls still crowded with posters of the Beatles and old photography, awards from high school and baby pictures, I realize that I’m the one who’s changed. But it’s not the kind of change that lets you know that you’ve outgrown something; it’s the kind of change that tells you you’re getting somewhere. 

Realizing that I’ve become a bigger person while being away from home gives me such a sense of accomplishment. In a non-pompous way, I have newfound confidence when I talk to people. I want to show them that I’ve learned a lot about myself during my time away from home and have become a better person for it. I know myself better than I ever did, and I think that being on my own is the only way I could have figured that out. 

Even though Barry had such confidence in himself, as he talked about what he hoped to accomplish in the next few years, you knew there was a part of him that truly didn’t quite know his direction. But being at home made any doubts or anxieties seem so small. 

Having a familiar place to return to after you’ve changed so much means that you have time to figure it out; that’s why I love going home. It gives me the stability I need while I carry on with my busy lifestyle away from home. We would all go insane if we didn’t have some stability in life, but we wouldn’t be able to grow if we stuck to a predictable routine.

Returning home is so much more meaningful than living there. Though it gives us comfort, returning home doesn’t always tell us where we belong. It’s hard to live a life in two different spheres, but it’s all part of the journey. Being away from home is hard but good; it gives us space and appreciation. I’m sure Barry would agree.  

People Throw Rocks At Things That Shine

By: Alex

Graphic by Alex.

Taylor Swift is one of my favorite human beings. I love her because the music she writes and performs is her, at her finest yet most vulnerable. Her songs are about how something or someone made her feel and how she’s a better person for it. What makes her unique is the fact that she learns lessons from these hardships, so she turns a negative into a positive. She’s not just complaining about her life, she’s singing to an audience that relates to her music, and through it, find an outlet to overcome what plagues them.

Taylor’s not afraid to speak her mind, and I really admire that. The perfect example of her courage to ‘speak now’ is her sassy masterpiece, “Mean.” Taylor wrote “Mean” about a critic who absolutely hated her, and as she does with everything else in her life, she decided to write a song about how he made her feel. But what is so great about this song, is that it’s become so much more than a song about a critic; it is a power ballad against any bully that has ever brought her down, and that’s something everyone can relate to.

Bullies come in many forms. They can be as stereotypical as a dramatic, two faced teenager who makes your life hell as you grow up. Or a bully can be someone different, someone who doesn’t call you names or leave you out of the group, but instead, someone who doesn’t believe in you. These are bullies in the real world—people of authority who won’t give you a chance, people who take advantage of your talents, people who disregard your feelings at a chance to make them look better.

I’ve had many people tell me I couldn’t amount to anything, and that really hurts. There is something so encouraging about knowing that someone has faith in you; it really gives you more confidence and drive to accomplish what you want to. But when someone condemns you, when someone refuses to respect your dreams or talents without even giving you a chance to prove all you can be, it takes motivation to a whole new level.

When I hear a nasty comment from someone, whether they are insulting my writing, my intelligence, or just my personality, I think of Taylor’s song. When I hear these insults, I want nothing more than to prove to all those people one day that I have amounted to something so much greater than they could have ever imagined. I don’t want to get revenge. It’s nothing malicious. I just want to show them that they were wrong for not having faith in me.

Taylor’s “Mean” has become so much more than a song about a pretentious critic. It is an anthem to anyone who has ever doubted her. It’s a kind, subtle, and classy middle finger to all the haters saying, “You didn’t believe in me, and look where I am now. And what do you have? Nothing.”

There is just so much truth and righteousness in this line, “someday I’ll be living in a big old city, and all you’re ever gonna be is mean.” She says it perfectly. One day I’m going to do great things, and move on and become a person I’m proud to be, an it doesn’t matter if you believe in me or not. I’m going to get there. And once I realize my dreams, you’ll still be mean. You’ll still be stuck in an unhappy, lonely place.

And, man, isn’t that satisfying; knowing you’ve become someone great, despite what everyone else might say, despite your past. That’s when you truly know you’ve accomplished something. I can only imagine the pride and fulfillment that Taylor feels each time she sings this song at a concert. I know she’s smiling because she knows there’s someone out there watching who didn’t believe in her. And it must be great for her to know that she made it just fine without them. 

Why You Should See Cloud Atlas

By: Emily

Graphic by Emily

There has been a lot of buzz around the new film Cloud Atlas. Directed by three different people (The Matrix's Wachowski siblings and acclaimed German director Tom Tykwer), it follows six different story-lines, all spanning the course of millions of lifetimes and all connected in one way or another. While an incredibly big feat for a, granted, three-hour movie, these story lines are interwoven in ways one could not even imagine; from England during the Second World War to a futuristic Korean city, to a post-apocalyptic Earth, these stories are all connected through the characters. While these characters changed for each different story, the same cast of actors played multiple characters from the different stories. After watching this modern epic, I can confidently and happily declare that Cloud Atlas is unlike any movie I've ever seen.

While I have not read the book on which the movie is based, I can only assume the movie adaptation is fairly similar. This is a movie that easily could have been a huge joke, and quite possibly a terrible flop. But the solid story line and intriguing characters made it an interesting watch from beginning to end. There was never one moment in the almost three hours of the film where I felt bored or detached. Every story line was compelling, action-packed, and full of emotion and drama. From sci-fi to action to drama, there really is something for every movie-lover. Each vignette could have easily stood on its own as an independent movie (the strongest quite possibly being the story that takes place in England about composer and pianist Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw, respectively).

The only place where I found this movie lacking was the risky idea of having its actors play different roles and often different races. While it was necessary in order to get perhaps the most imporant theme of the movie across, some of the characters' makeup was just uncomfortable to look at. For example, Jim Sturgess and Hugo Weaving, two Caucasian English actors, were made to look like a mix of Caucasian and Korean. Similarly, South Korean actress Bae Doona was transformed into a Caucasian woman with freckles and red hair. While this is a risky idea, I just did not think it worked very convincingly. Now I know other people that had no problem with this and did not even recognize who the actors were at points, but I disagree. To me, it even felt a bit disrespectful.

If nothing else, Cloud Atlas is inspiring. At the end of my cinematic journey (and it was a journey) through thousands of years of life, I walked away with a new found sense of self-discovery. I felt like even though Cloud Atlas and the world are both bigger than I ever could imagine, I realized something. I realized that we are all connected, and that we, and Cloud Atlas, are capable of amazing things.