Walter Mitty and the return to the Real.
I have often heard people say: “The best adventures I ever had were also my most miserable experiences.” While I admit that some of my lowest moments turned out to be great stories, I am in disagreement that pain or discomfort is a requirement for having an adventure. It strikes me that a certain sense of vulnerability is required in order to have an adventure. This is why people tend to associate “adventures” with unpleasant situations. Sometimes vulnerability leads to a miserable experience, but not always. For example, rock-climbing is paradoxically one of the safest and most dangerous sports out there. It is dangerous because a lot of elevation and a lot of hard rock are involved. But it is also the safest because of the redundancy of safety precautions that are taken. Nevertheless, whenever you tie yourself in, you are making yourself vulnerable to the rope and to your belayer. Whenever you submit yourself to the powers of the natural world, no matter how safe you are, you become vulnerable.
And I think the digital age we live in has all but annihilated any opportunity for vulnerability. We no longer communicate face to face, but hide behind our social media and cell phones. We have access to the whole world with a touch of a button, without ever having to leave the confines of our rooms. In fact, we can almost get anything we want with little to no effort. Because we are no longer vulnerable to each other, or the natural world, we have lost a sense of adventure and a sense of freedom.
How can we fix this?
There is a film that has become very dear to my heart that, I think, answers this question. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, is about a “negative assets manager” for LIFE magazine. His job is to process the pictures that appear in the monthly issues of LIFE. He is a very kind-hearted man, but he lacks self-confidence and self respect. And so his romantic pursuit of one of his co-workers, Cheryl, has really gone nowhere.
When Walter cannot find the photograph that is scheduled to be on the front cover of the last magazine, he begins an amazing quest to find the elusive cameraman, in order to get a copy of the picture, so that he is not left a failure.
The answer: Walter represents the millions of Americans who spend their lives looking through filters—seeing the world from a third-person perspective. They are lonely, afraid to be vulnerable, and have no sense of freedom or self esteem. By leaving behind the world of pictures, Walter is able to experience the real world, and the beauty that pervades it. This requires vulnerability,(which makes the movie highly entertaining,) and that is not a bad thing.
I think this is the solution to the problem Americans are facing: the depression, the lack of self esteem, and the fear. We need to step out of ourselves a little more. We need to be vulnerable, not in an immature or hazardous way, but we need to step out there. We need to encounter real people and real places. Through immersion into the Real—real social interactions, real consequences, we will be able to find ourselves. How? That’s another question. Go watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
