Self Discovery

Fuji Superia 800, Canon AV-1

If anything at all, the hallmark of the 20s should be the empowering epiphany of self consciousness. I was having a conversation with a friend about how life in college should be and he said “I don’t think it’s so much ‘doing well’ but more like self-discovery.” Self discovery it is. At some point in our academic career most of us have probably come to terms with the idea that “grades are not everything”. To borrow his words into my own:

Four years in college is not just 4 years of academic studies. It’s a transformative journey that challenges everything you know, bending your mind beyond it’s limits, but most importantly it is a process of self discovery.”

AGFA Vista 400 (edited), Canon AV-1

What is self discovery and why is it important? To me, self discover begins at the point when you are enlightened by the fact that nothing else matters more than your existential fulfillment- what you want, feel, experience. As self entitled as that may be, I don’t think it is disputable that we all have the right to live as fully and freely as we want to within this short frame of life. It is this knowledge that would free us from the superfluous societal expectations that are imposed upon us.

It is only when we have learnt to come to terms with ourselves that we can truly be liberated by the circumstances which bind us. We spend our teen years learning the ropes to our social existence, trying to fit in and find our place in the system. We are conscious how we look, how we compare, how we are perceived. We care too much about things that should mean so little- the frivolous likes on our photos, the circumstantial affirmation by others, the unspoken rules and standards demarcated by god knows who. We may say that “we don’t care” what people around us think of us, but we didn’t really understand what that means, what it entails. Superficially denouncing the ways of society doesn’t equate to actual self differentiation or identity. It only makes us lost.

AGFA Vista 400, Canon AV-1

When I say self discovery I don’t just mean finding our your interests, hobbies, believes and dreams (though those are the first steps). Self discovery also means to develop a sense of self awareness and consciousness, of who you are as an individual, what you can do and your entire nature and character including all those elusive elements and motivations that make you, you. AND coming to terms with it- coming to terms with who you are, independent of the extrinsic influences, the extraneous labels and the social constructs of right and wrong that come with our cognitively simplified understanding of the world around us. (Of course that is not to say you should completely ignore all rules, but rather to make a conscious effort to decide what is best for yourself armed with that self-knowledge.)

Photo by: WanEr
AGFA Vista 400, Canon AV-1

It is only when we have come to terms with ourselves that we can transcend the restrictions of the current system with the perceived rules that hold us back, and truly break free with a chance to flourish and create something remarkably revolutionary.

Accepted (2006)

With the knowledge we gain in breakthroughs in each generation, intelligence has somehow taught us to be less wise. These days smart phones are smart and people are dumb. We have gotten lazy and complacent, everything can be found at the tip of our fingers yet people don’t bother looking. The easiest excuse out of anything is “I don’t know how to do it” yet in this day and age how can anyone say they don’t know how to do something when everything can be learnt online.

(Image from http://www.impawards.com/2006/accepted_ver2.html)

Accepted is a movie about a bunch of college rejects that start a “sham” college to please their parents but in the end they learn the real value of education- to excite and enthuse students to learn more about and pursue their passions. This movie is a cheesy comedy that plays on all the stereotypes possible in an American college experience but as typical as the plot device is, it is obnoxiously true and glaringly relatabe. I do not speak for an American college but I can relate to the overall theme of this movie which is the youthful pursuit of dreams. College is the point of our lives when we are not only opened up to the world or as Dean Lewis puts it “the beginning of your disorientation”, but also where we decide the course of our future.

In the movie it is obvious that the main attendees of South Harmon Institute of Technology are college reject and misfits which reminds me a lot of the less “respected” schools we have here. The ones that make it into college are the ones who follow the safe path to their future desk job and give up their dreams. Yet to the rejects, it seems their only choice is to pursue their dreams and they have nothing to loose. It is quite twisted if you look at it. Society has brought us to a point where the people who are endowed with more choices end up choosing a choice they usually like least (and join in the robotic workforce) and those left with no choice are the only ones who are the only ones who dare to step out and pursue these dreams.

There are consequences of stepping out, not just socially but also economically and psychologically and I would say this is a life choice. Live mediocre and safe or risk and live life to the fullest. It is a tough choice indeed…

This is not so much a film review as it is a reflection or rant (as some people may think of it). There isn’t much fancy filming techniques or plot devices. Just a simple comedy, plain story but resounding message. We have all known it all along but things never really change.

6.5/10 (An average film, quite funny at times with satire jokes)