Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

I’ve been on such a movie kick lately seeing quite a number of films at the theater. For me it’s one of the things that summer’s all about anyway. So two nights ago I went to see “Turbo” at the local cinema given that I’m a big animation fan. What’s funny is how this film, like several other films I’ve seen recently, was so closely connected to some of my own life’s experiences.

The film’s plot is actually rather simple. It’s about a snail who has a big dream to go as fast as an Indy race car. All the other snails that live around him laugh at his absurdity and just go on with their daily lives doing what they always do, which is to harvest and eat tomatoes. Due to a freak accident that happens on a venture away from home one night though, the snail is doused in a bath of nitrous oxide when it’s sucked into the engine of a car that’s street racing. When the snail is thrown from that engine, it’s not to long after that he realizes he’s able to travel at speeds upwards of 200 mph and gives himself the nickname Turbo. The rest of the movie is focused on him trying to achieve his dream of being an Indy race car driver when every other snail, including his own brother, still thinks he’s insane and does their best to convince him otherwise.

What I relate most to this plot is the path I’ve been taking these past few years of my life to heal. That path began a few years ago when I made the decision to fully walk away from an addictive lifestyle and start spending most of my time in solitude to try to grow closer to God and to myself. In doing so, my physical body deteriorated and most of my days became filled with vast amounts of mental and emotional anguish. For awhile, I tried to take medications to deal with all the pain and I followed all the doctor’s advice who I saw, none of which helped me in the least bit. Then came the day where I walked away from all those pills and appointments and accepted the only way I was going to heal was to live my life as healthy and spiritual as a human could and that God would help me complete the rest. Like Turbo, I have often thought way bigger than what everyone else around me thinks. Many have thought I’m crazy and that God isn’t going to ever heal me. People have tried to convince me all the time that I should go back on medications or that I have some disease which just hasn’t been discovered yet by the doctors I once visited. Others have told me to just accept I’m always going to be dealing with the pain and make the best of it. But I continue to believe differently than all of them.

Turbo never gave up on his dream and neither will I. He eventually experienced the fruits of his hard work and I know I will too. I refuse to believe that what I’m feeling right now is the best it’s ever going to get for me. So each day now I do my best to trust inherently in God that I will be delivered out of this suffering and restored to a healthy state of mind, body, and soul by remaining patient and continuing to do the hard work I do each day to heal. I leave the rest in God’s hands and truly believe that through all of this, God will eventually turbo charge me too…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

During May to September, so many movies are released that cost millions and millions of dollars to make. They are usually filled with tons of special effects or are sequels that people have been waiting to see for a long time. “Summer Popcorn Flicks” is a nickname that is often given to any of them. But occasionally, a gem of a movie is released during these months that stands apart all on its own where it hasn’t operated off of a large budget, where its actors are either unknown or have taken pay cuts to be in it, where special effects don’t really matter, and where the storyline of the movie is really its only heart and soul. “The Way Way Back” is an example of such a movie that not only allowed me to really connect to the main focal point of the movie, which was about a shy and lonely boy named Duncan who was trying to find himself, it also helped me to remember my own journey to doing so.

In this movie, Duncan was a wallflower. He didn’t stand out as anything special to anyone around him. Most would probably label him as a nerd or a dork in their minds and no one was giving him the time of day. Everyone close to him was either generally ignoring him and focusing on their own selfish needs and wants or they were making fun of him in subtle ways. At the age of 14, Duncan was presented as this extremely withdrawn kid that ironically was no different than who I was at his age. Thankfully, he went on in the movie over the course of a few summer months to find redemption in his lonely life when both a pretty teenage neighbor girl and a cool manager of a water park took interest and showed him just how special he was in his own way. Unfortunately, it took me a lot longer in life to get there.

There are a lot of people out there who may never fit the “cool bill”. People often point and laugh at them, like they even did in this movie with not only Duncan, but also the kid next door who had a severely lazy eye. They get passed over in gym class when teams are being picked, they are excluded from many group activities, and when people are told to pair up with another person for some exercise, they are usually left by themselves only to be paired up with the adult who’s coordinating it. Like Duncan was, many of those kids find their only company is the music they listen to in their headphones, the walks or bike rides they take on their own, or the books they read, because at least in all those cases, no one is picking on them, putting them down, or outright ignoring them.

