The classroom buzzed with anticipation as Ms. Serensky approached the television, ready to the begin the movie, The Namesake, based off of Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel. For weeks we had toiled, ready for the fateful day where we would turn in our data sheets and relax to the film. We stifled our left-over giggles that her warning had sparked and prepared ourselves. She pressed play.
A collective gasp filled the classroom; it was somewhere between a shriek and a very loud intake of breath. The screen displayed an image: An image so unexpected and ghastly that we could not help ourselves. It was the face of a women. We did not know who at the time, only that she was very unattractive.
Ms. Serensky quickly covered up the screen. The class sat dumbly in shock. We were not prepared for this. Ms. Serensky artfully returned to the beginning of the film, telling us to look away in case this happened again.
The film restarted, and we relaxed, enjoying the typical footage of various shots portraying the setting. We watched eagerly, excited to see how each character looks. After analyzing and judging each character, we had created our own mental pictures of their appearances. We wanted to see just how right we were.
Then we saw Ashoke. And Gogol. And Sonia. And Moushumi. As each new character appeared, I shuddered at just how off my mental picture was. They all looked so different to what I had imagined! Each time something did not fit my predefined image, I felt slightly annoyed at the director. How could she be so wrong? I mentally complained about this common occurrence. After reading a good book, I will watch the movie and become frustrated when something is not how I think it should be, or when the director left something out.
Then I realized how stupid my annoyance was. I feel frustrated because someone sees something differently than me? Because they have a different opinion? That kind of thinking creates wars, for goodness sake! Just because something turned out differently than I expected does not mean I should feel any animosity. I should respect the director, Mira Nair, for boldly making a film that she knew would face large numbers of critics. Like Sonia, she made some daring decisions, knowing that some people might not like them. But Sonia ended up happy in life, just as Nair ended up with a film that got an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.
We need to accept different ideas for what they are, as opposed to what they are not or what we find wrong. Nair faced quite a challenging task, and although I disagree with some of her decisions, I need to respect her for that. If I could manage to one day give everyone the respect they deserve to leading their lives through their own decisions and opinions, I know that I would be a better person for it.
Lizzy, first of all, I just wanted to say that this post made me laugh, especially when I pictured you saying all these things. However, you make a great point in that we all need to be more open to both dfferences of opinion and things that turn out unexpectedly. In a way, we need to learn that lesson especially from Gogol, who, after some time, began to put his life back together after all the unexpected events that happened to him.
ReplyDelete