Arguablyacademic - Romanticizing The Mundane

this lil theory of mine isn’t supported by strong bases but its the hill imma die on

todd anderson, 1959 (dead poets society)

mr. anderson, 1998 (the perks of being a wallflower)

after having his life changed by an english teacher, todd decided to pursue the same career, hoping to inspire younger generations the same way he was inspired with the beauty that words confine.

once again stating that NEIL AND CHARLIE FUCKED!

I saw something that was like “we put our lives on pause, but getting vaccinated can help us be able to hit play again” and it just bothered me because I’m not just starting again where I left off. I graduated from college in spring of 2020. I’m never going back to living there and regularly seeing my college friends. I’m never getting my graduation ceremony. I’m not getting my last months of college back. They’re gone!

So anyway this post is dedicated to anybody who went through any transitional period during the pandemic. Whether you graduated, lost somebody, moved, or anything else where you will never truly be able to get the last months/year of [whatever] back. It’s so easy to feel like you should be over it by now and just be grateful whenever you can eat in a restaurant and go into stores again but you lost more than that.

I’m just tired of seeing so many things about “going back to normal” when a lot of us don’t have the same “normal” to go back to.

I. HATE. IN-TEXT. CITATIONS.

Not just when I'm writing a paper, but when I'm READING a textbook it looks SO messy (Rick-Astley, 1969, p. 420) and it's SO distracting, (Morbius, 2022) and SO disruptive (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, & Rudolph, 1964.) to my reading and (Bird, Grouch, Monster, & Monster, 1997 ) learning process. And why are some of them SO FUCKING (According, 2007; To & All, 1991; Known, Laws, & Of, 2378; Aviation, 57 B.C.E.) LONG???

taken out of context, Goncharov is actually one of the funniest characters of all time.

he refuses to have sex with his hot wife. she invites him to dinner with Sofia (and was almost CERTAINLY going to propose a threesome) but he's like no thank you. i have to go stare into Andrey's eyes for 3 hours. he gets a motorcycle and crashes it 10 minutes later. he gives a eulogy at the funeral of a guy he killed. he picks a fight with a grandfather clock and the clock wins. his wife loses the mansion in a poker game because he was busy throwing a tantrum in his man cave and then she comes home and points a gun at him and he looks at her like a middle-aged suburban dad whose kids just broke the TV remote for the fifth time.

Dead Poets Society and Mental Illness

I realise that this may come at a sensitive time due to the tragic and heartbreaking death of Robin Williams through depression and suicide, but I’ve had this on my mind for a long time, and I want to write it out to clear my head of it.

Todd and Social Anxiety. At the start of the film (and less so throughout) Todd is a very anxious, jittery fellow, who refuses to read poetry in front of other people, stammers a little and remains very quiet. These are all classic signs of Social Anxiety Disorder.

Neil and Bipolar Disorder. One minute, Neil is playing Puck and is so incredibly happy. The next, he is dead. Although Bipolar disorder generally takes longer than that to change between stages, some people do report that their Bipolar Disorder can se over a day or two. Just look at the rest of the film: Neil is either wildly passionate and reckless (eg. throwing the desk set over the bridge) or he is utterly blank and quiet (eg. when with his parents after the performance). I think he had, to some extent, Bipolar Disorder.

Charlie and Depression. Throughout the film, Charlie presents himself as a reckless, happy and funny character. However, I feel like he had depression. He was so reckless and unconsciously attention-seeking that he pulled that phone prank, consequences be damned, just for that tiny bit of attention. He cried when he told Todd of Neil’s death. He appears so internally broken in some scenes (“Damn it Neil, the name’s Nuwanda.” coming to mind) that I can’t help but think he was depressed. Due to his reckless and impulsive behaviours, I feel like Neil’s death would have shocked and damaged him as much as Todd, if not more. I mean, he punched a sneak knowing that he would be expelled. He had given up. Another sign of depression.

it keeps me up at night