You’re running out of time sings Rosé, South Korean-New Zealand main vocalist for the sensational K-pop girl group Blackpink, as I muster the strength to constructively work on my paper while I scream the lyrics to her new solo song “On the Ground.” In addition to her unique voice and goddess-like visuals in the “On the Ground” music video, the lyrics of the song pertains to my life to an extent because of my idealistic views and my desire to reach the top in my life to achieve “happiness”; drawing me to the song and her lyrics about how “everything [she needs] is on the ground.” The instrumentals, the lyrics, and the tone of the singer’s voice in each song can express a plethora of different emotions, just like a human, and a story or a theme in the music, such as Rosé’s wistful tone when she reflects on her personal life in the lyrics of “On the Ground.” Personally, I connect to the music I listen to since they express my emotions and connects them to the lyrics and the message embedded each song. The playlist of my life, or the music I listened to, illustrates certain phases of my life by the music that correlated directly with my personal evolution.

My earliest recollection of music making its mark were Cantonese songs while my family and I made our way to Chinatown from Long Island every Saturday. Slowly, that transitioned to Z100, New York’s #1 hit radio station, and by 3^rd grade, I had a huge Taylor Swift phase that takes me back to my elementary school years as I sang “You Belong with Me” for our class’ 3^rd grade talent show, to listening to “22” hoping for the day I turn 22 to feel “miserable and magical.”

However, while sitting in Los Angeles traffic in the summer of 2013 listening to the radio, a mature and majestic voice, with house beats in the background, contrary to traditional instruments, came out the speakers drawing me to the song which was not a Taylor Swift song. I discovered that was Lana Del Rey, the “Summertime Sadness” singer from the remix I heard over the summer, after returning to New York and listening to Z100. After that revelation, I continued to listen to Del Rey because of the allure her nostalgic and majestic voice had on me, and the lyrics of her songs I will eventually understand as I matured into my middle school years.

In Del Rey’s “Born to Die: The Paradise Edition” album, she draws out a nostalgic, cinematic sound as she sings about love, sex, drugs, and death. For certain songs in her album, she incorporated a music video to add to the sensory experience and meaning of her song, illustrating a story that adds to the understanding of the musical story Del Rey shares. Specifically, in her song “Summertime Sadness,” she alludes to suicide throughout the music video as it opens with a somber “remember, I’ll always love you, bye” before the ominous orchestral music starts the song off. Later in the music video, she spreads her arms out, like Jesus Christ on the stake, before taking a plunge to her death because her lover has also plunged to her death by jumping off a bridge. Her lyrics also explicitly states “I know if I go, I’ll die happy tonight,” perpetuating the suicidal theme as her lover falls toward her death and as Del Rey happily follows her to her death following the suicide of her lover. Overall, “Summertime Sadness” portrays a depressing emotion as the overtones of love and suicide from possible seasonal affective disorder as the lyrics and her delivery of the lyrics illustrates a depressed, young girl undaunted by death while drawing out the hot, sweltering summer setting.

“Summertime Sadness” and Del Rey’s album represents a depressive phase going through middle school and the start of high school due to my struggle accepting my sexual orientation and place in society. The melancholic and nostalgic sounds of the album matched my emotions at that time since the lyrics, the musical components, and the music videos told a story of a troubled person who is suffering with her own issues through a vintage cinematic video, and a nostalgic, wistful tonality with an orchestral background.

As high school moved forward, I eventually got a driver’s license towards the end of junior year just like I always talked about. However, “driver’s license” by Olivia Rodrigo did not come out yet and I could not process a heartbreak through driving through the suburbs since I never had my heartbroken yet either. As I drive and listen to music through the rest of junior year and that summer, Del Rey’s music continued to dominate my playlists as I cruised through Brooklyn in a Toyota Sienna with the moonroof open and windows down to pretend I was driving some vintage convertible. However, a fateful shift in my playlist and attitude occurred that summer. I accidentally stumbled onto a new song that would change my perception on music and my entire outlook moving forward.

BLACKPINK! the four girls shouted in the start of the colorful music video while the powerful beats in the background drove the song to the dance break at the end. Contrary to Lana Del Rey’s music, Blackpink, a South Korean girl group consisting of four members (Rosé, Jennie, Jisoo, and Lisa), had music with a more upbeat energy which went with my personality at the time as I transitioned from depressed to slightly more outgoing and realistic since I was approaching senior year and an exciting, mysterious life beyond high school.

