Television, T.V., The Telly, The Tube, The Idiot box. It’s obtained quite a reputation, yet the greatest heroes and inspiration for countless others have been displayed there, before their eyes. Speeches of Honor, morals, and conviction have been spoken echoing throughout a sea of ears. Warriors of every sort of the ethical spectrum have been seen, battling epic battles over endless battlefields. It is here, that Heroes are made, and following that, observers who are willing to aspire to be like them.
… And of course, I’m one of those observers…
Cartoons, allow the expansion of the imagination, where the land is walked by both Man and Beasts of various natures, sizes, and cultures. The blending of distant worlds of both Macro and Metaphorical levels. Ahh… it’s Beautiful. Brings tears to one’s eyes, when I think about it. I’ve learned articulation (more articulation, actually), Words of Honor, Codes of conduct, and even wise-cracks from watching the Street-wise Hero, stand tall in defiance of the Evil Genius. Their actions were for beliefs that had priority over their own life, over their own personal desires, Failure was not an option for either man, andwe were witnesses to this Fantastic event, each strike staggering the target, and to see that to make a mistake caused devastating consequences with gargantuan proportions, the ramifications that follows caused the trembling of the very foundations of the scales that hold Life and Death in balance!
Or maybe just make sense of the craziness of the current situation
Moving to a larger screen, and covered in Silver, Movies have been the starting point that inspired people. To raise the hairs on the head, shift you,without you ever knowing, from the back of the seat to the edge. To steal that breath that’s been quivering on your lips, to make your heart sink, and tears stream from your eyes. Movies have harnessed the human emotion, from joyful to encouraging, guilt to despair, even have the powers to inspire hatred as well as peace within one’s heart. Ohh, many things can be learned both, directly as well as indirectly, I’ve learned Philosophy from the Matrix and Batman, I’ve learned conviction from Gladiator and Jet Li’s Fearless, I’ve seen the physical peak of men and women, from Ong Bak to the Fifth Element to even Hanna. Movies can teach one MANY things, if one’s eyes are opened enough to see them. You have to find the balance though, between fantasy and reality, in the movies, otherwise, you’ll find yourself a fanatic over something that’ll cause other people to relocate you to a Psychiatric ward.
And it might not be the good kind of psychiatry either…
Lastly, with an idea from the other side of the world, we have anime, a blending of the gravity and gore and aspects of movies with the expansive worlds that cartoons bear. Animes can help provide expansions for the mind, in both story-telling as well as inspire creativity for those who are willing to take it. Although, not everyone watches anime, in my youth, I’ve watched some of it, so I’m able to draw from some of it as well. When I first saw anime, (I believe it was Inuyasha) I thought such a combination didn’t exist, we had cartoon characters who swore at each other and cleaved one another with weapons of exaggerated size, wielding them with such ease and precision.
Something as casual as this
But what one can learn from this can be the same as the Cartoons, yet also from the Movies as well, due to the fact that anime are usually aimed for a more mature audience. Truly, anime can be appreciated for their designs, their creativity (because some of them have really good stories) and can even make you laugh, in manners that others can’t. Yet, if one’s willing so inclined, one can find inspirations from even anime, but like all things in life, balance is a key component.
And so ends Part 2, of this little mini-series, I have no idea if I can expand this to a third part, but I guess time will tell. But the point of this post is to show how something seemingly pointless like reading a comic book, or watching a cartoon, can help children learn, inspire them to become something more than what the expectations of others will allow them, and even teach them, examples of morality, ethics, languages, and the strength one displays when holding on to said traits with all the willpower one can muster. And there’s always the case of finding friends who like similar things such as cartoons, or movies, or anime and help find kindred spirits with which bonds can be formed and more.
One thing is for certain, that I’ve learned from all of these: Life, is truly indeed, what you make of it, so long as you stay true to yourself, and to what you believe in.
Red's Journey 