Summer Movie Season

The summer movie season is beginning. Soon theaters around the country will be filled with explosions, costumes and clashing swords. For many these films represent a distraction from the complex problems that life has to offer. A summer film can be a two-hour, air conditioned respite from not only the heat of the day but the turmoil of modern life. Can a summer film offer more than this? The same conflicts of life are often mirrored in the adventures of our favorite heroes. The morality tales of good verses evil are simplifications of the trials we face every day. If only I could face and defeat the challenges in my life with a sword, a shout of courage and a charge across a field of battle. Instead I move with restraint and uncertainty in a world filled not with monsters and evil but conflicting agendas and weakness of my own spirit. There may well be true evil in the world but I have yet to be confronted by it in my life. Rarely have I have been certain in my own righteousness and course of action. Never has my path been as clear as that of the action hero shown to me on many a hot summer day. Still, when I see a hero of the silver screen make a choice of sacrifice over self preservation or participation over apathy I thrill at the possibility that such courage could be found in my life. The things that make a hero are not great deeds but great choices. In the world I live there are no villains. My life is filled only with choices to be made and actions to be taken. Heroes of the summer movies remind me of what the best motives to action can be. Villains show me a side of myself when I act out of fear, selfishness and insecurity. Life is complex but the ideals that govern my life don’t have to be. No story can tell me what to do or solve my problems. Stories can help inform me where to center my thoughts before I choose my course. Isn’t this why we go in mass to these films? Not for the explosions or special effects but the reminder of what we are capable of being. Whatever you choose to see this summer take a moment to wonder how the story relates to your life. Which character do you identify with and why. It is possible to be the hero in the movie of your own life even when the villain fails to appear.