Blackpink’s music can express different moods such as playful and sorrowful, but they tend to focus on an empowering, powerful, and confident energy in their music. From Blackpink’s latest album released in October 2020, their lead single, released four months prior to the album’s release, “How You Like That” exuberates that empowering and confident energy. The song illustrates a message of hopefulness and confidence when facing dark situations as it opens with imagery of falling and desperation. The pre-chorus of the song then reminds the listener that in a dark place, “shine like the stars” and “light up the sky”; then kiss it goodbye and rise above the situation and into the sky. Prior to the outro at the end, the lyrics “Look up in the sky/It’s a bird, it’s a plane” alludes to a quote from Superman that ends the song with a message of power and an image of soaring high. The allusion to Superman also juxtaposes the imagery of falling and desperation in the first verse to relate to the overall message of the song, the hopefulness and confidence to rise in dark situations.

“How You Like That,” because of its message and amazing vocals, portrays an attitude where I soar out of my dark situation and fly above with the bright stars through the pandemic and the rest of the dreadful summer of 2020, a contradiction to my attitude when I listened to Del Rey in middle school. The hopefulness and confidence I took from this song allowed me to move forward with my life from the summertime sadness I faced that summer and continue towards enjoying my life and working towards my goals. In that same summer, despite the predicaments, the song inspired me to enjoy that summer with biking excursions in the city, spontaneous late-night drives, close friends, and successfully executing part one of my master plan: becoming a transfer student at Baruch College to stay in my hometown. How you like that summer 2020?

To this day, “How You Like That” still provides the motivation I need to get up and not get daunted by dark situations like my depression, which “Summertime Sadness” and Del Rey’s album represented for me in my past. Today, I see her album as art rather than a stark reminder of my struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts because I have learned to grow and love myself in a way I could not back in middle school, an evolution shown by my shift into Blackpink’s confident and positive music that reminds me that I can rise from rock bottom.

To me, music is the everything I need on the ground because it represents a concept so simple yet gratifying, that it makes me happy without my strive to fly with the stars and achieve a need to fit in. I believe the music we tend to listen to has resonated with certain phases in our lives through the experiences and lyrics that may have represented a certain period in our lives, such as Lana Del Rey and my depression through middle school. Therefore, the playlist of my life shares a personal story of change from my adolescent years of Cantonese music to my college years with Rosé’s “On the Ground” as I expel the last of my words onto this Word document.

Daniel Ivezic

When we were younger we had it much easier, life flowed smoothly and there wasn’t a thing to worry about. On weekends we would play our games, watch cartoons and on school days we would go to school and have the best time of our lives. Life changes as we get older and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Your start realizing and experiencing things that you wish you never have to go through again. Something that most of us as kids would say is “I can’t wait to grow up”, well now that were here in that situation and pretty much grown up and all we say now “I wish I was a kid again”. There are many times that a phrase like that passes through my head and honestly sometimes I really do wish I was a kid again. Overall we go through a lot a growth during our lives and one way to look at those things is to go over someones past and actually see how they have grown. There are many things that make up someones life and most of those things change over time. Such as different kinds of music including albums and different artists, also favorite video games, TV shows, clothing and so many other things. Because of my personal experiences and what I personally use to listen too when I was younger vs now the video games I play I was able to see how I’ve grown as a person because of what I used to do then vs now.

During high school on my commutes to school every morning and on my way back home from school I would listen to music. During those commutes the type of music I would listen too was mainly hip-hop and rap. But during that time there were two main artists that I would listen too but one I favored more over the other. His name is Taurus Barlett, also known as Polo G. His music just had such an impact on me because I would actually listen to his phrases and one of his songs that I still know by hard to this day is called Through Da Storm and basically the gist of it is everything he went through in his life, all the challenges, the people closest to him he lost and all the fake friends that stabbed him in the back. This has meaning to me because I understand where he came from and with some of the lyrics in the song I can relate too heavily. A phrase in the song is “Everybody go through something, it’s all about perseverance”. This phrase hits hard for me personally because it’s true and there have been many things in my lifetime that I wish have never happened and this specific song relates to me on a personal level . It’s all about believing in yourself and trying your hardest and leaving all the negative things in the past and just trying to work on yourself.

The Song Cover.

During late middle school when I listened to this artist’s songs they helped me out not only because there were many things that have gone on in my life but also that during that time I was very to myself and non-talkative. I pretty much kept everything to myself and didn’t have much interaction with other students or anything like that. I would just put my earphones in and listen to music while looking out the window of the bus. During all that time that I listened to him I would listen very closely and now when I think back to it almost all of his songs there is at least one or two phrases that I can relate too in some way. Even though mine and his lifestyle growing up were completely different there were still things that were the same between the both of us. My social status was very down during this time and honestly if it weren’t for his songs I think I would’ve been in a not so good metal state. Thankfully though because of his music I was able to go through it and this artist definitely had a very big positive impact on my life. Some things that I learned through his music is that you cant trust no one, not even the ones closest to you. The only people you can trust is the ones in your household and honestly that true and always will be because it has happened to me, whether I got stabbed in the back or just relationships with other people didnt work out and the blame was put on me. It is what it is though and I have definitely grown as a person since then.

The Artist Polo G

Now as I have gotten older I have gotten much more into gaming. It’s apart of my everyday life and its something I always do. I started playing video games when I was younger and it was around nine years old when I got my first console. But then I didnt really play much just sometimes on weekends and breaks from school. But now it’s pretty much a everyday thing, and since I was younger a video game franchise that I’ve always stuck by since I started playing was the Call Of Duty franchise. This franchise of video games was always a famous and pretty known one even before I was born, so these games went way back and they have a lot of history not only for all the millions of gamers but for me personally as well. I grew up playing Call Of Duty games and I’ve seen noticed how I have even grown due to them. During those times on those bus rides where I would always be to my self and not really social towards anyone, when I started seriously playing video games on a daily basis, I’ve noticed how that has changed for me.

The video game franchise.

I’ve started playing video games mainly Call Of Duty on a daily basis maybe about two years ago and prior to that as stated above I’ve only played them on and off. But during those two years Call Of Duty has helped me be more social as a person. Because of all the time I’ve spent talking to random people online and all the experiences I’ve had playing Call Of Duty I interact with people much more and pretty much am not shy or not afraid to communicate to anyone then per-say how I was on those bus rides to and from school while listening to music. Call Of Duty made such a positive impact on me personally because it helped build the person that I am today and helped me pretty much cure me being anti-social and non talkative towards anyone. The Call Of Duty community is probably one of the best gaming communities out there and they will always be up there. Overall Call Of Duty and gaming in general helped me grow as a person and I thank all my friends whether they were random people that I’ve never met or real life friends that I played these games with because they too helped me become a better person.

In life, we are always told to “keep growing” or that life experiences, in general, cultivate “growth.” Any experience in a person’s life can trigger change; negative or positive, whether it be a family event, a relationship, a class you take, and texts you interact with. One of the most effective ways to look at the growth and change in a person’s life is to analyze their past interests. What were their defining characteristics? Who were the people they surrounded by and associated themselves with? What books, movies, and TV shows were they drawn to and how did it directly correlate to their future development of character. In my experience, popular culture has a unique way of influencing people and how they develop over the years. When looking back at different shows I used to watch as a child, I was able to take away new meaning from them and can presently see the influence and direct correlation it has on what I like to watch today.

One of the shows I avidly watched as a kid was SpongeBob SquarePants. Like many kids growing up during the 2000s in this country, watching this program was a common pastime. I remember watching the show frequently after coming home from school. The show, which ran on Nickelodeon and was created by Stephen Hillenburg, was one of the most popular children’s series of its time. It was a lighthearted show about a fictional animated society at the bottom of the ocean for kids. SpongeBob was always going on different adventures with his friends and sometimes perhaps teaching life lessons to the young audience. Watching this show as a kid, I would always get a good laugh out of the funny stories and whimsical adventures. On the surface, the show is very lighthearted and humorous, but when diving deeper into the meaning of the show, or perhaps just watching it now years later, I can uncover more meaning behind the amusing kid’s cartoon. More often than not, the events in the show have a second meaning, one that is not intended for a children audience.

Much of the plot of the show has a lot of subtle sexual cues. For starters, the name of the town located on the ocean floor is called Bikini Bottom. Many critics of the show argue that there are characters that sexually interact with one another. Another big red flag is that one of the characters is named Sandy Cheeks. There are multiple scenes in the show that allude to more mature references which children would be oblivious to and seem to target the adult audience. An example of when there was a blatant sexual reference in the show is when the protagonist SpongeBob, tries to get his pet snail Gary to take a bath. Gary is hesitant to get in the bath and SpongeBob entices him to get in the bath by showing him the bar soap.SpongeBob places the soap in front of Gary and proceeds to say “don’t drop the soap” and winks at a point in the scene. This is a clear reference to sexual assault in prisons and although it is the type of dark humor that adults watching along can understand, it does not fit well in a children’s cartoon.

Due to the show’s popularity, many people try to discredit the critics by arguing that the jokes are well hidden from kids and are there strictly for the entertainment of the adults watching along. The issue is that the show’s intended audience is kids anywhere between the ages of six and eleven. What can often happen is that children pick up on cues that the joke being made is not intended for them. They then tend to ask their elders and peers to explain concepts to them that they should not be exposed to at such a young age. Ultimately, Spongebob can often be discerned as a catalyst for the way kids lose their innocence in certain areas of life. Some adults argue that it is inevitable that children will eventually be exposed to this sensitive and mature content. Although I agree that it is inevitable, the issue is that how they learn them is even more important than when they do. Learning about these matters from a cartoon in a joking setting can be harmful to the way that children eventually go on to perceive these topics.

As time went on and I got older, I still often indulge in popular TV shows and movies. As many teens and young adults have, I watched The Wolf of Wall Street and was instantly entertained to the fullest. The Wolf of Wall Street is a 2013 film directed by Martin Scorsese starring Leonardo Decaprio. The main character in the film was Jordan Belfort who was a young stockbroker in the nineties. He started off at the bottom of wall street but soon learned that there was a ton of corruption. Instead of partaking in it at any firm as an employee, he decided to start his own firm, ultimately becoming the most corrupt of them all. The film touches on many mature topics such as manipulation, sexual misconduct, cheating, drugs, and much more. The film is brilliantly directed and portrays Jordan’s story very well. After reading the book by Jordan Belfort, I was able to appreciate the movie even more. One of the scenes which many say should have won Decaprio and Oscar on its own was when Jordan was high on quaaludes trying to make his way back from the country club. After getting off the phone with his lawyer at the country club and finding out that his home lines had been tapped, Jordan suddenly feels the effect of the drugs all at once. He stumbles down the stairs of the club and desperately crawls towards his car in hopes of making it home before it’s too late to stop his partner Dani from saying too much over the phone. He crawls to his car and has to open the door with his foot as he is almost completely immobilized from the narcotics.

Although the movie is amazing entertainment, and the story is a remarkable one, I feel that the way it is portrayed glorifies all of these horrible topics. The audience really sees in the film a young king of the world with all of the money and all of the materialistic pleasures of life at his disposal. Many people watching the film are sitting and wishing that they were Jordan. They don’t care that how he made his millions was fraudulent and immoral while spending it recklessly and harmfully. It justifies these actions to its audience while glorifying drug use and the objectification of women.
In a way, SpongeBob Squarepants and The Wolf of Wall Street are very similar. They take topics that are commonly thought to be perverted and inappropriate and make light of them and glorify them. The dangerous thing about doing this is that the audiences that watch this type of content tend to be young and very influenceable. For example, it isn’t healthy for young men to be running around thinking that it’s okay to objectify women. In today’s society content creators have to be very careful about how they portray certain topics and different messages because the young generation of today is very malleable and subjective to these types of new Ideas.

After reading this essay, one might think that I have a personal vendetta against SpongeBob Squarepants and The Wolf of Wall Street though this is not the case at all. On the contrary, I personally love both of these works. Overall they are both brilliantly made respectively and are a great pastime. Although I don’t expect the realm of contract creation to change drastically in the way that they bring light to some of these dark topics, I think it is very important for us as an audience to remember that ultimately these things are means of fictional entertainment can often stray from the realities of how a moral society operates.

Throughout life, there are many things people grow up enjoying and sometimes they might still enjoy when they grow older. In some cases, you may outgrow those things and end up liking something else, but you would most likely still have those things somewhere in your heart. When I was younger, I loved to watch this show called Regular Show on Cartoon Network. As I grew older, I stopped watching this and eventually got into the stock market. I read business articles on google but the main device that allowed me to get into business was my iPhone. An iPhone is a utopia of information and entertainment of all different kids.

While growing up I was a young kid you can tell I was somewhat of a TV nerd. I would spend most of my time indoors either watching TV or playing video games. The main TV show I always looked forward to watching was Regular Show on Cartoon Network. While watching it, I would often look forward for every new episode that came out. I noticed that every time I watched one of these episodes, I would love that relaxing vibe it brought as I sat down to watch it. I would like how the show feels like it took place in the late 80s to early 90s. In one episode called “Rage Against the TV,” the main characters in the show were playing video games that looked old compared to our time. They had to beat a boss in the end after dealing with so many crazy events that prevented them from passing it. This show made me think back on all the stories my dad used to tell me on how he grew up playing these same types of video games. I also remember now that since I watched this show all the time, I realized that I would copy how the characters spoke occasionally. I started saying things like “dude” and sometimes I would imitate the characters as a joke. I also remember one episode that focused on karate and it had an impact on me till this day. Even though I haven’t started learning it, I do know that it’s something I am going to do in my life. Based on examples like these, Regular Show did connect with me in a lot of ways and did have an impact on me as a kid.

When I first got my first iPhone, I didn’t really know what else to do on it other than social media and playing games on it. There then came a time where I needed to find something I wanted to do in life since I was about to graduate high school. I was scrolling trough my phone and got on YouTube. I remember when I was considering taking business because I always liked the idea of eventually becoming financially independent and buy able to travel as much as I wanted. Eventually, it became a routine to watch at least 5 business related videos a week. I was astounded by the fact that you can learn so much and do so much on your phone. As soon as I turned 18, I downloaded the Robinhood app on my phone and started trading stocks. I also downloaded the MarketWatch app which gave me latest news on how the market is doing and what is to come. I always made sure to turn on notifications on both apps. Since I was so into this, I noticed that even till this day, I am constantly doing research on the stock market. Now that I think about it, I remember watching an episode in Regular Show where the two main characters had to take care of a mansion. I remember seeing a lot of cool things in that mansion and even though I didn’t know what I needed to do to get all that money, it still made me wish I had something like that when I was older.

In conclusion, I started out as a somewhat nerdy kid watching Regular Show to a kid who grew up and started getting into business. I realized that as a younger kid, I didn’t really have a purpose, but I found a way to keep myself entertained. Throughout writing this essay, I thought back to those good old days and what an impact that show has on me till this day.

Throughout the years I have turned into someone wiser and mature I believe I’ve gained more knowledge on things as I experienced more things in life, more challenges. The younger version of me is very different from who I am today and how I have grown, but I didn’t do it alone there were things and people to helped me get to this point that I am at today. One thing that influenced this growth when I was really young was movies, and I would say specifically the movie “The Dark Knight Rises” by Christopher Nolan. I’ve seen this movie quite a few times, but it’s not just because my favorite superhero is in it but because of the message it portrays as well. I would say that this movie has a strong representation of bravery and making wise decisions, and what it means to learn from your mistakes.

Recently I’ve come across a book called “The magic of thinking big” by David J. Schwartz. This book I could say has played a good part in my growth or knowledge of real-world situations recently. This book has helped me as a young man to view things differently, change my way of thinking, and correct my attitudes and make goals for myself, I can say that this book is trying to achieve or help you find an enjoyable life for yourself and not a life you would regret in the future. I will go into more detail about this as to how I grew more as a person and how I was before gaining the knowledge.

            Seeing the first piece of text evidence that helped me mature, develop skills that helped me believe in doing a better job as a person was the movie I spoke about “The Dark Knight,” in what really attributed to my growth was actually to no give up so easily on certain things. There is evidence in the movie that shows this for example in the movie Bruce Wayne aka Batman was at one point in his life done, he had given all hope and had retired from being The Batman. He didn’t think there was anything else out there for him, he was grieving in a way trying to cope with the pain from previous losses, but at that moment when he at his lowest his butler and a longtime friend told him otherwise. Bruce Wayne got back out into the world. All these messages are all throughout the movie, and well that’s why I believe that message was so strong to me especially back when I was a young kid. This even though I wasn’t struggling with anything showed me that there is still hope and loved ones only want the best for you.

However, there are multiple scenes like that one throughout the movie. One final example would be when Bruce Wayne “Batman” got really beaten up and almost killed, he was sent away to a prison in the middle of nowhere by the antagonist of the movie. Bruce spent many weeks in recovery, but he would not go out as a coward how the villain wanted him to go or lose hope, he stayed strong and healed himself, and eventually he was able to get out and get back into the fight. What I am trying to say with this is that this movie did have a big influence on me when I was a younger person. In the movie there was an uprising The more I watched the movie throughout the years the more clear the messages became because there were multiple messages, not just one. This makes me believe that this movie is something greater than what it is. It affected my young adolescent self and how I grew as a person and how I am still growing as a person and I am not the younger version of me anymore. Aside from the movies fictional acts I think this movie really helped shape who I am and who I might be in the future

Next, there was a second piece of text evidence that I mention, and it was a book called “The magic of thinking big” by David J. Schwartz. I read this book not so long ago. I could say at maximum a year ago, but I still remember its messages. This book had the same effect that the movie from the previous source had, if not stronger I could say. This piece of text really showed me a piece of life, and what it means to be life smart and make smart decisions. Not only that but this book is great at giving you motivation and help you strive forward. I believe that’s the purpose of this book, and honestly, it does a good job at doing so. An example of this can be straight from the text “Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way solution.” By David J. Schwartz. Quotes like that one are spread out all throughout the book, this is one of the ways I believe this book recently has helped me grow as a person, messages like these stay in the back of my head as a small reminder to keep having faith in what you are doing.

Although these texts are from two completely different times I believe they both spread a similar message. These texts both spread the idea of leadership and strength, and what it means not to give up so easily. I say that they are similar because for example aren’t superheroes leaders? Don’t they want to help others and do they give up so easily, and well the book also speaks on leadership and not giving up so that’s why I believe that both of these texts are pretty similar in some way. Both of these pieces I have looked up to and really admired. Now one side note is that since I am older I am able to understand that this book is really setting the tracks for you, and it is your choice if you won’t follow the right tracks.

