In light of watching the 2017 Golden Globes, I am reminded once again of how important the art of acting is to our society and to the world. "La La Land," in all its ethereal musical glory, broke the record for the most Golden Globes won by a single film. Meryl Streep won the Cecile B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award and, greatly used her platform to speak her mind about something she thought was very important and impactful for the world, rather than focusing solely on herself.
I find it incredibly hard to fathom a world without art and creativity and acting. There most definitely is something magical in movies. From watching "Narnia" over winter break while it looks like a winter wonderland outside your window to watching "The 100 Foot Journey" and being transported on a gastronomical journey, movies are an essential part of our lives.
They, like any good books, provide us with a glimpse into another world. As Meryl Streep once said in a decades-old interview: "I’m much more comfortable enclosed in a world of fiction." I completely feel the same way. Whenever people need an escape from reality, they can turn to a good film or television series for this special, comforting form of teleportation.
In Emma Stone's acceptance speech for Best Actress, she spoke a lot about how her film was a testament to the struggles that people endure to pursue artistic endeavors: "This is a film for dreamers, and I think that hope and creativity are two of the most important things in the world, and that’s what this movie is about. To any creative person who’s had a door slammed in their face, either metaphorically or physically, or actors who have had their auditions cut off, or anybody anywhere really who feels like giving up sometimes but finds it in themselves to get up and keep fighting, I share this with you.”
Although I have not yet seen her film, I do believe films for dreamers are the best kinds, for they capture the essence of the artistic process itself: it's about working your hardest at the seemingly impossible in hopes of achieving greatness. It's about defying the norm and breaking boundaries. The symbol of the actor is the dreamer; an open spirit who is unafraid to speak her mind about what deeply affects her, who is willing to take the risk to pursue creative thought in a world so filled with setbacks.
I, along with the entire audience, have tremendous respect for her for honoring the dreamers and artists who tirelessly work to change the world even if the odds are against them. This was a recurring theme throughout the night, even in Streep's acceptance speech: the concept of revealing to an audience an alternate truth, providing them with a different perspective, allowing them to peek into the window of another mind.
This is what authors and filmmakers and artists and actors and musicians consistently have done throughout the centuries. You experience these alternate perspectives when you listen to Marlon Brando as the Godfather, when you cry with Meryl Streep over her three possible baby-daddies in "Mamma Mia," or when you crush on DiCaprio's free spirit in "Titanic." In any case, actors enlighten us.
Children always implore their parents to play pretend. Even now, nearing my twenties, I love skits for fun. There is a childish joy and innocence to acting. And yet, even though acting is rooted in pretending, it certainly reveals so much about the truth of life and different realities. It allows creators to speak their minds about things they are passionate about.
It educates audiences about things that need to be changed. It elucidates the things that were previously censored to us when they never should have been. It elevates ordinary events into spectacles. It showcases profound emotions. It teaches us about the parts of ourselves that we never previously knew.
