We all grew up watching movies.
Most of them showing a protagonist overcoming adversity.
We associate with the protagonist because they are usually celebrated with happy, positive and pleasurable endings which tap onto our primal desires for the same.
At the same time, we learnt to move towards that we which we are positive about. If we liked a candy, we moved towards it. If we liked a person, we went ahead and made the connection.
Over time, through our admiration for the protagonist, we “move” towards it in the only way possible, through identifying and manipulating our “selves” to resemble the protagonist’s behaviour and mannerisms, thereby embracing the idea of a new persona.
We are unaware of our spontaneously biased inclination towards assuming the heroic identity, because inherent in that persona lies hope and excitement for the future. One does not look back and think about the spontaneous transformation, just as how a chameleon changes at will without thinking if it was the right thing to do at that point in time.
While holding on to protagonists’ personas, we then are able to contrast and identify antagonists in our daily lives.
.. until we fall and become antagonists ourselves to others,
.. when the environment forces, coerces, impresses upon ourselves as the antagonist,
only then do we learn to see both sides and learn to be neutral.
Having the persona of a hero is not usually bad, but getting carried away sometimes puts our real selves at risk. And the thing is, most of us do not notice ourselves getting carried away until we are off the cliff.
– inspired thoughts while observing “stage actors” on normal day
Leave a Reply