; ) Shattering Emoticon Overuse : )

I wonder if people expected that one day grown ups would often include a smiley drawn into their everyday writings? It seems rather silly when you think about a 32 year old woman journaling and including a : ) . It has become socially accepted and dare I say socially expected to help decipher just HOW you're supposed to feel about that particular sentence.

Why can't people just say what they want to say and allow people to feel whatever it is they want about it? If, after reading it, its something that they are unhappy about they can have an honest conversation about what it was that upset them. Perhaps they would get to know one another on a deeper level because they would be forced to learn about each other through their adult-ish conversation.  To understand what upsets a person usually involves some back history, a personal anecdote or God forbid some tears and genuine emotion.

I often use the "wink" ; ) to excuse a passive aggressive text or almost as an apology about something I was truly upset about. So why apologize? Why not just allow what you said to be heard, without comment or guidance, so you can actually deal with it? There's such a level of disconnection in our society today that allows us to hide behind this technology, which is actually designed to bring us closer. Closer in the sense that it connects you with people all over the world that you may not have met before.

Gone are the days where you would have 10-20 close friends who would drop by regularly to chat. We've ushered in and welcomed with open arms a world where we have 1,000 acquaintances that we are kept abreast of their every move, feeling and political outlook filtered through what they want us to know about them. Or in the case of the younger generation NOT filtered through anything since they literally share their every little move, sometimes to their own detriment. Note passing and gossiping in middle school got me in enough trouble without the ability for the entire world to participate, "like" it and comment on it.  I can't imagine who I would be or what my life would be like if I had grown up with Facebook or all of this texting. I'm sure I would have been very uncomfortable and cried a lot of tears. Or maybe my writing ability would have allowed me to break in to the cool crowd?

Yeah, okay, probably not. : )

Damn it.

A RESPONSE TO : Can Hollywood Shatter its "Blockbuster" Image and help Heal and Change the world?

This was written by my cousin Liberty. I appreciate all of the thought and time she put into this!
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I apologize in advance. I started responding to your blog and got a little out of control. My response is more of a blog of my own, but I’ve been thinking a lot about your question from last week. I have not been able to come up with a single movie that changed the world or had a positive effect on society, at least not directly. However, I don’t think that is the point. I cannot think of any direct, positive effect Beethoven or Shakespeare or Strauss or Bronte had on their own societies. But their impact and legacy is still shaping both individuals and society today. Ultimately, the question is: what is the value of storytelling and how has film contributed to the human storybook?

Archeologists tell us that humans have always told stories. I wasn’t there, so I am not sure, but the few cave drawings I’ve seen seem to prove that early story tellers moved to visual media quickly. An image conveys an experience when language fails us – therein lies the possible potency of photograph and filmmaking. We have a rich history of tales and tunes, of drawings and carvings that document the human experience. Isn’t that really what movies are about? Whether reenacting or inspiring action, they are about the sharing the human experience.

Movies can be escapist and trite and pure popcorn – empty as air. But the same mindless humor of The Other Guys can be the one-liner that bonds two new friends or breaks the ice at an awkward dinner party. We are banded together and given a common vocabulary. Who in our generation hasn’t talked for hours with someone that quoted Will Farrell at a bar or made an off-hand Judd Apatow reference at a friend’s BBQ? Somewhere in America, someone just compared their job to Office Space and the cultural shorthand allowed the entire room to empathize. Each Halloween the costumes demonstrate that film characters and costumes are iconic.

Movies can grant you a reprieve. Laughter is the best medicine and we all need a good cry now and again. I often walk out of a theater feeling refreshed and reinvigorated. Rarely is this because of the movie itself, but because I was able to finally laugh out loud at the end of a tough week. If others have the same reaction, isn’t the decrease in stress a betterment to society? Don’t we all need a little Tina Fey in our day?

Movies can throw light on something you may have let slip into shadow. You may want to call your grandma after The Proposal or break-up with your boyfriend after 500 Days of Summer. Would you have waited another week without an nudge from the film? We can never know what cautionary tale someone may take from the coffee shop conversation in the next romantic comedy or gory death scene from the next action flick – but someone, somewhere, may finally decide that they must get off the couch and take up kick-boxing. Who isn’t better off with a little cardio in their life?

Movies can make us feel less alone. Romantic comedies and buddy films, family dramas and angstful indies all seek to capture the relationships and routines we deal with everyday. Audiences see they are not the only one eating take out over the sink or losing touch with their kids. The film may provide a road map to resolve these issues or give stellar examples of what not to do, but at least they say hey, someone out there is struggling with this, too. Watching a big Hollywood star trip over herselves helps us to laugh at our own follies. Watching the everyman character tackle extraordinary events gives us something priceless, hope. If Tom Hanks can do it, I can too.

