little miss sunshine

i think this movie has become somewhat my #1 pick of comfort movies. everything about this movie screams, "Live your life the way you want to live and fuck the rest!"

this movie convinces me that conventional success isn't really what you have to pursue. your value is not equal to the number of achievements that you have, but rather whether or not you have lived true to your own conviction or not, no matter how unconventional that is (as long as you don't commit crimes).

there is a dialogue between dwayne and frank about life and dwayne says, "life is one fucking beauty contest after another." and i think he's true. we all compete to be the winner in every stage of our life, and sometimes... just for the sake of winning. and on top of that, not even to fulfill our deep desire, but for just mere superficial accomplishment: pleasure, recognition, fame, money, etc.

money is important, it's real, without money there's no guarantee that we can live. but i think pursuing money just for the sake of being rich is gonna make us forget who we are. this sounds really cliche tho, but still, i think it's essential. we all have our own values, dreams, talents or anything that we genuinely want to cultivate in order to bring a positive impact to the world. after all, what gives meaning to our lives is our connection to other people. and getting caught up in wanting to be rich... will it really bring deep psychological satisfaction?

and another thing that i think is really fascinating to think about is that this family really loves each other unconditionally. even when one is addicted to heroine, one fails in his business, another one is suicidal, etc... it makes me think that love is really that powerful. when we genuinely believed that we are worthy to be loved, hence we have the ability to love other people in return, we can get through. we can live.

i think how we live our life is what's important. our daily choices is more essential than the number of achievements we have and loving our dearest ones unconditionally will bring us places. i'm still learning and well, just a thought... if i may say myself... this movie made me realize how hurt i was as a child, and how much i need to heal right now as a young adult.

it's okay, i just need to live. :)