In the movie, Duncan’s redemption came at a water park where its manager believed in him so much that he gave him the ability to find himself by offering him a job there. Sadly, no one ever came into my life that gave me that chance and for years, I tried to find myself through being a chameleon or following what everyone else was doing just so I didn’t stand apart. While that prevented me from being picked on a lot less, it also impeded any progress to ever finding out who I really was inside.

Last summer, by the time I turned the age of 40, I had already made the decision it was time to stop following everyone else. It was then that I actually felt as if I stepped back in time to where I was still that innocent and nerdy 14 year old boy no different than Duncan. But instead of going down those paths that I did at a young age to fit in, I went back to those activities that once brought me great comfort such as listening to music, reading, and sitting on the beach alone. What’s funny is that in doing that, God has brought into my life a few people who like that shy and lonely nerdy boy that I’ve become again. What’s even better is that I’m ok with it now too.

“The Way, Way Back” movie was a great portrayal of an accelerated version of something that took me almost three decades to do. I connected with Duncan’s life so well as it reminded me of a time when I wished my family, or anyone for that matter, had paid attention to me. Today, I don’t seek that because it’s already there in the way it’s supposed to be. I’ve seen that in being myself, those that are meant to be in my life are there and really enjoy being with me, and those that passed me over for whatever reason, aren’t.

Today I’m finding that some of the most interesting people are those who are often overlooked by society. They usually have the most interesting and heartwarming stories to tell and also the greatest capacities for sharing love. Duncan is an example of one of those people and so am I. There was nothing ever wrong with Duncan or myself back at that young age even though we both stood apart from most everyone else. While it wasn’t a water park manager who helped me to figure that out, God did and because of that, I’ve been able to find “the way way back” to being myself again.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

I’ve been a big movie goer for most of my life. But something has changed a lot since I was a kid. As the technology has continued to evolve, it seems as if all movies are shifting their attention away from good acting and more onto how many amazing special effects can be pumped into a film. The result of this is that I’ve been enjoying my movie going experiences less and less.

This year has already dealt with many big budget films bombing at the box office. Some of those have included Jack the Giant Slayer, A Good Day To Die Hard, After Earth, The Lone Ranger, and White House Down, all of which I got to see at the theater. In each of those films, the emphasis seemed to be more on how much the director was able to give the audience a “wow” factor using special effects and less on the quality of the script and acting. This is contrary to the main reason why I have always loved attending movies.

I have always felt the best movies are when I can put myself in the actor’s or actress’s shoes and feel as if I’m living the movie as them. Lately, that hasn’t been the case in many movies where all of that green screen technology and computer animation is being used. While I may be having those jaw dropping moments with how realistic the special effects are becoming, the fact remains that I’m not connecting anymore to the characters. In other words, my heart isn’t being moved much anymore.

Movies like The Notebook, Ghost, and The Shawshank Redemption are a few of the ones that come to mind that have inspired me over time and had greatly moved my heart. While each of those may have had some special effects, the emphasis was less upon that as it was with their heart warming plots and incredible acting. Sadly, the film industry has been moving away from making movies like this and instead are pumping more and more money into making these huge blockbusters that are often bombing lately when they don’t make their budgets back.

Could it be possible that these movies like this summer’s The Lone Ranger are performing poorly because the emphasis was placed less upon giving heart to the movie and more upon its special effects? My most recent experience of a movie like this was when I saw Pacific Rim the other day in 3D. Easily it had the greatest special effects of all the movies I’ve seen so far this year but I just couldn’t connect to any of the actors or actresses in the movie and felt my heart stayed detached throughout the entire film.

Here’s a little secret about me. What I love best about a film is when I can leave the theater, get in my car, break down in tears, and end up praying to God about something in my life. This happened when I saw “42” this year, which was the Jackie Robinson story.  I was so extremely moved by what he went through in his fight against racism that when I got in my car, I cried and asked God to help me to continue to have the strength to keep going in my quest to heal.

I guess what I’m trying to say in all of this is that I simply just want my heart to be moved when I see a movie. But with the focus becoming more and more on the special effects in films these days, that seems to be happening less and less. For a guy like me who is spending a lot of time lately connecting to God, seeing two hour long films that are lacking in warm feelings are leading me to spending less of my money on films with no heart. Who knows, maybe if the film industry could go back to making more films that are intended to move the audience’s heart and not their brains, they might start making back their budgets and then some…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson