The desire for perfection can be a sneaky, embedded one that can be quite destructive. Sometimes we don’t realize it’s we are living from a need to appear “perfect” or put-together or even holy. We are just trying to put our best foot forward, we rationalize. We laugh it off because we know no one is really perfect, yet so often we polish our outward reputation like we would a silver tea pot and ignore the homeward realities like failing to clean the inside of the tea pot.
I have been reading Little Women again and decided to watch the 2019 film adaptation. I enjoyed it so much that I looked up interviews to see some behind-the-scenes information, against my better judgement, I should add. I have a strange craving to know nothing about the actress or actor portraying a character I care a lot about.
I know myself well enough to know listening to actors and actresses outside of their specific role in a film ruins a level of the cinematic wonder for me. After all, they are people doing a job, and that job is to give personality to a beloved character. The behind-the-scenes stories shouldn’t concern me. I know that I only want to get more info about the novel’s character, yet digging I went through interviews disappointed I was once again.
In the interview, one of the instances that robbed a bit of movie “magic” for me was when the actress playing Jo March told of the between scene takes where she and the actress playing Beth, her younger sister cuddled together on Beth’s death bed. This is a solemn, desperate, heart-wrenching scene. The actresses laughed as they recounted how they were quoting a standup comedian off camera and crying when the camera went on. For me, that was a precious moment a bit cheapened somehow.
After watching that interview and feeling disappointed and further from the characters I set out to see, I got thinking about how society tells us we ought to have “roles” ourselves. The world says we should curate our outward selves, and hide the behind-the-scenes moments which are truly us. I started to think how hard it tends to be for us to be open and honest about the struggles we face. Perhaps we think we will be misjudged or misunderstood. Maybe people will question us. We might think no one else has walked this road before, and we choose isolation over honesty. We think, if we are honest, we won’t appear “perfect”.
Reality is messy and complicated and requires discipline. Movies and novels are merely that. Yes, they might have great morals or lessons. They might inspire us or challenge us or even educate us, but fiction isn’t real.
The movie The Mask has a line, “We all wear masks metaphorically speaking”. The best faces we put forth may come from the best of intentions, but if they are fiction they aren’t truly helpful or beautiful for anyone. God wants us to live simply and honestly. He works in and through us by allowing us to face complicated and messy things to prove the glory of Himself despite these things.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
