A Movie in My Head

I just finished reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. The book alternates perspectives between two boys named Will Grayson. Their lives start out as seeming unconnected, until the two of them meet by chance. Will Grayson 1 ends up introducing Will Grayson 2 to his gay friend Tiny. Tiny is working on a musical about his life. Will Grayson 2, is gay as well, and he and Tiny hit it off. While in this relationship, Tiny realizes that his musical can’t be about him, it needs to be about love. When Tiny does this, the musical becomes about all of his experiences with love and about the people in his life as well. As a result of this, the musical is whole lot better.

Tiny’s experience is really important. We often think of our lives as movies, TV shows, musicals etc. and we are the stars of these stories in our heads. This makes sense because we are in our head. Sometimes though, we confuse being the star, with it all being about us. Life is not “A Story About Me”. If we get too caught up in thinking about our lives as only about us, then they wont be as nice to live. This is something that is related to a lot of other characters lives. 

In the beginning of the book, Will Grayson 1 (aka W.G.1) has two rules, shut up and don’t care. He believes that this is the best way to avoid getting hurt. If he doesn’t care and doesn’t talk then he cant get hurt. But caring about something, anything is a big part of what makes life worth living. Caring and learning and making mistakes are integral parts of what make us human. W.G.1 refuses to let other people be parts of his little movie of life. A movie in which only one character affects the plot is a boring one. The supporting characters need to get in there too or what is the point. You don’t have a plot. Then, later in the book, he starts to let people in. He lets himself care about other people. He does get hurt, but by the end he is a happier person. This can be said for almost all of the characters. Once they let other people be part of the plot of their life movie, they start to enjoy it more and more.

Your life is a story about you and the interactions you have with other people. If you lose sight of how those people affect you life, or try to pretend they don’t then you will ultimately be less happy. You are the star of you own movie, but it isn’t all about you.