Beautiful Losers

 I recently saw a film entitled 'Beautiful Losers' (2008). It was a very inspiring documentary about people, art, and life in general. The film follows a group of artists, many of them friends since childhood. The film opens with an all-purpose space, a party in progress, with one of the artists' interview recordings set as an audio narrative. The artist explains that here was a place where anyone could go. You didn't need to have talent, or be intelligent; you just needed to have a heart.


This sentiment at the beginning really drew me in, because I felt that my friends in university were very much like this. While it seems such a natural way to be (this is how we all thought when we were children,) I think it's becoming rare in the big cities in which more and more people make their home. It seems that most people and cultures discriminate based on caste, sex, race, skin colour (within the same race,) physical attractiveness, intelligence, fashion, or wealth.


This recurring sentiment of having a heart and keeping it real, staying close to one's roots is further explained by another artist who sums up our childhood as a time of great exploration and creativity. As children we're always playing games, making crafts, drawing pictures and colouring. Unfortunately, at some point a lot of people lose that. They give up such hobbies in pursuit of a career and money. The artist recognizes that he never lost that and, while he and others came close to starving for lack of money, they kept it real and discovered themselves - their identity and a style of expression through their art.


The title of the film itself says a lot about the artists' view of the world, of the 'rat race' most of us are caught up in. I don't think any of them consider themselves 'losers', but they chose that word because that's how others viewed them. The 'winners' were those who would go on to get stable jobs and, more often than not, watch their hobbies and dreams die...


This movie inspired me start living again. To do what I really want to do in life, and not worry about the details. The way of survival will come, and I realize I'd rather be poor, doing what I really want to do, than have money to spend, while not spending my time, my life in happiness.

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・【Shades of Gray (The Perfect Mirror)】2010.02.24 (Wed)