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Life in the Movies Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Catarina Abreu, Canada Oct 13, 2002
Citizen Journalism , Culture   Opinions

  

You're alone in your room...and after a long, routine day, those beautiful blue eyes are a breath of fresh air. You worship him and long to to be with him. To most he is an ordinary man, but to you, he is the ultimate SEX GOD.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are referring to the one and only Brad Pitt. He is the ideal boyfriend for the simple reason that you haven't met him yet. After all, somebody who exists only in your fantasies can never dissappoint you. They can never hurt or do you wrong. But unfortunately, that is only in the movies, and who would want to be as futile as that?

But let's face it... if Brad Pitt comes from there, then who wouldn't want to go? In the movies, all your dreams come true. There, relationships are as long lasting and as easy as superficial flings. You can also never be too sure if your parents aren't really blood-sucking aliens from mars.

You live within the limits of a story where you can go back and undo the mistakes you've made, or have a script to read from-one that is simply delivered to you by the director himself. You pretend to be somebody else, knowing that you'll always get an easy happy ending along and a big fat paycheck.

Similarly to fairy tales, the plot will usually involve an array of stereotypes. The beautiful damsel in distress, an over-zealous antagonist and the knight in shining armour. The damsel is saved by her knight, the evil bad guy is destroyed and everyone lives happily ever-after.

Unfortunately, things are not as black-and-white nor as simple as in the movies. In real life, there is only one dress rehearsal - and one that you are totally unprepared for. The script is spontaneously written with every word uttered and action done. Once written, you can never go back for a rewrite.

Like the actors, directors and producers, we are all contributing in creating our own reality. Everyday we reawaken ourselves on this massive stage, acting out our improvised scenes before taking a last bow. Like the actors of the Ancient Greece, we only remove our masks at the last scene to reveal that the stereotypes we cast ourselves as being are indeed far more complex than our alter egos.

Our projected personas, these livid things we use to create a hollogram of ourselves give the oscar-winning preformance of their lives. We become our own screen icons, immortal through the thoughts and memories of others who live to witness us.

Unlike the worshipped figures of the silver screen, we have control over our environment. We don't need to throw fits or threaten to bring in lawyers to change the script. Our free will allows us to do this through the choices we make in life.

In the words of the late Oscar Wilde: 'Acting is much more real than life.' In many ways he was right. We often look at the people around us and wonder if they're really who they project themselves to be. Is it some sort of defense mechanism? Or is it what's expected of us?

It's said that we only become our true selves while asleep when the subconscious mind awakens.

We can therefore rephrase Wilde's words to: 'Acting IS life.'

We become the ultimate undiagnosed scizophrenics of our time and in the process, undertake the most important roles we'll ever play: the role of we, ourselves and I.





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