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Life Isn’t Wicked Witches Or Phantoms

18 December 2009 5 Comments

I wish life were a musical.

Seriously.  Like I walk down the street and suddenly the corner store is filled with employees who can turn the readily accessible barrels, boxes, and other various things into professional musical instruments.  The business men in the street would suddenly grab ladies in flowing dresses and perform beautifully technical choreographed dance routines.  I’d be able to jump up on a bench or stone flower planter and belt out an inspiring and amazing show stopper that would endear the audience and inspire my leading man.

Hey, a girl can dream, right?  (Don’t say I never told you I was a dork)

It’s something about musicals.  The joy that song and dance can bring into your day.  The melodies that stick in your heart.  The story lines that are about more imagery and themes than most Pulitzer Prize winning novels.   Which is why it is not really a big surprise that I am obsessed with the fall television hit Glee.

And I especially feel for the star, one Miss Rachel Berry.

It can suck when you are good at what you do.  It sucks even more when you know how good you are at what you do.  Know in the way that the high school singing star or starting quarterback knows.  You are aware of your talents, but there’s so much else that you are unsure of and insecure about.

The difference is that in high school you are 17 years old and still trying to figure yourself out.  By the time you are 22 or so, you should have enough of a grip that you don’t need to desperately grasp at these straws for attention and adoration.  Confirmation of your abilities and place in the world.  Proof that you ARE someone and that you DO make a difference.  You won’t have it all figured out, I’m not sure most of us get that in our lives.

You have to make sure everyone knows, so you tell them.  You are an annoying voice shouting into the wind.  Heck, you may be the most “popular” boy in the school but the reality is that most of your classmates secretly loathe you and your superficial ways.  You seem nice enough, but everyone can tell that there is always a selfish motive to your actions.  Or being the prettiest girl.  Did people ever like you for who you really were or did they just think you were pretty and knew that you were the key to their success.

How do you embrace your skills but keep people from raining on your parade?  Knowing that you will not always be able to get what you want?

And never losing yourself in either process.

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  • http://twentyorsomething.com Susan Pogorzelski

    Elisa, you had me at “I wish life were a musical.” Because music is so powerful, can stir the soul and help us express what words sometimes can’t (a huge admission from a word-lover like me), I almost wish people could walk around with their own soundtracks. Wonder, then, how much the world would be changed…

    Right. Musicals. Confession time: I may or may not have put “Ride A Trolley in San Fran” on my life wish list because I want to sing the Trolley Song from Meet Me In Saint Louis. Ironically enough, when I went to London with my best friend a few years ago, I sang (or hummed in public) Portobello Road at the market and couldn’t wait to Feed the Birds on the steps of St. Paul’s. When I went to France last year, I felt compelled (compelled!) to sing the “Little town, little quiet village” song from Beauty and the Beast. True story.

    Musicals have a way of making you live in the moment but, more importantly, of forcing you to feel what you’re meant to feel. Joy. Anger. Loneliness. It takes the basic human emotions — what’s universal, what every human being feels at one point or another — and puts in clear terms that everyone can relate to. That’s why your heart jumps and you want to get up and dance at the infectious “Bye Bye Birdie,” or why you’re filled with hope at “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” or why “You Are Not Alone” always makes you cry. Hmmm. I sense a theme here.

    The thing about Glee that I think so many people love is that it stirs those familiar emotions without them even realizing it. How many times do you turn off the TV at 10pm with a satisfied smile on your face? I know I do. And then I rush to Hulu to see if it’s up so I can watch it again ;)

    Moving on (finally!) to the message of your post: Rachel had a line a few weeks back that stuck with me, that I think can call to every twenty-something. Or, maybe, just everyone at all. She says, “I want everything too much.” Ambition is a funny thing. When you have it, when you have dreams and are determined to move towards them — no matter what it is — you will have people who feel threatened by your go-getter attitude. And so I think with people trying to drag you down to their level, you cling to the one thing that you’re certain of about yourself, the one thing for which there are no insecurities. Whether that be smarts or looks or talent, it’s what you hold to fast, reminding yourself — reminding others — of your worth, of your dreams. Some people can take it too far, yes, but sometimes that’s the only thing they know for certain, that they have to hold onto.

