Silver Linings

Excelsior.

Silver Linings Playbook may be one of the best movies ever made. It's a romance movie without sex scenes, a comedy full of realism, an inspiration to those who've yet to reach ever upward, and a classic for everyone. What I love about this film is that it reminds me oddly of The Great Gatsby (the book), but it removes all the negative connotations of that tragedy's ending. It champions, yet destroys the closing line of the novel: "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning——So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Aim higher. Reach farther. Strive towards the future with everything in you. Yes.  But here Silver Linings changes the story. If you aim higher, you will go higher. If you reach farther, you will grasp your future. SLP makes you believe these things.

Don't get me wrong, The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite novels and Fitzgerald, one of my favorite authors, but if he's right, and all we're doing is striving for our past, never to achieve anything in the future, then what are we to do? Do we just stop reaching? Do we give up all hope? Do we lose faith in everyone and everything? Is life a lose-lose situation?

I refuse to believe that.

People have accomplished amazing things, and people are accomplishing more amazing things every fucking day. There IS hope for a brighter future, for things to change for the better, for a way to escape a horrific past. I agree with the writers of SLP that you can achieve a silver lining. Always. Because if you can't, then I don't see how life is worth living. And it is. It's so worth it. It's worth  enduring all the fights, the fucked up relationships, the tragedy, the horror. Because that silver lining triumphs over all that shit.

To quote Pat, the main character of the film, "The world will break your heart ten ways to Sunday. That's guaranteed. I can't begin to explain that. Or the craziness inside myself and everyone else. But guess what? Sunday's my favorite day again. I think of what everyone did for me, and I feel like a very lucky guy." What if the world thought like that? What if everyone had that mentality and lived their life with excelsior as their motto? What if everyone believed in achievement? What if everyone fought for their own silver lining?

"You have to do everything you can, you have to work your hardest, and if you do, you have a shot at a silver lining."