Nate looked at me and exclaimed, \u201cWow I have so much adrenaline, I want to fight the next person I see. \u201c I agreed, \u201cme too,\u201d knowing we wouldn\u2019t actually do it, but excited at the thought, nonetheless.\u00a0 We had just watched 300: Rise of an Empire at a crowded movie theatre in Boulder, Colorado.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure many others have experienced the thrill Nate and I felt after watching an intense movie such as 300.<\/p>\n
Whether it is racing expensive cars at dangerous speeds, shooting guns at bad guys, or having sex with supermodels, movies allow us to experience all the things we truly want to do but can\u2019t because reality gets in the way.\u00a0 When I was little my Dad and I would watch lots of action movies where shootouts were constant.\u00a0 I would always tell my dad how I wanted to be in a shootout.\u00a0 He would always reply, \u201cIf you got into a real shootout you would shit your pants.\u201d\u00a0 I might shit my pants, but I still think it would give me a cool adrenaline rush.\u00a0 In fact, for most of my childhood, my friends and I would try to act like the characters we saw on the big screens and replicate what we saw.\u00a0 We all had violent childhoods.\u00a0 Growing up we saw men get gunned down everyday \u2013 in the movies and on television.\u00a0 Naturally, by 4th<\/sup> grade we each had an air soft gun (a gun that shoots a plastic bullet that hurts but won\u2019t cause long term damage.)\u00a0 Some of us had 20 and body armor.\u00a0 And everyday after elementary school we would dress up in camo and shoot each other with plastic bullets.<\/p>\n A few times, air soft guns were used for more than just \u201cfriendly wars.\u201d\u00a0 There were these 2 kids from a nearby private school who lived in our town who did not get along my peers and I.\u00a0 One time, our feud got especially heated.\u00a0 Once my friend and I were walking when those two kids pulled up on bikes armed with air soft guns and began shooting at us.\u00a0 We were hit multiple times and we ran into the forest.\u00a0 An hour later, we had regrouped with more of our friends and all our guns.\u00a0 We went by this kids house, and saw them playing basketball in the driveway.\u00a0 We shot them multiple times and they ran into their house.\u00a0 We returned to our friend\u2019s house full of adrenaline and pride: feeling like we just killed the 2 of the most evil people in the world, when in reality, we just left a couple red marks on neighborhood kids.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Our replication of movies also included a pyro phase involving tiki oil and axe spray cans.\u00a0 Also, I\u2019m pretty sure in middle school I dropped lines I heard from movies on a number of girls.<\/p>\n Why did we enjoy movies so much and then try to replicate them in our actual lives?\u00a0 It is because movies allow us to go beyond our reality, to escape constraints of our reality.\u00a0 All of us have deep primal instincts that we cannot satisfy in reality.\u00a0 I know my friend Nate would love to be a Spartan and fight a crazy battle like the one in 300.\u00a0 But unfortunately, if Nate dressed up in armor and walked around wielding a sword he would either be arrested or forcefully mentally evaluated.\u00a0 I would love to race expensive cars recklessly through the streets of Nashville, but reality doesn\u2019t let me.\u00a0 Getting chased by Metro PD would probably put my ambitions on hold.<\/p>\n As humans we have primal instincts that go unsatisfied.\u00a0 We have fantasies that we cannot fulfill in reality.\u00a0 Movies allow us to live these fantasies out \u2013only if for a meager two hours.\u00a0 We love movies because they allow us to escape our mundane and monotonous lives.\u00a0 The man who is a fighter deep down, can be a fighter when he watches Fight Club.\u00a0 The inner Ricky Bobby in my brother comes out for the 90 minutes when he watches Talladega Nights.\u00a0 Movies are so essential to American life because they represent us.\u00a0 At least versions of us that we are not able to live out in our normal lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nate looked at me and exclaimed, \u201cWow I have so much adrenaline, I want to fight the next person I see. \u201c I agreed, \u201cme too,\u201d knowing we wouldn\u2019t actually do it, but excited at the thought, nonetheless.\u00a0 We had … Continue reading