Can Movies or Television Shows Change Us?
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“Say hello to my little friend!”
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“By Grabthar’s hammer, by the suns of Worvan, you shall be avenged.”
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“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya; you killed my father, prepare to die!”
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“No, Luke. I am your father.”
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“I am Groot.”
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This is a glamour rune. It makes me invisible to mundanes. It’s a shame, really, denying them all this.
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“I don’t do zip ties without a safe word.”
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“Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole.”
I bet everyone that reads this recognizes at least one of those quotes. Sure, movies and television shows have entered the pop culture, sure their soundtracks are what get us going in the morning. They make us angry, make us talk to people on the internet’s version of the water cooler. But can they actually change our lives?
The answer seems to be a resounding “YES!”
As a whole, change by fandoms cannot be denied. Scientists have stated that Star Trek inspired their modern inventions. Star Wars’ Jedi is now a religion. The Bible has been printed in Klingon, and comic cons are filled weekly with fans in cosplay.
The invention of better filmmaking, of course, could be mentioned.
But this article isn’t about that. This is about you. Yes, you. The fan.
Can a movie or a television show(let’s even extend this to comics) change your life for the better?
The Shadowhunters Reach Out First
The first fandom to(immediately) answer my query on Twitter was the Shadowhunter fandom. The Malec relationship gave fans the courage to come out to their friends and family. The show and the actors had such an impact on a person that they changed the course of their life.
Kudos again to the actors of Shadowhunters, who have congratulated and encouraged fans who have come out to their family.
Fandoms Can Be Toxic, But Here’s the Thing…
Sadly, the toxicity of most fandoms always reaches the forefront. Like the rotten rice stuck in the sink of life that they are(That is a very specific simile because I have had that happen. And you think burnt beans are bad), they stink up everything. But look past that, and the support from everyday fans for each other is astounding. Those friendships can hold fast for a lifetime, teaching and reaching across cultures, and that can change a person’s world view.
Seriously, could anyone have foreseen Bronies?
Fandoms are family for a lot of the disaffected. Society condones going crazy for a sports team by wearing jerseys and painted faces, but dress like Dark Phoenix to go to a con, and you get labeled a weirdo. The internet, for all the bad, gave fandoms a connection to the like-minded. In some cases, movies, etc., may not just change a life-they save it.
Have You Changed?
For good or ill, people change and may not realize it(There’s enough focus on the bad; this article focuses on the good). The change can be slow, evolving with a person over time. Maybe a The Walking Dead fan became interested in special effects makeup and is building a career around it. Could the Fox show The Exorcist have brought a person comfort in a faith they thought they had lost? Somewhere, a mutual attraction to a movie brought a couple together. Maybe a kid with racist parents saw the relationship between Storm and Kitty Pryde in The X-Men and realized how awful bigotry is.
We’ll never know all the change affected by movies and television shows(and comics), it is not quantifiable. But knowing that change can happen at any time to anyone is a good thing to realize about something you are passionate about.
Change is cool, and so are you!
