When I was eight years old, I curated an imaginary to-do list in my mind that I had hoped would transpire into actual experiences during my adolescent years. Realistic? Definitely not. Ambitious? You bet! The list appeared as follows:
Form an unbreakable friendship and band with four strangers during detentionÂ
Date the basketball boy and turn him into a theater kid
Attend a summer camp based solely on music and dance
You can see where this is heading, right? The concept of my future relied exclusively on the misinformation that Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs) had been feeding me. What I had been seeing on the screen, I believed myself certainly capable of replicating in my own life. So, imagine my disappointment when my classmates didn’t spontaneously break out into song in the middle of our lunch hour. What a letdown.
This past semester, I’ve been rewatching iconic DCOMs that dominated my childhood like High School Musical, Lemonade Mouth, Camp Rock, and Starstruck. Before I began this movie marathon, I expected to view them through a more jaded lens. I thought I’d watch with feelings of resentment and betrayal, irate that I did not experience what these films had promised me. Luckily, this was not the case at all. Rather than envy, I felt protective of these characters that had once been responsible for protecting me. Thankfully, my surprisingly fresh perspective allowed me to pick up on lessons portrayed in the films that younger me had overlooked.
back to the basics
In my view, empathy is a lost art. I mostly blame the internet for this loss. Comment sections and social media platforms are treated like dark, empty voids meant to absorb your hateful comments with no consequences. Encountering kindness is a rarity. Come on, guys. Didn’t we learn this in preschool? Treat others how you want to be treated. Sound familiar? If you notice yourself missing that sensitivity chip, it may be helpful to dig up some DCOM archives. Although it may be viewed as “corny,” the way these young characters speak to each other is beautiful…but shouldn’t this beauty be normalized?
just shut up and listen.
Okay, it’s not put as bluntly in DCOMs, obviously. But it’s definitely implied. Have you ever been chatting with a friend who just waits for you to stop talking, rather than genuinely listening? When did this start happening? Is it our decreasing attention spans to blame? Is this phenomenon fueled by pure selfishness? Whatever the reason, it has got to stop. As I rewatch old classics like Lemonade Mouth, I marvel at how seamlessly the characters listen to one another. Yes, I know it’s fake. But for us, it doesn’t have to be.Â
be yourself, seriously
Have you ever heard the expression, “To be cringe is to be free?” Well, as silly as it may sound, I believe there is truth to this statement. I think we all subconsciously know this, but why is it so difficult? Why is it so embarrassing to be yourself? Has Mitchie taught us nothing with her “This is Me” performance?! The liberation seen within these characters when they finally break the “status quo,” and do what they truly enjoy, is inspiring–to me, at least.
If these simple notions of being kind, being yourself, and being a good friend have become foreign concepts to you, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a DCOM marathon. Surprisingly, it restored my faith in humanity and in this generation. Do I believe we’ll be dancing on dining hall tables and serenading one another? Of course not. But I do believe that we can all be a little kinder to one another and to ourselves.Â