Our mission at SAW is to foster conversations about this thing we all love (or love to hate): film/TV. Many of our features are designed with you in mind. Your opinions, to be more to the point. You have ’em. We want to hear ’em.
Question of the Day (QOTD) is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a film/TV-related question that we put to you, the reader. The comments section below is like the feedback box at work; except, in this example, we actually read what you write and care about what you have to say.
Movies, or any form of art for that matter, are at their best when they inspire and movie people. When they make people think. Sure, we like the occasional no brainer from time to time, but the majority of our favorite films have moved us or made an impact in some way. Some have inspired us with hope or simply given us a different perspective of how we look at people and the world in general. Most of the time just a quote or overall idea of a movie will give us some practical advice that speaks to us that can become a mantra of sorts. Whatever the reason, if you truly love movies, there has been at least one movie that has made an impact on your life and given some solid practical advice which is what I want to discuss today.
So the question I ask today is: What movie gave you the best practical advice?
For me, the first that comes to mind is a quote from one of my favorite movies and books for that matter. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird novel is an all-time classic about racial injustice, courage, and class along with other poignant themes. The story is about a man wrongfully accused of rape simply based on the color of his skin and the lawyer who defends him because he believes everyone deserves equal treatment. Of course, this leads to rising tensions in the small fiction town of Maycomb, Alabama with the townsfolk wanting an innocent man to suffer before any evidence has come to light or before he is given due process.
In steps Atticus Finch, the lawyer who represents the accused Tom Robinson not because he automatically believes his innocence but because he believes every person is entitled to certain rights regardless of their skin color or class status. At one point in the movie, Atticus, played tremendously by the great Gregory Peck, sheds some light on why he believes the way he does and it’s a quote that has stuck with me, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. … Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” I can admit I’m not the best about this, but it is something that has always stuck with me and a good reminder from time to time to help me understand my fellow man.
So what about you, folks? What movie gave you the best practical advice?
I’ll see you in the trenches.
