Le fabuleux destin d'Florence Minowa
Last week I finally bought the DVD of Amelie of Montmartre, and--being bedridden and all--I have seen it three times. I confidently proclaim that it is my favorite film in all eternity. From the first time I saw it in 2001, I was certain that had I been raised in Europe with a caucasian complexion, I would've been living Amelie's life. I admire and adore everything about her--from the simplicity of her daily routine activities, her appearance, her creativity and wild imagination to even the way she decorates her apartment (AND HOW I'D DIE TWICE, EVEN THRICE, TO HAVE SO MANY MICHAEL SOWA PAINTINGS HANGING ON MY WALLS!!!).
Her life made such an enormous impression on me that though I had long forgotten the plot to the movie, I had subconsciously arranged my own life to mirror hers. Now that I watch the film again, I realize just how similar we are. Absorbed in a world of imagination and hypothetical reveries, eager to want to make a difference in other people's lives though at the same time, frightened shitless of face to face confrontation. I guess what I like most about her, though, is that she is so distinctly her. What with her social awkwardness and all, nonetheless she still lives in her own skin, confronting nothing but her own shortcomings. Amelie has her own flavor, and even as she grows to cross her previous boundaries, and finds herself a new kind of life to share with Nino, she doesn't lose her flavor.
Well, I want a flavor! Right now, I can't tell what the hell I am. A mixture of soy sauce and ketchup, a bit of guacamole and margarine... I feel that, with the diversity of my heritage, my identity is like a multi-cultural jambalaya. It's not just ethnicity. By character I'm neither completely reserved or extremely outgoing, neither confident nor timid, both hardworking and lazy, sometimes quixotic, sometimes pragmatic... worst of all, while on the one hand I want nothing more than to carve a life grounded on the propagation of peace and humanistic education, on the other I simply want to explore and fill my days with the aesthetic pleasures of the arts: a simple job in the city that makes decent money, a small but stylish apartment, internet cafes, home-made soups, gallery hopping in the evenings, subway trains and yellow rain boots... but I'll still do my best to spread happiness, just not in such a glorified manner. Rather, through small gestures to close relations, just like Amelie.
I'm a split person... so what is my real identity? All of them? What if I don't want to be all of them? Can I choose an identity for myself? Does that make me a fraud?
What's the verdict?
EDIT: I just read this in wurds:
"Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."
Her life made such an enormous impression on me that though I had long forgotten the plot to the movie, I had subconsciously arranged my own life to mirror hers. Now that I watch the film again, I realize just how similar we are. Absorbed in a world of imagination and hypothetical reveries, eager to want to make a difference in other people's lives though at the same time, frightened shitless of face to face confrontation. I guess what I like most about her, though, is that she is so distinctly her. What with her social awkwardness and all, nonetheless she still lives in her own skin, confronting nothing but her own shortcomings. Amelie has her own flavor, and even as she grows to cross her previous boundaries, and finds herself a new kind of life to share with Nino, she doesn't lose her flavor.
Well, I want a flavor! Right now, I can't tell what the hell I am. A mixture of soy sauce and ketchup, a bit of guacamole and margarine... I feel that, with the diversity of my heritage, my identity is like a multi-cultural jambalaya. It's not just ethnicity. By character I'm neither completely reserved or extremely outgoing, neither confident nor timid, both hardworking and lazy, sometimes quixotic, sometimes pragmatic... worst of all, while on the one hand I want nothing more than to carve a life grounded on the propagation of peace and humanistic education, on the other I simply want to explore and fill my days with the aesthetic pleasures of the arts: a simple job in the city that makes decent money, a small but stylish apartment, internet cafes, home-made soups, gallery hopping in the evenings, subway trains and yellow rain boots... but I'll still do my best to spread happiness, just not in such a glorified manner. Rather, through small gestures to close relations, just like Amelie.
I'm a split person... so what is my real identity? All of them? What if I don't want to be all of them? Can I choose an identity for myself? Does that make me a fraud?
What's the verdict?
EDIT: I just read this in wurds:
"Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."