Even the smallest moments have great meanings
The human condition is trivial, but fateful.
A person's a person, no matter how small.
When i was younger, i loved going to the movies. It was a tradition to go almost every other weekend to absorb the latest blockbuster on the screen. There was one time i remember watching one film in particular that i used to watch so many times - ‘Horton hears a who!’. I brought family, my best friends, and my others multiple times to watch this Dr. Suess classic brought to life. I never really pondered over why i loved it so much, until now.
Between the vague recollection of the movie’s plot and a quick google search of its synopsis, i remember why i adored it. To cut to the chase, Horton (the main elephant character) finds a tiny speck at the start of the film which inhabited Whoville, an entire planet living in peace inside of this speck, and is chased by every other animal who mocked him for caring about something so tiny. Horton’s admiration for Whoville and resiliance gave one lesson to take away:
Always place empathy at the front of every action, no matter how small of an impact it makes.
In today’s world, everyone is always caught up with the things around us to that point that it seems daunting and overwhelming. The noise and volume of information makes it difficult to comprehend where you stand in society. It gets to the stage where sometimes you feel life your presence can feel miniscule compared to those around you, making you feel… empty.
However, regardless if what you do feels small and not so grand, its okay. By applying Horton’s perserverance to our own goals, our actions can become grand. Even if the results don’t show themselves, if what you do can be felt even by a single person, you’ve achieved something great.
This key takeaway from a children's film is why i’m in absolute awe of film and other forms of media. No matter how old or young one may be, everyone has the capability to walk away from a medium and take one lesson from it, whether it be an opinion or a moment of reflection.
As someone who’s into their early 20’s… life feels like its starting again on a new leaf. I’ve had the time to think about what i want from my life and how i can use my experiences to reach those desires. Ever since i was a child, i’ve always looked towards media for inspiration in my own life, and it isn’t any different now.
Unravelling threads of distant past
At the start of this month, one of my most highly anticipated films of the year released on VOD and cinemas in the UK. I’m talking about Celine Song’s directorial debut and A24 Published film ‘Past Lives.’
The film’s synopsis is as follows:
“Na Young (Nora) and Hae Sung are classmates at a school in Seoul. But their friendship ends when Nora’s family moves to Canada. Twelve years later, Nora notices that Hae Sung’s been searching for her on social media. They reconnect, but another dozen years pass before they meet during his visit to New York.” MUBI
From the moment i watched the trailer, i knew i had to watch it… and it didn’t disappoint. The film really resonates with the self in a way that feels like you’re healing.
There are moments in life where you feel like you are in a certain stage, like starting a new academic year or transitioning between careers. However, in each step of that process you make connections with others during that specific period of time. Some of those relationships continue to grow, and some of them drift apart naturally. But here’s the thing, if its so natural why does it sometimes feel so… wrong? Why is it that a relationship with someone you dedicated so much time into can disappate in an instance without a moment’s thought.
Past Lives attempts to answer this odd yet natural dilemma through a Korean concept on fate - 인연 (in-yeon). According to an article by the Korea Economic Institute of America, ‘in-yeon’ is one of many Korean words that don’t exist in english but closely resembles destiny or fate.
“If two strangers walk by each other on the street and their clothes accidentally brush, that means there have been 8,000 layers of in-yeon between them” - Nora
Without getting too much into the story beats, Nora’s reunion with her old classmate Hae Sung serves as her looking back at a certain stage of her life, one that consists of adolescence, innocence and a first love, a past life. Celine Song takes her own interpretation of a ‘What If?’ scenario to develop her character. It shows that the invisible strings that connect each and every one of us exists like an interconnected web.
It’s fate that you’ve become the person that you are today because of the person you decided to be yesterday.
It’s fate that you are the person that you are today because of the people you’ve surrounded yourself with. With in-yeon, they each have added value to you even if its the smallest of interactions.
At the end of the day, you can walk away from your past with your chin up because you can accept that everything happened to you for a reason to get to where you are now.