One of the things I love most about YA literature, and one of the important things that differentiates it from adult fiction, is the sense of hope in the end, no matter how bleak a story might have been. And it's something that I think we always need in the world, especially in hard times, when it's so hard to be optimistic. This was something my best friend and I were discussing recently, and I thought I'd re-post it here to see if any of you guys had something to add to our conversation:
BFF:
"So, I saw an interesting movie recently that I thought was worth talking about. Not necessarily because it was awesome, but because it was about something that sounded so simple, but manifested itself in a very interesting way; the worldview of an optimist. I'm not sure if you have seen or heard about Happy Go Lucky, but the premise is pretty simple. It is basically about a woman (Poppy) who gets her bike stolen, and has to learn how to drive in order to make her daily commute. The way her personality is revealed in the film is through her interactions with family, friends, and her driving instructor who is this admittedly bizarre misanthrope, the perfect foil for her sunny charm. Poppy is this remarkably cheerful, happy person and not in a creepy over the top way , but an actual multi dimensional happy person. It sounds silly even as I write it, but portraying that kind of optimism really is amazing, and it feels really fresh and innovative because most people can't create that person without making them sentimental or excessive in some way.I have to confess that at times I found her personality puzzling, and downright annoying but I think it says more about me, and my lack of exposure to people who have embraced their circumstances so positively. I also thought the storyline was so interesting because if you sat down and thought to yourself "I want to make a story about an optimist" is this the conceit you would use to tell that story? I mean it could have been done more obviously if, for example you gave your main character a major, life altering obstacle to overcome and they proved their optimism by conquering it with grace. When I think about things like that it makes me admire people who can tell stories even more because they have to consider so many things in order to tell a story uniquely. So, the question this film got me thinking about is: why is optimism so hard to show? Or maybe it isn't and I just can't think of good examples in popular culture? Also, I wonder if an American filmmaker would take the same approach to this basic subject matter?"
Me:
"Yes, I've heard such good things about that movie, and it's on my queue. I think you pose a really interesting question. I was going to reply that we do have lots of optimistic movies/shows, but that they're actually ignorantly blissful, and that makes them negative to me as a critical-thinking viewer--like, the kids on The Hills are a pretty happy/lucky bunch, but it makes me pessimistic--but I realized that even so-called feel-good movies are so at the expense of others. Maybe they're making fun of someone to get their happiness or maybe burying their head in the sand about how what they're doing so optimistically is actually killing others (you know, like in documentaries about our government).Do you think pessism is just part of our society--maybe American society, as you posit, or maybe just humanity, at this point in time or since the beginning of it? I don't think pessimism is always a bad thing--it is intrinsically tied to realism and criticism, which is what we are doing right here on this blog. I guess if we were totally optimistic we'd be happy all the time, but then would there be anything to talk about, anything to explore? On the flip side, I guess, optimism is also what gives us the will to criticize and explore, makes us feel there's a point to things and encourages us to seek progress.I will say this: I can't wait to see the movie if only because I feel that we've gotten to this point where everything is jaded, cynical, and mean, and that's just depressing. Maybe I want an escape from reality, but I'm not afraid to admit it. I'm also interested to see how the story arc works in "Happy Go Lucky," since for a story to be a story it has to have a conflict and climax and solution found (ideally) by the protagonist."
BFF:
"You posed a lot of great things for me to think about both with this movie and the idea of an optimist as a whole. I have to confess that I began reading reviews this afternoon, which I love to do even though they inevitably alter my ideas. One idea I started thinking about is whether optimism is tied to a moral scheme? Do you have to believe in certain moral imperatives to practice optimism or is your world more flexible?I like what you said about optimism often being portrayed as a kind of blissful ignorance, because I think that's the most common way we see it in our society, and it also seems like the way we judge happiness. When you said you felt dispirited by how jaded and cynical society has become I can't help but think that's (partly) the result of a full decade (at least) of non stop irony. Because that's the mode so much of our world operates in it is hard to step back and act or appreciate things wholeheartedly without feeling a little foolish. There always has to be a safe distance between a genuine emotion and how we imagine that emotion to be judged. I'm not sure how much of a tangent I'm going on here, but I'll attempt to bring this back to the movie. I think Happy Go Lucky is a pretty realistic movie, and actually fairly steeped in the banal activities of everyday life. Maybe that's what initially made the simplistic plot feel odd to me. There are no contrivances because this is a story with no irony, and I think it asks the audience to watch it in the same spirit. I do think that doses of skepticism are needed to cope with everyday life, and to your point to be a thoughtful critic. I also think to be happy in the way that Poppy is requires more then just a good attitude. It really feels like a worldview, a pre-determined choice not to judge, to hold back skepticism, and to always imagine the best. Pretty amazing right?"
- L'Editrice
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