A Reflection

So I spent the last couple nights watching Rick Alverson's new film The Comedy. Seeing as how it had one of my favorite comedians, I guess you could call him that, Tim Heidecker in it I expected it to be a Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie-esque film. Boy was I wrong. A word of warning though, only take the time to watch this if you have to capacity to look past what is actually going on on the screen and think about the underlying meaning. So let me set the scene for you. Basically, the main character is an aging hipster living on a boat and hanging out with his other aging hipster friends in the hipster capital of America, Brooklyn. Sounds like a hilarious ABC sitcom right? Wrong. The movie is a jumble of scenes containing Tim, the main character, and his friends just doing stuff. I'm not being vague here, it is literally what they do. Just stuff. Theres very little dialogue and of the dialogue that there is it doesn't pertain to the last scene or the scenes to come.

I sat there in disbelief that a movie could be so scatterbrained and seemingly nonsensical. But since my rental time on itunes was dwindling I figured I could at least finish it. I was glad I did. Once the film ended, I laid back on the couch and started to break down what I had just spent an hour and a half watching. It finally dawned on me. The whole film is an example of how people become trapped in current fads and it leads to the ultimate demise of their existence if they fail to eventually mature and break away. The example in the movie is that of the hipster. A culture predicated on expensive taste without having really worked for any of the money that they so frivolously spend. And such a vehement denial of what is socially and culturally acceptable that they eventually become alone and miserable because society has left them behind. The main character's inability to mature lands him in a situation where he just wanders through life with no purpose or direction.

It got me thinking. Let me start this off by saying this is not me scoffing at or passing judgement on the lifestyles of others, but purely an opinion of mine. It seems to me, that these days, kids have lost the ability to treat life like a chess game and think multiple moves ahead. The adoption of the mindset of the here and now has become the most popular philosophy of all. It seems as though no one thinks an action has any kind of bearing on what happens next. I'll present a relatable example here. It's astonishing to me how many kids I see going to class wearing the "West Fucking Virginia" shirts. If you go to WVU you're more than familiar with the drama surrounding this topic. I mean, how are you supposed to make intelligent conversation with you're professor while wearing a shirt that so obviously displays your rock bottom IQ? Do you think you'll ever get a break on that test question that could have gone either way when you approach your teacher looking like that? Thats just one example. This principle applies everywhere. It goes back to the movie. People, especially kids, become so immersed in this, you can't judge me, I don't care what you think, mentality that they get left behind wondering where time went and why everyone around them has excelled and they're still playing pool at Shooters on a Tuesday night. Don't get me wrong. Being yourself and having a sense of  identity is one of, if not the most, important thing a person can have. But this practice of pushing the envelope has become a game of who can "out-ridiculous" the next guy. College is probably the most pivotal 4 years of you're life. It almost completely dictates what you will be doing until they bury you. It's a scary thought I know. But it's unavoidably true. My only advice would be to have a little bit of forethought. Look ahead. Think to yourself if trying to shove your "I don't care what you think to a point of embarrassment and insanity"in the faces of others, is really worth the price you may potentially pay. People often tell me that I act like I'm 40. I'm ok with that. Kids think of maturity as some kind of miserable hell where life becomes repetitive and boring. But it's not. Trust me, I'm not the pinnacle of maturity. I mean I'm 21 years old and I still laugh until I cry over a good fart or something. It's all about being able to tell when to dial it back and act appropriately. Alright well thats enough for this evening. I hope I got my point across as clear as would have liked to and I hope no one takes offense to this simple observation. It's just something thats been on my mind for the last couple days.

Nathan