    The thing about Rachel Berry is that she is talented and she does know it. But she is also insecure. I think that’s why she’s the most realistic of the characters — because we all have that. We all have that thing at which we excel, we all have high ambition (just look at this blogosphere), but we all have our insecurities, too, to which it’s inevitable that people will latch upon, trying to bring you down, trying to rain on your parade.

    What can keep people from raining on that parade? Maybe seeing someone not as a talent or as a symbol or a label but as a person. It wasn’t until they got to know Rachel that the rest of the club saw her as a person — with feelings, with insecurities, as one of them. Every single person in this world is a “one of us,” only we never realize it, building people up so much in our minds or labeling them because they’re too pretty, too smart, too talented, or whatever. Rachel clings to this label because it’s the one thing she has to hold onto. I wonder how many of us cling to our own labels because we would feel lost without it.

    Whether we’re 17 or 22 or 82, I think we’re always going to be looking for where we fit in — at least, until those insecurities are completely gone. And I wonder if they ever really will be. Until then, I think it’s important to keep doing what we’re doing — whatever we’re doing. Because that’s the other thing about ambition. When you believe in yourself, you can’t be knocked down for long.

    Sorry for my novel of a comment, but a lot of thought-provoking ideas with this one. Possibly one of my favorite posts to-date, Elisa. Thanks.
    .-= Susan Pogorzelski´s last blog ..Never Stop Believing (Part II) =-.

  • http://twentyorsomething.com Susan Pogorzelski

    Holy sugar cookie. I didn’t realize how long this comment actually was! Maybe would have been better as an email. Do you see what you did here with this post?

    And now I’m filling up your comment-stream with more gibberish. Awesome.
    .-= Susan Pogorzelski´s last blog ..Never Stop Believing (Part II) =-.

    • http://www.opheliaswebb.com Elisa Doucette

      Haha, yes, this is a comment and a half. Literally! :)

      I feel the same way about music that you do. And though I am a word lover at heart, I love music possibly even more. Musicals most definitely make us feel and think things we might not normally because they tug at pieces of us that we might not even know are there.

      Interestingly enough after I wrote this and my sister and I had a little Glee-a-thon, I heard that quote from Rachel (“I want everything too much.”) and it stuck with me as well. And I think that is a pivotal point to her character and the show. Sometimes we want things SO much that we push and pull and try and force things that sometimes need a natural time to progress. And while we may somehow make it thru with our own dreams and ambitions, we have to ask ourselves “at what cost?” Truly, does it matter how successful and fulfilled we up being if we sacrifice our friendships and happiness along the way.

      Do we sometimes rain on our own parade? Thinking we already know the parade route and missing all the spectators and sights and paths along the way?

  • Amy

    Well then. I agree with both of you. I think that musicals are a form of escapism. I’ve always said that my life would be so much better if my life were a musical. I talk so much during the day. Meetings, talking to co-workers, committees, the list goes on and on. It’s easy to feel like my voice will get lost. However, if I jumped on the desk and sung why I think that meat salads are a meat item, I feel I would be heard more (I work for a healthy navigation system and yes I’ve had this discussion).

    Rachel is such an amazing character because she is so relate able. I had a “Glee” marathon this weekend and it was marvelous. There was an episode where Rachel has to pose for the school picture by herself because her co-captain ditched her. During her inner monologue she says, “Get it together. Don’t relate this to every other person who has disappointed you in your life”. I think we’ve all had those moments. The moments that we realize that we are vulnerable and didn’t make the impact we wanted to. I love Glee because I am Glee. Awkward, clumsy, tongue tied and scared. But in the end, I have my talents and I achieve at those talents.

    • http://www.opheliaswebb.com Elisa Doucette

      I think I’m just going to start bursting out into song. Test it out. See how it goes.

      You bring up an interesting point. The scene you are talking about is one of the few in the entire series in which we see vulnerability in Rachel. Which leaves me to wonder a bit. Does a lack of vulnerability or inability to take our eyes off our goals ever get us to them faster/easier/better or does it just make us annoying and unfeeling and without close friends at the end of the day?