In conclusion, what can be said is that we are able to learn from anything, the things that I believe have helped me grow can be completely different from other people. At the end of it all, I have learned from these things, I’ve learned about what it means to get back up even after being put down, and I have learned that as I get older the more responsibilities I will have and more important decisions I will have to take and both of these texts helped me realize that better.

Watching animation may not be the cup of tea for everyone; however, it played an important part in my life and helped develop my own character through the stories and lessons learned. The movie called “Princess Mononoke”, impacted me in my juvenile days and the anime called “Dororo”, that impacted me when I became an adult. The first text had given me a different perspective to nature and influenced me to be a better person as a juvenile, while the second text had given me encouragement as I delve into adulthood, in which had me making important decisions, that may have a strong impact to my life.

“Princess Mononoke” was a film made in Studio Ghibli in 1997. The film was about the different perspective and conflict between the humans and the mythical creatures of the forest. For the sake of industrialization, the humans tried destroy the forest. In additional, presenting the head of the forest spirit to the emperor would grant Lady Eboshi’s town protection from warring samurai lords. Even though she did that for the sake of her town, it was unjust and proves that people would commit all sorts of atrocity for their own gains, without compassion for other lives, just like how humans commit savage acts towards other humans or animals. On the other hand, the creatures of the forest wanted to protect the forest, leading them to blindly hate the humans, with the goal of driving off all the humans, by all means necessary. This shows how hatred can lead you to make poor decisions, as majority of the creatures had perished in vain during the battle. Ashitaka was the main character, who was a pacifist that tried to stop the war and conflict between both sides and to persuade them to coexist peacefully, instead of resorting to violence with each other, in which would only create more suffering for everyone.

The theme of the story is about nature, and how it should coexist and be preserved alongside humans. Life should allow nature and mankind to coexist peacefully, without the spoliation of one another. However, the humans had decided the destruction of the forest for their own gains, and not to mention their industrialization, therefore polluting the environment. For instance, the apes had lost their homes because of the Iron town taking resources and destroying the forest to develop weapons. Likewise, in the real world, humans disregard and cause harm to the environment, and the lives of humans and animals alike. In the end of the film, the humans had decapitated the head of the forest spirit, which caused an after effect of the forest spirit unleashing its wrath towards the world; that destroyed anything with life around. That would be the consequences the humans have to face for trying to kill the protector of the forest. The only way they had salvation was by returning the head back to the forest spirit. As a result, the forest spirit decided to undo and heal everything that was destroyed during the war: lifeless people, torn trees, and withered flowers. Although, the forest spirit had truly died, it had left behind something, with the theme of rebirth. The rebirth of the forest and nature signified that the humans and the forest can start over and try to coexist with each other. The same thing can be applied to society as there are hate, racism, animal cruelty, and destruction of nature occurring everywhere. People should learn to coexist and respect other people, animals, and nature; which is necessary for evolution to thrive on.

The lesson here is to take care of nature and nature itself would take care of you. Nature and humans are both needed to coexist and benefit each other. It related to me in a way because before I understood this film, I didn’t care about nature whatsoever. I thought trees were a gross place for insects to be on, grass were smelly plants that I was allergic to, and technology or industrialized places were all that mattered. As I grew up, I began to see the beauty in nature and appreciate the fact that every part of nature was necessary to humans. For instance, the trees that were full of insects and were getting chopped for different purposes served as natural oxygen tanks for us for all. I’ve learned compassion for all living things; essentially, I’d try not to kill any insect I may come across; whereas I wouldn’t think twice about stepping on a creepy crawler in the past. Treating my environment nicely meant that I shouldn’t litter and pick up trash on the ground. I used to not care about throwing a piece of candy wrapper on the ground, since the ground was already full of trash anyways. Yet, that mindset changed for me, when I decided to not act like other people who pollute the environment.

The 2nd text that influenced me was an anime called “Dororo”, made by Studio Mappa in 2019. The story is about Hyakkimaru, who was offered as a sacrifice to demons by his own father. His father was a samurai lord who made a pact with 12 demons in order for his dying land to prosper, in exchange his unborn son had to pay a heavy price by being born with no skin, no eyes, no ears, no nose, no limbs, and no voice. He was then left to die, however, got rescued and adopted by a medicine man who made prosthetic limbs and weapons for him to fend for himself. His father signifies that human greed that knows no bounds. The fact that he could throw away the life of his own child, for the sake of his rule and prosperity was horrendous. I for one, would never do anything that would harm a loved one. Too much greed might backfire on you, just like how he lost everything in the end. Hyakkimaru began his journey to slay the 12 demons, in order to gain his body parts back, one by one.

