Pleasantville

There is a great movie called Pleasantville. It is worth renting if you've never seen it. All the people in Pleasantville live a black and white '50's TV show existence. Firemen only rescue stranded kittens, the basketball team never misses a shot, adults sleep in separate beds, women are content to cook and clean. They live in unchanging routines and know nothing of the world outside of their town - until a 1990's brother and sister are transported through the television set into Pleasantville. Through them the town is introduced to art, creativity, change, desire, sex, love and loss. Each person who allows a new experience becomes "colored". Slowly the town blooms into colors. A woman pleasures herself and a nearby tree spontaneously combusts. At first she is ashamed of her color, but later defends it adamantly. The town deals with the chaos of change and many refuse to accept it until it happens to them. People exhibit emotions for the first time.

I love this movie because I understand being mired in a small world of personal delusions and low expectations. It's a little like being brain dead yet somehow still breathing. But it's hardly what I'd call living.

The movie says - be alive in your own time. Turn a different color. It's okay if life sucks sometimes because then you're going to know when it doesn't suck. Banish the small mind that only loves those like you. Hate perfection. Live a real life with real emotions in the real world. Be human, baby.