Life in a Day

In class, we watched a movie called "life in a Day." The movie was a collage of video clips that were sent in from all over the world on July 24, 2010. This movie is something to add to a time capsule so that generations to come can see what happened in so many different parts of the world all in one day.

There were a lot of memorable scenes in this movie. For one, the scenes with the young boy who polishes shoes were unforgettable. Also, I loved the scene where the old couple was renewing their vows. They were old, but still in love, and had such a wonderful sense of humor! Another one of the most memorable scenes was with the bicyclist when he talked about where he was from. He told us he was from Korea but that North and South didn't matter. I don't know why that part gave me so much hope, but it did.

A lot of this movie sparked positive emotions. I think the moment that made me the happiest, however, was when the boy came out to his grandmother. As I was watching it, I remember holding my breath, waiting for the grandmother's response. And when he smiled with relief, I remember squealing on the inside because of how happy I was for him. I know many people don't agree with gay rights, and I know there are plenty of homophobic people out there, but if a grandmother can except her grandson, why can't anyone else? Change is tough, I know that, but that woman let change happen. No one lost anything. She mostly just gained another member to her family. That part made me so happy.

Even though there were plenty of positive emotions in the movie, there were also some negative ones. I think the part that caused the most negative emotion was when the man from Afghanistan was talking about what he feared most. He mentions that no one leaves the house expecting to come home again. This part broke my heart a little. I know I'm a violent person and all, but I honestly hate the thought of people living in such a violent place that they can't expect to go to work and come back home. I hate thinking that a man's wife constantly worries if she'll have a husband at the end of the night. I hate thinking that a man's kids constantly wonder if they'll still have a father. I hate that those are the reasons that no one can move forward. There's always a sword their waiting to cut anyone who speaks out down.

Before we watched this film, our teacher asked us, "What does it meant to be human?" Almost the majority of us agreed that we were nothing more than an evolved species. I still partly agree, but I think there's more to us than that. I think we are different from all other animals because we can extend love to more than just our tribe or our kin. I know that there are exceptions, but mostly, it's true. A large portion of being human is being smarter and having thumbs. Of course, an important part is our physical make up. Have you ever stopped to wonder why your fingers bend the way they do? Or the way we stand on two feet that are connected to legs that bend back at the knees and can pivot at the hip. It truly is fascinating. Also, we talked a lot about evolving in class. It's true that we're more evolved than all other species, but I think the other thing is that we evolve within ourselves faster. Stop to think about how far we've come. Blacks are equal to whites. Women have rights. There's more democracy in the world. Every day we move forward. And even though we move forward, we don't give up all our culture. The film had soooooooo many different people. That's what being human is. Moving forward together without leaving leaving our uniqueness behind.

It's kind of tough to point out patterns of humanity throughout the movie because, like I said, all the cultures and people were so different. I think I can name three though... One: Everyone has something to love. Even though the actual thing changed, everyone had something. Two: Everyone has something to fear. I think our fears are part of what makes us. People say to be fearless, but I disagree. Fearless makes you foolish. Have fears but have the courage to overcome them. Which leads me to three: Everyone has their way of coping with life. Some people worked hard. Others cried. Some smiled and tried to work through it. In the end though, everyone was trying to do whatever they could to live their life.

A juxtapostion is when you place two things side by side for the purposes of compare and contrast, and boy was this movie full of them! I think there were so many that I can't actually name specific examples. Mostly, the juxtapostions focused on putting third world and first world clips one right after the other. Oh! The one I can name happened at the end of the movie. It went from the girl sitting in her car at night in the middle of the store to this bright screen with the snail or whatever it was on that ball. The contrast between the lighting was ridiculous. I don't know. I guess that sudden change in color did something to the way I took in the movie as a whole. It was like this last stand that said, "It will get better. It will work out. Have hope. Hold on to it."

Honestly, this movie is one of my favorites. I just wish it was longer! So many people from so many parts of the world were involved. It completely changed my outlook on people. Even the negative parts helped me see humans in a different light. Don't get me wrong, I can still be very pessimistic, but I think I've started realizing that it isn't all bad. It was amazing to see what was going on on the other side of the world. It was shocking to see horrors going on as we were sitting there, drinking our coffee. It was wonderful to listen to the fears of others that made them so much like us. This film was brilliantly put together. I kind of hope they do this again... I would definitely recommend this to everyone! It was such an inspiring movie.