I can relate to Hyakkimaru because we were around the same age at the time, when we started to experience a tough goal. Hyakkimaru to me, was a symbol of will power. While his goal was to slay demons to get his body parts back and my goal was to get through bootcamp to become a marine. Being a small and shy guy, no one would expect me to join the toughest branch. I had lots of doubt and anxiety even before getting shipped out to Parris Island. Especially when a close friend of mine didn’t make it through, when we sort of promised each other, that we would go for it together. I needed a lot of support from family and friends, although this anime had influenced me more and given me encouragement that I needed. Bootcamp was a complete time of dread, loneliness, and confusion for me. It was hard to get used to the culture shock and strict environment because of all the chaos and fear of the unknown. Just as Hyakkimaru had gotten confused to what sound is, after his ears grew back. Hearing was scary for him since it’s something he’s never experienced before; likewise, bootcamp was simply something I’ve never experienced either, making it incredibly hard to take on. Bootcamp was 13 weeks long. I associated the 13 weeks with the 12 demons that Hyakkimaru had to kill, just to sort of give myself reassurance, that every week that I passed through was a progress towards my graduation. As Hyakkimaru had to basically grow up by himself, I also had to be hundreds of miles away from home for the first time, and had to go through the harsh training independently. We both started a journey where it is up to ourselves to see it through the end. He walked on a path of revenge for his  own justice, as I had hiked the never ending trail to become a warrior.

I’ve had many tough times that I had to overcome. During the crucible, I’ve had to march with a rucksack half my own weight, plus a rifle, for about 48 miles over the course of a 54-hour event, leading to a strained and burning back. That was all with a swollen ankle and blisters on my feet. I’ve had pneumonia and vomited for 2 weeks. I’ve been deprived of sleep and food many times. The worse part would still be the mental part. It was hell for me because I was constantly being targeted by my drill instructors. Hyakkimaru had strived till the very end until he got all of his body parts back. He went through many phases of learning to use his 5 senses, just as where I had to learn things from scratch. I got broken down and built back up. Being completely independent for the first time was hard enough, but constantly being hazed and “bullied”, along with the strenuous physical activities takes a toll on you. As a result, you get broken down and slowly built back up by transitioning into a warrior with more discipline, courage, strength, bearing, and knowledge, etc. There were days, I couldn’t help but cry a little. I’ve thought about quitting but I didn’t want to disappoint my loved ones and I didn’t want to place the burden of my tuition on my parents. When I felt hopeless, I reminded myself of what Hyakkimaru had to go through and that I should preserve at all cost. Those were the only things that kept me going, until the day I’ve earned my title as a marine. Dororo had encourage me to continue my transition into a warrior when I felt like I wasn’t strong enough to continue. At the end of the day, I was able to accomplish something I never thought I was capable of. I became mentally and physically stronger as a result.

In the end, everyone gets influenced and learn as they grow. Some through reading and some through music. The person I am today is partly due the lessons and morals that I learned through anime. It wasn’t just cartoons in my perspective, anime helped me realize that I can be someone with kindness and strength, or at least someone I can be proud of. Princess Mononoke had influenced my younger self to be a more compassionate person, and to protect nature and things that are important to life. Dororo had influenced me to stand my ground and persist until I achieve my goals despite what I may endure. They are all crucial aspects of life that people should know. These lessons held a significant meaning in my life, and may continue to assist me, as I face the future.

Modern day media has many influences in our lives. One form of media that influenced me is animations, more specifically, “Spirited Away” written by Hayao Miyazaki. Growing up I spent most of my time watching cartoons and anime, it has always been an enjoyable form of content. From watching many animations, they taught life lessons where my parents could not be due to distance. Another example is the Joe Rogan Experience, recently I have been listening to a lot more podcast than music. Joe Rogan’s podcast has always had insightful lessons about life which I can always learn from. Both mediums have showed many perspectives and the influences of it in our daily lives.

Many people who have seen “Spirited Away” agree that it is a film about the coming of age of the protagonist, which is Chihiro. While that is true, the film introduces many ideas through its symbolic use of characters and ideas throughout the film. Miyazaki begins with introducing Chihiro traveling in the back of a car with her parents, they are moving away from the city to a house in the suburbs. They approach a dirt road after taking a wrong turn, after observing around them, they notice their house in the distance, her father was convinced that the dirt road will lead their house, despite warnings from his daughter to turn back, he refuses to acknowledge her and continues to accelerate up on hill. In this scenario, we can conclude that the parents (more specifically, the father) are arrogant and is self-centered. Her father, despite the warnings from Chihiro, he does not turn away and decides to accelerate up a steep hill, shaking everything inside the car, including his wife and his daughter. During the whole climb, her father was “tunnel vision” to what is only in front of him, paying no attention to anything inside the car and the surroundings outside.

