Hot Topic: Perfection and Being Special

I wanted to make a review about The LEGO Movie, but I couldn't summarize the hilarity and beauty of that film even if I wanted to. Long story short; watch it. It starts off slow and gains momentum, just the way movies should. But what hit me most is not just the comedy, but all the messages behind it. I cried in the cinema watching this movie, but it was tears of happiness from laughing. However, another scene actually did bring me close to tears, for personal reasons.

Let's get to it:

The main messages of The LEGO Movie are twofold; there is no such thing as perfection, and you are special even if you don't think you are. They're pretty basic and somewhat childish morals. Why of course you know there is no such thing as perfection. Of course you think you're special. But knowing is not the same as understanding. We know there is no such thing as perfection, and yet we strive for it like no other. We know that everyone is special, and yet we downgrade ourselves whenever we see someone even remotely better at us at something.

Being perfect is something that has been ingrained in us like childhood riddles. From an early age, we were taught that mistakes meant punishment. Before our first day of school, we would draw and write whatever we wanted. Our imagination was utterly limitless. There was no such thing as being wrong, because the notion of a wrong idea has never even occurred to us. Ideas were ideas, no matter how far-fetched and surreal. Then we went to school and learned that the previously innocuous letter F now stood for failure. Failure to generate the right idea. Failure to write a good story. Failure to color inside the lines. Failure became part of our daily vocabulary. Not only that, it became top of the list. We became slaves to this idea that we should never be wrong. That perfection is not only attainable but encouraged. The closer you are to that A, the more you are rewarded. The closer to that F, the more you are chastised. Perfection is one letter. Anything less means you have failed as a student and as an intellectual human being. 

Then we learned what perfection meant as a character. To not only achieve perfection, but become it. We watched movies that depicted the Perfect Woman or Man and we took note. We mentally jotted down every single characteristic and we aspired to become the physical embodiment of perfection. But it's just...impossible for someone to be flawless, but we still denigrate ourselves for making mistakes and saying the wrong things. We have fault lines like the Earth, and we cannot mend it with Krazy Glue or smooth it out. Our fault lines will deepen with age. We move further away from perfection every year, yet our determination to achieve it increases. 

Our impossibly high standard for perfection has resulted in us believing that we are not special enough. This isn't the case for some people who think that the sun revolves around them, but I know that this is the case for me and most people. I know my online tagline is 'I am not a special snowflake', which references Fight Club's infamous quote, "You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else." I have brushed away the idea of my uniqueness simply because I have never seen anything admirable in myself that I couldn't find in someone else also. My talents are limited and common; whatever I can do, someone else can do even better. I have been comparing myself to everyone around me and it has led me to believe that I am nothing more than a tiny and insignificant cog in history. 

The LEGO Movie did not urge for anyone to become special, it simply suggested the concept of self-assurance. The most common misconception is that to believe we are special is that we need to actually be special. But is that always the case? It's always mind over matter, so what if the placebo effect plays a role in our self-assurance? What if by merely believing we are special, we can become it? 

I have always been opposed to the encouragement of our uniqueness. The 'I'm one in a million!' quotes or the 'I'm unique!' taglines on my fellow teenagers' online biographies always made me sick. But I realized that that self-confidence will waver when they grow older. They stop believing that they are unique simply because they have entered into the system of modern society of grey suits and 9-5 desk jobs. They used to look in the mirror and think they were the best thing since sliced bread, but the world kicked these teens down and made them feel inferior. That there will always be someone better and more talented and more beautiful. We are never enough. We are not special.

Doesn't it bother anyone else that being an adult has less to do with the physical changes of your body and more to do with how mentally damaged you have become? We are no longer children with limitless imagination because we have been tainted by the fear of making mistakes. I have always complained about growing up, and maybe I do have the Peter Pan syndrome, but no one truly understands how much I loathe growing up. It is not the bills or the responsibilities that bother me, but it's the mentality that comes with age. It's the deprecating adults who all believe in this idea of perfection and uniformity. I love being around children because they are everything I was. Their eyes flicker with the thought of ideas; no matter how terrible. Their smiles are genuine and they are smart, not in the way we want them to be, but smart because they are fearless. Children are unafraid of mistakes and the shitstorm of life. Naive? Perhaps. But sometimes naivety is underrated. What good comes from being perpetually wary? 

I love the LEGO Movie. I love the humor, the surprisingly deep plot, and the plethora of messages behind it. I suggest you all watch it, and who knows, maybe you'll learn a thing or two about life. I sure as hell did. Am I perfect? No, and I'm alright with that. But am I special? Well, that belief might be a lifelong pursuit for me.