'More than Just Fluff' Essay

As I said earlier, I decided I wanted to start posting on here more, so one of the things I'll be doing is posting stuff I've written (for school or otherwise). It might have been from last year, but if I like it, I'll post it. I'm starting with the most recent essay we had to write for Ms. Guido's English class. Here's mine:

“More Than Just Fluff”

by Marc Hansen

I was in the car today, driving with my mom, and for reasons unbeknownst to me (though I have my theories), I was in a rather troubled mood. My mom, on the other hand, was in a more chipper mood than usual, and was being particularly nosy. She kept asking me questions, trying to find out how my day went, only being extremely nice and interested, but I was unresponsive. I hate to let my mom down, so I didn’t want to explain myself or tell her I wasn’t in the mood for talking, because that would invite more questions. So, instead I just mumbled and put in Kid A by Radiohead. In case you don’t know (and if that’s the case, change it), Kid A is a gloomy little melodic record, which expressed how I happened to be feeling and without having to say anything, my mom quickly picked up that I was in that mood. Music has a great way of representing ourselves. As it says in High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby, it’s not what you’re like that matters, but what you like. And I think that what you like affects what you’re like.

While forms of media have been credited for having a great social impact on society, George Orwell’s 1984 for example, these forms of media have often been reduced to the simple status of “mindless entertainment” by the masses. However, I do believe that these forms of entertainment (literature, films, music, television, and art) while certainly entertaining, indeed, do have a great impact on our lives. I’m not just saying this as someone who considers himself a part of these fields; a serious artist who not only takes himself seriously, but his work even more seriously. While I do fret over every word, sentence, comma, suffix, and punctuation mark, trying to make the prose and flow just perfect, as I imagine many other “artists” do (though I can only speak for myself), this isn’t some pretentious plan to try and make the world appreciate the work I make or admire. This essay is simply a reinforcement of something I’ve observed about myself, and many others, which has formed the basis of this belief: that these forms of “art” (as I’ll call it, though that could really be anything) are very powerful in not only shaping who we are as human beings, but, in effect, saying more about who we are as individuals, then what that work might say about the person who made it. I think our choices in music, films, and books represent who we truly are.

Like I said, media is very powerful, and not just in the sense that it can change things in the world. Of course, there are acclaimed, sophisticated allegories with social messages, such as Orwell’s Animal Farm, and even lots of satire is applauded for using humor to express a message about current issues, but I’m not just talking about the media that’s deemed important. I’m not even talking about the megahits that are simply a part of pop culture and representative of the era, like Gone with the Wind or Pulp Fiction. While these are all ways that media can make an effective difference in society, I’m talking about the forms of media that are personal to you, or me. I’m talking about the pieces of work that individually touch you or make a difference in your life, because there must be some reason it did, which is what makes these mediums so wonderful. The fact that art is subjective allows for everyone to like different things, and says a lot about who we are as individuals.

Media has the power to challenge our beliefs and make us think in different ways. Writers can make us question what we think we know and truly let our minds explore the abstract perimeters of the box we’ve been dying to break. For me, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich) blew my mind. I had never seen anything like it, but once I had experienced them, I completely forgot what life was like before watching them. Those films moved me, but many people, like my sister, thought they were simply “weird.” My fondness of Charlie Kaufman shows that I’m more of an existentialist, while my sister, who likes love stories, is a hopeless romantic. Our tastes say more about us, than it does their creators.

Like Charlie Kaufman, films, music, and literature have the power to say something that people like me can’t put into words. They get at something true (at least what I feel is true) that I’ve always felt, but never knew how to express. Art is able to do that. They look at things in a different way. Have you ever listened to a lyric or read a passage and literally said out loud “Oh my god, they’re so right!” And yet, you had never thought of that before, and for all you know, you may have never shared that belief without them exposing it. So, media truly does shape our beliefs and who we are, though we often don’t realize it. Many of the other ‘This I Believe’ essays will take a common quote that they believe in, like let’s say ‘No Pain, No Gain,’ but someone had to think of that quote and write it down, and if it didn’t exist, you wouldn’t have been able to believe it. I’m not saying that we, as human beings, aren’t capable to form our own thoughts and decide things for ourselves, but we often don’t put into consideration how big of an impact these artists have had on the way we think. Even if they don’t directly tell us how to live, they challenge society and let us know that we have the power to come up with our independent thoughts and values.

As I stated earlier, media also lets us have the power to express ourselves in ways we otherwise couldn’t. When I’m sad, I’ll listen to a dark, depressing song, or a really loud, thrashing song when I’m feeling attacked. Other times it’s useful to listen to a soothing song to diffuse my anger. I can do this instead of giving into the male urge to punch something. And you don’t have to limit yourself by only expressing yourself through others’ art, you can make your own. Henry Miller said that the best way to get over a girl was to turn her into literature, a great quote that I feel shows the power of media to express our emotions. And if Henry Miller had never put that down into words, I’d never have had the chance to believe it. So, still think it’s just mindless entertainment?