Gifts From Movies
The closet of shining Movie CDs is my proudest collection. Living in this increasingly diversified world, I always ironically felt being trapped in my own little “corner.” Lacking the opportunities to see the colorful world, my knowledge and thoughts were bounded by texts from school and information from my living environment. The closet of shining Movie CDs was my silver lining. There were two movies that have an especially huge impact on me: Good Will Hunting and Schindler’s list. By letting me witness others’ stories, they helped me shape my thoughts, learn ways to interact with others, and better identify myself
In times of confusion, Good Will Hunting and Schindler’s list taught me the real friendship is not about the value of yourself, but about the courage to open your heart.
Back in middle school, I was the “single shadow” on the campus, even though I never pictured myself as being an introvert. The question “Why don’t I have any close friends?” baffled me. I reflected hard, while the answer never occurred to me. Information on social media gave me a false impression that friends would naturally come once I became influential enough. Time fled, obsessed with the idea, I devoted myself to my education and became the top-ranked student in my school. However, I still felt lonely. Classmates began to categorize me as a nerd and alienate me. Good Will Hunting started to change my view.
“You’ll Never Have That kind of Relationship In A World where You’re Afraid To Take The First Step Because All You See Is Every Negative Thing 10 Miles Down The Road” (Sant, December 2, 1997), Dr.Maguire said. This line resonated with my experience. My mind was shaken just like Will’s. I suddenly realized that the foremost obstacle I faced was that I closed myself to others. I sheltered myself from the risk of being hurt by sacrificing the chances to build relationships with others. Retrospecting my past experiences, I barely unfold myself to others, because I felt reluctant and fearful to share my own stories with anyone candidly. What if others laugh at me? What if others spread rumors about me? What if… Dr.Maguire calmed my worries for the first time. He told me that the essence of friendship is openness. Openness is like the bridge of trust that connects people. This notion might be common-sense for many people, but for me, it was a revolution in my mindset. I decided to embrace the idea of openness. Like turning on a switch, this transformation inside caused changes outside. Even though I never imagined it in this way, I started to sense the happiness of sharing and the joy of developing connections with others.
Time flies and the year of starting college suddenly arrived. I remembered that the first year of mine in the U.S. was not smooth. In a circumstance that was vastly different from the one I grew up in, I was freak-out. The outside world seems unfriendly and full of uncertainty. During those days, I found myself suffer similar mental fears as Schindler. As a Nazi party member, Schindler must have been indoctrinated with lots of awful stereotypes toward Jewish people. As a German businessman, Schindler must be warned not to help Jewish people. However, through his own experiences, he learned the greatness of Jewish people and the value of lives. He was resilient enough to face and defeat those awful ideas and fears inside, and treat those despairing Jewish people with kindness and justice, and saved them at all costs. The valor of Schindler for facing and correcting himself worthed to be worshiped.
With the lessons Schindler taught me, I knew the importance of conquering my fear and taking action to diminish it. Thus, even though the shy and worrisome part of me keep drag me down, I decided to actively reach out to build new connections and understand new cultural costumes from scratch. While the beginning was not easy, my poor language skill limited me from expressing what I want. The desire to escape and hide, when something awkward happened, kept popping up in my head. At those times, Schindler would jump into my brain. He would look at me and say, “Power is when we have every justification to kill and we don’t.” (Spielberg & Zaillian, November 30, 1993) Rather than controlling others by violence and fear, Schindler emphasized that real power is to control one’s own desires and emotions. His transformation and idea of power always helped me to confirm my decision to fervently contacting others and hang on with it. After countless embarrassments and failures, my courage was rewarded: I became confident and good at transmitting my ideas. Surprisingly, people around me also started to share their stories and difficulties with me. Seeds of friendship sow in those daily moments, and then they grow.
Friendship seeps through every part of our lives and its importance is self-evident. However, there is barely anyone who could teach us how to be a friend and how to be a good one. At those times when we are lost, Movies are great resorts to our confusion. They not only taught me great lessons about developing connections with others but also how I should learn and improve myself through self-reflection. They made me a better friend and a better person. The gifts from movies are priceless.
Reference:
Sant, G. V. (Director). (December 2, 1997). Good Will Hunting [Video file]. USA: Miramax Films. Retrieved December 2, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSZeSlTrgMA
Spielberg, S. A. (Director), & Zaillian, S. E. (Writer). (November 30, 1993). Schindler’s List [Video file]. United States: Universal Pictures. Retrieved April 24, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEY0dQAF4k4