Movies can teach us about the world we don’t see in our backyard. Your blog on this subject captures some of this I think. The Blind Side, a book first, and the real actions of a real family before that, exposed the world to events that should be celebrated. It is not the actual film that bettered the world, but it certainly drew attention to positive action, and by doing so likely encouraged some of the audience to change their own ideas and lives. Lean on Me, Stand and Deliver, Extraordinary Measures, Milk, Take the Lead, Gorillas in the Mist, Norma Rae, Glory, Iron Jawed Angels - Just a few movies that share the dedication and efforts of the few on a national scale or remind us of sacrifices made by generations past. These movies affect each individual differently, but I am sure a measureable number are inspired to look deeper or change their own actions.

Films based on a true story also serve as great tools of education. Mongol, Elizabeth, The Last King of Scotland, Letters from Iwo Jima – all tools to get students to experience the story in history. While often inaccurate, the spark of interest can be shaped to the desire to learn more of the truth. Is this different than millions of high schoolers reading Charge of the Light Brigade or Henry V? Say what you will about Titanic (and I personally have a lot of negative to say), but interest in the event, the survivors, and ocean exploration skyrocketed after the film was released. Robert Ballard’s fame increased in the same scale as Leonardo DiCaprio’s. Funding for exploration and research, for student education and museum exhibits came pouring in. (Similarly, the technology created for Avatar has already been applied to educational wildlife films). Ultimately, histories and biopics don’t change the world, but they pushed education and technology forward; they tell stories that make history, politics, or ecology come alive.

But both of the previous paragraphs involve retellings – capturing a true event and relying on those events to inspire the audience. What of fiction? Can people of our imaginations change the world? Movies, books, songs, poetry - they show us what could be. They highlight our absurdities and paint them in broad strokes where they are safer and contained, but still spark self-reflection or discussion. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner let the world watch a beloved couple experience something that may have otherwise seemed inconceivable. Yes, real families did it first, and without a script or a director, but they did not invite the public in to view it. Movies let us watch people we connect with face the unknown – and then the unknown is far less scary.

Finally, movies can truly inspire. They may not inspire a nation, or a generation, but there are people in law school now because of North Country; there are journalists who got on the student paper after Frost/Nixon or State of Play; there are students who are considering the military or becoming a historian because of Band of Brothers and The Pacific; there are people signing up for the CIA or FBI or Peace Corp or AmerCorp or engineering school or marketing programs because movies highlight careers and causes alike and people are moved to action. And some of those people will change the world.

Ultimately, movies are another tool communication, for storytelling. At their best, the unite us, educate us, inspire us, or simply elevate the level of public debate. Others, well, there is something positive in keeping the folks at Lifetime off the street and stabilizing the sale of popcorn. Right?

Can Hollywood Shatter its "Blockbuster" Image and help Heal and Change the world?

I am an actor.

I am a writer.

I am a producer.

I Long to use my talents to help heal and change the world. To better our lives and the humanity that resides in each of us, whether it be through broad, healing strokes or minute, specific pin pricks that resonate with one person.

As some of you know, I've been doing a little online dating, why not?! Everyone else seems to be doing it. Recently I came across the profile of a very attractive man, one who seems to have it all together. He teaches highschool and coaches the football team, his ultimate goal is to open a clinic to treat disadvantaged children, Additionally, he teaches female recruits for the LAPD in self defense and fighting tactics. He does volunteer work mentoring kids at risk. He also is in shape, likes to work out, can have more fun at Disneyland than a kid does, is generous to a fault and not to mention is 6'3" and gorgeous. He's got it all, looks, smarts, sense of adventure, I would be a FOOL not to pursue this guy.

Anywho, I contacted Mr Perfect and we struck up a little back and forth. On first mention that I was an <gasp> actor, he was done. Said no thank you. . . etc. Of course, I should have said, Great. Not the guy for me. . . I should have. . . I pressed on, insisting that being an actor does not DEFINE everything about me and that just because he had a stereotypical view of all actors that I don't necessarily fit into that mold. I shared with him my dreams and desires to change and better the world through film, acting and writing. He has very strong opinions about Hollywood and insists that they do no good. Maybe it's the title,  "Hollywood". I don't necessarily view Hollywood as only the decision makers, and the major studios, etc. But perhaps he is?

Recently, he asked me this.

"In your opinion is there a specific movie made over the past five years that has truly had a positive affect on society? If so give me some examples of how it made a difference."


