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The 18th century French philosopher Denis Diderot said, “Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things.” Describe one of your passions and reflect on how it has contributed to your personal growth.
“The Town!” I exclaimed as the familiar silhouette of Cinderella’s castle appeared on the screen. Amazingly, after my hundredth time watching “The Little Mermaid” I never made the connection between what I lovingly referred to as “The Town” and Disney World. However, I did know the entire script of the movie by heart by the time I was five. Unbeknownst to me, this was the first of a long line of films that I would watch repeatedly, become obsessed with, and eventually memorize.
Twelve years later, my love for movies and all things pop culture hasn’t faded. I recently found myself falling in love with Charlie from Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I’ve read every Chuck Klosterman book approximately four times. If you can spare about five hours, I’ll meticulously recount the horrifying tale of Kurt Cobain’s suicide and explain to you why the conspiracy regarding his supposed “murder” is, in fact, the truth. I have often found myself anxiously waiting for the next issue of Entertainment Weekly to be sent to my door - a whole week without the Bible of Pop Culture?!? Don’t even get me started about VH1’s show, “Best Week Ever.” Who could survive without it?
I realize that many people would find my knowledge of such trivial information useless. Some folks believe it isn’t necessary to know the back story to the creation of the Harry Potter books and most people I know don’t consider watching the “World Series of Pop Culture” studying. However, I like to think my pop culture addiction is endearing. To say the least, it’s made me who I am. My fascination of pop culture instilled a love of the arts in my nature early on in my life. Ever since going to the movies for the first time, I’ve wanted to be up on the screen myself. To this day I imagine myself with the actors, saying their lines, even going to the premiere.
Nowadays it’s movies like “American Beauty” and “High Fidelity” that make me want to pursue a career in performance, not “The Little Mermaid.” But the concept is still the same. Whether it’s the brilliant use of color contrast within the film, like the contrariety of black, red, and white within the film “V for Vendetta,” or the message contrived within a movie that resonates long after said film is completed, something has always drawn me toward the art of cinema. I find it easy to slip into a movie-induced coma while watching numerous cult flicks in a row, or even something as nonsensical as “Super Troopers.” The bottom line is that I find most types of media - especially film - inspiring. I always gather something from reading a book, watching a television show, or seeing a movie. I may overanalyze the plot or the use of foreshadowing unnecessarily, but, without fail, I always feel like I learned something from it. I want the opportunity to give back to pop culture what it has given to me. I want to be able to imbue the next Chelsea Russell, whoever he or she may be, to follow his or her dreams the way I’m doing.
Without my passion for pop culture and all that comes with it, I probably wouldn’t be applying to the University of Southern California as a hopeful theatre major. My love for such trivial information has given me something nothing else can - the desire to become one my ridiculous factoids. Not only do I want to perform, I need to perform. And maybe someday, just maybe, I’ll see my name as an answer on the back of a Trivial Pursuit: Pop Culture Edition question card.