You Keep Me Hangin' On
This has not been a great week for me. Bills seem to keep piling up, looking for a second job has all but destroyed my faith in the online job application process (do those applications disappear into some dark vortex?) and worst of all, I feel like I’m the only one in a veritable storm of uncertainty.By now, it should be no secret that I’m a movie fan. I’ve even harboured my own aspirations of being able to make a living from talents I’ve worked hard at developing over the years. This obviously doesn’t make me impervious to having a little resentment towards those who I think might be less deserving, but I think that’s only human. Even the most positive person I know has rolled their eyes at these so-called injustices of our world, but then again, we are creatures capable of almost infinite desire, so being entirely happy is a circumstance ever open to philosophical debate.
Mickey Rourke is no stranger to success and is probably more well known for his familiarity with the more unsavoury situations that one can put themselves in if they make a few wrong choices. Thankfully, my issues are not drug or anger-management related, but I know what it’s like to feel the foot of the world on your back. That’s why I think movies like The Wrestler are important in helping us understand what it is that drives us and makes us happy, when the world we live in provides us with many options but few answers.
Rourke’s character is still trying to do what he loves to do, despite his occupation suiting the younger and healthier. He tries to make up for past regrets and mistakes in one fell swoop and quickly realizes that the past is almost impossible to change and that ultimately doing what you love to do, despite the potential consequences is the only way he ever can truly feel significant and alive. There are always things that we can change, but we also have to accept what we cannot.
The movie itself is a cinematic achievement–being made for $7 million–a fraction of the marketing budget for even mid-range Hollywood films. That’s why director Darren Aronofsky deserves a nod for making something that he believed in and taking a lower budget for a movie closer to the heart, rather than one that might play to a larger audience. Sometimes the things we do may not appeal to the status quo, but that’s not to say that they’re not important.
Next week, I’m going to profile a grassroots charity that is doing things a bit differently; preferring the help of those whose hearts are into charitable work as opposed to those who might just be interested in the money.
Cheers!
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Tags: Darren Aronofsky, George Panayotou, Inspiration, Mickey Rourke, Movies, Screw You Recession, The Wrestler