I started thinking and even asked some of my friends what they thought.

~ BROAD STROKES of Change ~

One of the first movies that comes to mind is, "The Blindside", last years film that won Sandra Bullock an Academy Award. In my opinion, that movie helped open people's minds in regards to race, differences in social and economic stature, being able to help someone who needs you and realizing that sometimes its not a WHOLE WORLD of people who need your help, but that in helping that ONE person, you can change their WHOLE WORLD for the better.

Movies like, "Milk" that are based on True Events can help bring awareness to a cause. This one being the gays and the struggles they have had to face in fighting for equality. Sure, they are still fighting for it, but who is to say that audiences who saw Milk didn't leave the theatre thinking, wow, I didn't realize that Gay people have had it so rough. You know, they should have the right to marry. It's an uphill battle of course, but in my opinion if a few people left that theatre thinking, wow, how terrible. Can you imagine if someone treated me in that way? Then that movie was a success.

~ MINUTE, SPECIFIC PIN PRICKS ~

As an actor, healing the world through my art has a much broader, yet simpler meaning. Let me explain myself. If I am in a movie where I play a character that is a victim of abuse, and ONE person comes to the movie that has suffered from abuse, and they are somehow healed or moved through my performance, I have done my job. It may seem small and irrelevant to the WHOLE WORLD, but can make a difference in that victim's WHOLE WORLD, enabling them to release what has been holding them back. Perhaps it allows them to heal and speak out about what happened to them, therefore helping a handful of other people heal. Those people heal themselves and in turn reach out to other victims of abuse, allowing them to smile more, hold doors open for people, be kinder, gentler, more open in their humanity and THAT will always change the world. It's a delightful SNOWBALL of reaction from one seemingly silly part in a silly movie with that new actress Elizabeth Mihelich that no one really went and saw.

This is an art and a passion that I can get behind. I also see Hollywood as a driving force for change in the world because of the expanse of influence that it has, the money it is able to put behind the movies, and the celebrities, who can reach more people in a day,  just by living open, giving, and compassionate lives.

~ GRASSROOTS EFFORTS for CHANGE ~

I have an amazing friend, who is a documentary filmmaker. She set out on making a documentary about the children of Cambodia who live on the street, are orphans, and spend their days digging through the dumps in search of treasure. I KNOW that her efforts and her movie, Small Voices: The Stories of Cambodia's Children has made a difference in the world, because she is still in contact with all of the children. She has helped place them in schools so they are learning and becoming educated. She visits them multiple times a year and because of the amazing, Heather Connell, they have learned that there are people in the world they can trust and rely on to help them. I KNOW that the kids she has helped will one day reach out and help someone else, because they were helped one day. She changed their WHOLE WORLD and I know one day they will strive to better the WHOLE WORLD.  Not to mention the fact that while in Cambodia, she connected with a young handicapped boy, Sum Namg, at an orphanage, learned that there was really no place for him to learn or grow, because of his disability, and she sprang into action. She is currently building a school for handi-capped children in Cambodia called Safe Haven. You tell me that film does not make a difference in lives after that?

Of course, Hollywood isn't perfect. Of course there are bad people in it that only have money and greed in mind. Of course. There are people like that in every industry of the world. I refuse to believe that we have no influence over the world. Artists are catalysts for change. John Lennon continues to change the world everyday and he's been gone from this planet for a long time. Thankfully, his music and his messages of "All You Need is Love" survive. Lucille Ball still brightens the days of people who had a rotten day at the office, they come home, turn on the tv and get a good belly laugh, because re-runs of "I Love Lucy" are on. Laughter is one of the most healing properties we have to work with. Even silly little sitcoms and crazy over the top comedies like Airplane! heal the world every single day because they help us laugh, they lighten our load and they allow us to open our hearts.

Please feel free to comment on this blog with movies that have inspired you, changed the world or that have simply brought a smile to your face when you needed it the most.

I am most grateful to Mr Perfect for pushing me to define WHY I pursue this passion with such tenacity and drive everyday of my life.

I believe in Love.
I believe in Peace.
And I believe that within each and everyone of us lies the power to Change and Heal the World.

Please honor Heather and her efforts to better the world by checking out her movie, Small Voices: The Stories of Cambodia's Children by renting it on Netflix or going here http://store.cinemalibrestore.com/smallvoices.html to purchase the DVD.

"Like" Small Voice on FB here, http://www.facebook.com/#!/smallvoicesmovie !

Follow Safe Haven's progress on FaceBook also, here http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Safe-Haven-School/148444011848303?v=wall

Shatter away.

Elizabeth