“Lights, Camera, Action”

It’s funny how everyone always compares their lives to movies, but our life is one giant movie. Every morning we wake up is a new start. Or maybe a new scene? We get dressed, pick clothes from our wardrobe that fit the “scene”. Every day, each occasion calls for a different assortment of layers and accessories. After taking courses focused in television production, I realized that in everyday life there is a director, writer, and a script. You would think those would only exist on a set, yet Earth is our set. Without realizing, we follow a script everyday. The choices we make are influenced by the script. The script, what is it? In my opinion, I believe that social media has written a new script for the next generation, our generation. We follow what it tells us to do. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. They’ve changed our perspectives. What are they? Websites where people share their lives, expressions of their feelings. Why do we do this? That’s a question I ask myself a lot. It’s a place where expectations are given for relationships, “rights and wrongs” are said, and overall I believe it is how we are influenced. One example is our clothing. You see pictures of an article of clothing captioned “pretty, someone buy me this, want/need this”. Suddenly you may feel influenced to buy it yourself. You can’t deny it, it’s happened to everyone. Social media is a script that is constantly being edited. Cyber bullying, the villain role of the script. The antagonist that provokes the protagonist. Question: why does this individual bully? What is their interior background? What happened to cause them to act this way?? If it isn’t a trend, you ignore it. Something can be “deleted, sent to the trash”. Maybe it didn’t get enough likes, retweets, favorites. The ones who change it, the ones who control social media, are the writers. The writers, who are they? We are. We are the writers. But clearly we are not qualified. We sit behind a screen and type the things we are afraid to say. We control one another. It’s terrifying when you think about it. We walk around, all eyes on us. Being looked up and down because of clothing, labels, height, weight, and features. The camera’s rolling, watching us. Yet the difference, you can turn a camera off. We are cameras. We observe what we are told to. We remember the good things, “erase” the bad. Yet, we are also the actors. Every actor is assigned a role. These roles are given because of looks, personalities, or talent. I think we do the same to people in our lives too. The reason we give these people these labels is because of the influence. Social media, movies. The blonde girl, yeah she is pretty but dumb. The quarterback, he’s attractive but a jerk. The boy who sits alone in the corner reading, yeah he’s a loser. The girl with all the tattoos and piercings, she does it for attention. We are being brainwashed. It’s sad. Movies are a creative form of expression that are created for enjoyment. Yet, in society today it has a negative impact. And in the end, who is in charge. The directors. But the question is who are the directors? In my eyes, the directors are our fears. They command us to act a certain way. They are the reason why we go left instead of right. Fear is the reason why we don’t accomplish our dreams. Maybe if we had the courage, we could take over. Be the directors of our own lives. We may think we are, but we aren’t. We are all just actors in this giant mess. We the ones on the screen that are seen and known. We just listen to those who are in charge, and learn our roles in society. If we aren’t in control, it’s almost impossible to truly be yourself. So take a step back, and think are you the person you really want to be or the person you think you should be?