My 5 Favorite Movies and What They Say About Me

My five favorite movies are extremely different from one another and range from comedy to animation. It’s hard to choose just five but they would have to include Pitch Perfect, The Blind Side, The Ringer, Despicable Me, and Major Payne. Most all of them incorporate comedy so I would have to say that comedy is the number one genre that entertains me. I’m not very funny myself but I enjoy watching and hearing things that make me laugh. I’ve always been extremely sporty so growing up I wanted to join the military, and that’s probably why Major Payne falls into the list of five. I cannot sing to save my life but music is a big part of my life and that’s probably why Pitch Perfect is also one of my favorites. I will always be a little kid at heart so animations like Despicable Me will always be entertaining to me. The Blind Side is a bit of a more serious movie, which is a type of genre I also enjoy sometimes. I am a serious person when it comes to sports, school, or anything related to those so it was compelling to watch the successful and true story of a boy accomplishing big things. My list of favorite movies basically describes how eclectic my taste is for entertainment. The films do not have to be big box-office hits, even though most on the list are, for me to enjoy them. As long as there are good jokes, the movies incorporates things that interest me, or the actors are just very captivating, I am not a tough critic. One thing that my list also says about me has to do with what is not on there. I typically don’t like stupid or crude humor movies such as those with Zach Galifianakis or Sacha Baron Cohen. People who cannot take anything seriously tend to annoy me. There has to be some kind of well put together story line and/or theme in the film in order for me to enjoy it, similar to life itself.

Which Art/Media Form if the Most Effective?

Many media forms speak to people in different ways but the ones that have the biggest impact on me are TV series. They are a great way to keep viewers interested in the art form for long periods of time rather than things like a video game or a song that only keep viewers involved while they are directly playing/listening to them. During a season of a show, especially if it is one of my favorites like Law & Order SVU or Pretty Little Liars, I stay interested during the entire week because I sit there wondering what will happen next and waiting for the show to come back on. I brainstorm what has happened and use it to predict what could happen in the next episode or during the rest of the season. The sole fact that TV series are ongoing and have mandatory breaks between episodes (if watched live) makes the art form so much more compelling than any other type. If I were to watch a movie, yes I would reflect on it as I watched it for a couple hours and I may even think about it for a few hours afterwards…especially if it is a scary movie and I cannot sleep at night. But after a day or two the images leave my mind and my focus goes elsewhere. TV shows leave me hanging until I’m able to watch the next episode, which is part of the reason I enjoy them so much. There is always something left to keep watching for and every week you learn something new. When the series finale finally ends, its viewers almost always wish there could be another season. You just don’t get the same interest or personal attachment to any other form of media or art that you do with TV series.

Beauty Standards in Society In today’s society, “beauty” is perceived to be the flawless, under-weight, blonde young woman or the muscular, tall, well-groomed male. Anything short of those standards is looked upon as unfit for society. Girls grow up idolizing super models, Miss USA, women on the covers of famous magazines, etc. No ordinary or average person is ever on the front of an ad because that’s not what people want to see. Society wants to see perfection. The truth is, no one is perfect. Every kid, teenager, and adult has some type of flaw if not many and they typically feel like they aren’t good enough because of their flaws. If you could have a six-pack, gorgeous long blonde hair, big lips, a wrinkle-free face, or blue eyes, why settle for anything less? Models are typically idols for young teens but the kids do not understand the unhappy lifestyles that the models face in order to look that way. Many models have eating disorders of some kind, low self esteem because their flaws are always being pointed out, or unhappy lives because everything is about the money. The day a photographer for a famous magazine pays a model his highest price for just being themselves is the day that pigs fly. I personally did a fitness model competition not too long ago and felt the pressure to do very unhealthy things in order to look perfect. I did not eat much at all and over-worked myself in the gym every day so that I could get the six-pack and flat stomach that I knew would win me the competition. To this day, I now never feel good about myself because I think about how good I looked back then compared to being normal now. That is the downfall to putting yourself in that type of lifestyle. Nothing is ever good enough.

Readings I believe that reading novels, plays, and short stories are necessary at some point in your life in order to gain knowledge about history, experiences, and other things that magazines/blogs/pop culture related things cannot provide for you. However, most peoples’ tastes have changed from reading academic related pieces to reading things such as articles and blogs because they are more entertaining and less lengthy. A quick read is always going to be more interesting than reading something that takes hours to get into. Also, magazines and blogs have pictures, which keep the reader interested whereas novels and short stories usually do not. Shakespeare’s plays are pivotal pieces of history, which I think every kid needs to read at least once. As for my favorite pieces of writing, they would have to include: The Glass Castle, A Thousand Splendid Sons, The Kite Runner, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Glass Castle was absolutely hilarious. The family in the memoir is extremely messed up which makes for a funny read because the situations they’re put in are unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are kind of the same in the sense that they both take place in Europe in extremely bad situations but the stories are compelling and I learned a lot about other cultures and governments in the story at the same time. And lastly, The Perks of Being a Wallflower reminded me a little of myself when I was in high school in the sense that the main character wasn’t able to fit in at first and tried to “find himself” throughout the whole four years. Books where you can place yourself into the main characters’ lives are always the most fun to read because they leave you unable to put the book down. Novels such as these have definitely had a big influence on my life.