Once the family reaches the hilltop, the father exits the car, and walks up to observe the building, he has his hands on his hips, and says “Look at this, it’s just plaster” towards the building, while Chihiro walks up and hold her father’s arm. This scene further reinforces the arrogance of the father, without knowing anything about the building, he is already implying that building is already a fake. The body language of the father also speaks a lot of him, with both his hands on his hips, he exerts prideful image, further showing the “I am always right” mentality. During this frame, his body is almost three times the size of Chihiro’s body, further showing the hierarchy of the family, where his perspective stands above the opinions and suggestions made by Chihiro. Chihiro, who is small due to being a child, has no influence over the decisions of the family.

In another scene, we see the family walking towards a restaurant after smelling delicious food, then see plates of food on top of the counters, they decide to indulge in all the food while Chihiro is telling them not to because she believes it is not right. Her father then says, “Don’t worry, your father’s here. I’ve got credit cards and cash.” Chihiro then walks away after failing to convince her parents to explore, however when night falls, she returns after being warned to take her parents back, however her parents turned into pigs. In this scene, it is imply that the parents are once again greedy, selfish, and arrogant. The parents believe that it was acceptable to consume food, which was not made for them, just because they have the money to pay for it. This perspective of thinking is wrong and corrupted. They could have chosen not to eat the food, however their desire to bring their downfall. A person filled with arrogance and greed will make grave mistakes whereas a humble person would not. This is proven by Chihiro, who followed her moral compass, and took no part in the parents doing while also attempted to persuade her parents to do what is right but fails in the end. Miyazaki’s choice of using pigs is also symbolic, as pigs in some cultures represent greed and abundance, as they eat everything only for themselves.

Miyazaki was able to teach many lessons through the film Spirited Away. Being a teenager, you are constantly searching for your identity, taking bits and pieces of other people to build your own character. Spirited Away displayed traits that I did not want to have as I grow older. Within the 20 minutes of the film, Miyazaki depicted greed and arrogance through Chihiro’s parents, and the repercussions of following through with their actions. Miyazaki also introduce the idea of balance throughout the film, Chihiro represents the good while her parents represent the bad and corrupt. Another example is balance using colors, the contrast between the dark tunnel and the bright meadows, or the cold indigo flowers and warm orange flowers. Miyazaki pushes the importance of balance, how it is apparent in every aspect of life.

The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast hosted by Joe Rogan, where he invites guest speakers and have a productive conversation picking each other’s brain. The Joe Rogan Experience #1212, an episode between Rogan and David Goggins piqued my interest. David Goggins is a veteran and ultra-athlete who has ran many marathons and is very accomplished. Goggins uses his own story and challenges to motivate others to have a better approach to difficulties in life. Throughout the podcast, Goggins utilized the repetition of the word “struggle”, “suffering”, “mental toughness” to emphasize the importance of it. Through this repetition and discussing his experience, it implies that people usually run away from challenges in life and seek comfort, however people should be doing the opposite, to crawl in the mud and embrace the suffering. Through misery, do you gather the strength to stand up and suffer again, by continuing the endless cycle, you build what Goggins calls “mental toughness”, the ability to endure pain.

Rogan and Goggins use of different tones while story telling brings the audience to listen deeper into what they are saying. For example, a tone shift appears between the time 1 hour and 10 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes of the podcast. During this time, Goggins discuss how he ran a marathon despite his body being broken from running previous marathons. The two speakers within this duration experience laughter, then slow talk, then Goggins raises his volume while speaking faster to state his claim. This shift begins with the humor introducing a break in the discussion, allowing relief and laughter from tension to the audience. They follow up the discussion with slow serious talk, engaging the audience to be more attentive to the content. Lastly, Goggins breaks the flow once again with him stating his claim in a louder and faster manner, this once again brings the audience to be attentive since Goggins is speaking faster. The tone shift brings the audience to listen deeper, if the podcast was only speaking in one tone, the audience will become bored.

As an adult, you realize that the time you have is never enough, you always want to do more but there is a time limit. Listening to Joe Rogan’s podcasts or other podcasts has helped me enjoy more content while being busy. By inviting different guest each episode, the contents of the content will never be the same, the podcast became more informative than anything. Through his podcast with David Goggins, I have learned the power of perspective, how through suffering Goggins was able to develop a different perspective of approach to challenges. I learnt that this can be applicable to my life as well. I have also learned from Goggins that suffering and being miserable is part of the learning process, the challenges and solutions are what makes a person’s character.

In conclusion, we can learn more all forms of medias, we just must delve deeper in the context that is provided before us. Through Hayao Miyazaki’s film, I learned the consequences of being selfish and arrogant from Chihiro’s parents. From Chihoro’s character, I learn to be grateful and persevere to challenges. Through Joe Rogan’s podcast with David Goggins, I learned how powerful mental toughness is and how to build it so that it will last a lifetime. In doing so, we can take the knowledge we learned and influence others in our life.