How Hollywood discovered the topic of “resilience” – or have they always known about it?

Let’s be honest about it: Nearly each romantic comedy – and also each non-romantic comedy movie – tells the story about a human being becoming more mature.

Maybe I’m generally watching too many movies, but I couldn’t come about realizing: Many of these comedies that typically score between 5 and 7 in the IMDB, tell the story of a person who’s changing – in a sense, that s/he becomes more mature: Identity Thief, Bruce Almighty, There’s Something about Mary and many, many more. What is this process of becoming mature if not establishing resilience? A system’s (the hero’s) balance is disturbed, alters and finds a new state of balance. Often more mature than before, e.g. because s/he let go of doctrines which might have hindered him or her in his or her live so far (and maybe even without him or her realizing) and gained a more differentiated view of the world.

At least I love that kind of stories, which is probably the reason for me watching each comedy movie with Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Sandra Bullock, Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Melissa McCarthy, Reese Whitherspoon or Will Farell, that I stumble across on TV or video.

Also, my favorite novel “High Fidelity” by Nick Hornby, as well as the successor novel “About a boy” (both picturized as well) are exactly about that: A (in both cases male) hero has a quite settled view of the world in a certain aspect, and thinks, he’s happy that way, that this is his identity. Then, something happens that shakes his world in its fundaments, against which the hero is fighting first. Eventually, he learns to change himself and his doctrine, and becomes a more mature, and often better (more lovable, more tolerant, more genuine) human being.

And, last but not least, my latest discovery, a web series called “Orange is the new black” illustrates this storytelling pattern in a fabulous way: a young, middle class woman (some would probably label her as “Yuppie”) has to go to prison for 15 months for a crime she committed more than 10 years ago. And here as well, we’re presented with the prototype of a heroine and her “resilience story”, respectively her repeated failure with herself and the new environment – and how she has to question and change her previous doctrines bit by bit; how she’s forced to take decisions and learning to take on responsibility for those, instead of making others and their actions responsible for her own destiny. Our heroine really hits rock bottom, leading her to focus on herself, to the discovery of a strength in herself, which opens her up a freedom inside these prison walls that she would never have had outside. Is that realistic? I don’t know. But it’s the kind of story that I want to see.

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2 thoughts on “How Hollywood discovered the topic of “resilience” – or have they always known about it?

  • Pingback: Cartoon-Impro - Claudia Hoppe

  • By Markus - Reply

    Vielleicht brauchen wir gar keine Helden. Sondern einfach Menschen, die Gutes tun, ohne dabei ständig Helden sein zu wollen.
    😉

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