To the misfortune of my January birthday friends (sorry guys), I cannot stand the month. It should be the perfect break after the chaos of the end of the year. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's all offer little breathing room, paving a clear path for a chill January. Yet, as nice as the break is, I can’t help but feel down in the first month of the year.
We come back to school, leaving our warm families behind to step right back into a cycle of projects, prelims and papers fueled entirely by stress and a gaze towards future breaks. I should be excited for the new year, finding motivation in all I want to accomplish. I find none of that comfort in January, instead feeling an overwhelming pressure from the year ahead, leaving me slumped and debilitated.
Now, as the end of the month approaches, I realize it's time to crawl out of my mopey comfort zone, looking towards the future with a clearer gaze. As always, the best way for me to get out of a rut happens to be through watching others get out of theirs.
Whenever I stress too much over my future, I watch Dazed and Confused. Richard Linklater’s cult classic chronicles the last day of school (and the party afterwards) in the lives of a group of Texas teenagers. Stacked to the brim with an ensemble cast of then-budding stars and nobodies, each performance is unique and hilarious. The soundtrack is phenomenal — pumped with d’70s rock hits, dosing the film with a nostalgic charm. The central question in the already vibe-based movie centers around protagonist Randall “Pink” Floyd’s (Jason London) decision over signing a ‘no drugs’ pledge, something that would permanently place him into the Jocks' social camp, completely negating all his other friends, including the stoners. All the characters manage to have fun and iconic moments, creating a film at ease with just being. Sometimes the best way out of a hole is to just relax.
To get out of other slumps, action needs to be taken, like in Donnie Darko. In his first starring role, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a troubled teenager riddled with visions of a violent purple bunny named Frank (James Duval). The film acts with subversion, making you question the very reality of their world. For instance, after a night of sleepwalking, Donnie Darko is saved from a plane crash and given the prediction that the world will end in 28 days. While he waits for the end, Donnie cycles through the mundanes of friendship, a budding romance and violent tendencies. His slump is clear from the start, and throughout the film, he takes steps to engage more with his life by touching the lives of others. By the time the final day rolls around, you’ve become fully immersed in Donnie’s story, hoping that he can do something to stop the end.
One of the greatest slumps ever brought to film is Lost In Translation, Sofia Coppola’s second feature film. Following Bill Murray as a fading middle-aged movie star and Scarlett Johansson as a young woman in a stagnant marriage, the pair form an unlikely friendship during their coincidental stays at the same hotel in Tokyo. Despite their completely different worlds, they find solace in each other’s company while dealing with their own personal loneliness. The script is brilliant, earning Sofia Coppola her only Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In the dialogue, we really get a feel for how important the friendship is to the leads, creating a necessary space for their individual arcs. The cinematography perfectly enhances the overall loneliness of the film, creating shots that are visually stunning while feeling sterile, before life begins to seep in as the characters make their journeys.
Some of my slumps come from the refusal to accept reality. One of my favorite movies, which I rewatch when I have this problem, is The Last Showgirl, starring Pamela Anderson in her grand return to serious acting. Shot entirely in Kodak (my kryptonite), the film is visually stunning as it captures Las Vegas today, mixing the modern landscape with the bankruptcy death of the final showgirl show. Pamela Anderson plays Shelly Gardner, a woman who has thrived in the showgirl show since the ’80s, who is now having trouble finding work as a dancer. Riddled with ageism, the film asks the important question about whether or not society knows what to do with women who have aged out of their marketability. Losing her main source of pride in the world, Shelly faces the challenge of finding a different career despite her lack of resumé.
Most of these films are hardly inspiring, which I feel is important for getting me out of a slump. I can’t watch a sports film about a team battling to greatness that makes me feel even more burnt out and useless. I would rather find comfort in people slowly finding themselves again, whether that be in Texas, Tokyo, Las Vegas or suburbia. To me, the importance of finding motivation lies in the security you can have with yourself, something these movies do brilliantly. You can’t dig yourself out of a slump until you’re able to understand who you are and what you truly want.
Kate LaGatta is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at kal273@cornell.edu.
