I was thinking very hard about what exactly I should be writing my digital essay on but I think that out of all topics available, I want to focus on our ever-expanding freedom of choice. Every day, people feel less and less obligated to fulfill what society pressures them into and this is especially prevalent in today’s music. “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga advocates for the LGBT community and songs by artists such as Eminem stress the importance of being true to yourself. I have not decided what I want to do just yet but I think I will try to find a poem from a couple decades ago that has similar ideas to this and then try to incorporate both into my essay.

Gaga\’s \”Born This Way\”

Wow I did not realize how insanely late I am.

The most important thing I came to realize from Best in Show is the relationship dogs have with their owners. I think the reason this came to mind more than anything else is that my ex was one of the best dog trainers in the country and I saw her relationship with her dog was absolutely incredible. When I saw the way she interacted with her dog, I tried to catch glimpses during the movie of how the owners on screen interacted with their dogs.

Imagine the neurotic couple trying to have awkward, and in some eyes, ridiculous sex. Picture their obsession with the one toy the dog preferred. They could not keep their cool and when the moment to shine came, neither they nor their dog acted properly. They yelled at each other and the dog misbehaved in front of the judge. How about the poodle and it’s lesbian owners? One of them is the “alpha” of their pair and the other is a silly nitwit. The alpha taught the dog to put on a perfect performance so that at the end it was entirely up to the judges whether or not they liked it. There were no slip ups or mistakes. I can already picture the grueling practice routines the dog had to run hundreds of times to make sure that the proper procedure was learned. How about the flamboyant gay couple? It was pretty clear that they loved and treasured each other and their dogs so they had a lot of love in their relationship. From what I saw, I can’t imagine their defeat to even really upset them because they are in such a good place that hiccups like that do not even affect them. You could see it during their photoshoot in the end that they have so much going for them and they are so happy that even when they fail, it does not stop them. I can picture the redneck and his dog as really easy going and really relaxed. While watching the movie, nothing suggests that they practiced for the show or even truly cared about winning. In my mind, they are just living a good life and are each others best friend. Same thing with the adorable terrier belonging to the loving couple. They are just full of love and acceptance so that even though their dog may not truly be anything special, he is a strong contender for the title of “Best in Show”.

I think the most important lesson in this movie comes from the neurotic couple. When they got the new dog and accepted who they truly are, they found a calm not witnessed in previous depictions of them. Instead of being awkward and weird, they looked really at peace with themselves and each other during the last interview and now, their outside world (mainly their dog) fits into their new self-image.

In Chapter 2 of Freud’s text, he carefully investigates “children’s play,” specifically a game of “disappearance and return” which becomes known as “fort da.” Why do you think this game is so important to Freud’s ideas? How does this compare to Plato’s “allegory of the cave”? And, of course, what does any of this tell us about happiness?

The game known as fort da is so so important to Freud because he is attempting to understand our unconscious mind and find the hidden reasons for why we do the things we do. When the child plays with his toy and throws it away just to find it again, Freud saw this as a link to his mother. When she left, the child would be sad and upon her return would once more be happy. He would experience the same thing while playing with his toy except now he was the one in control. In this way, the child makes himself experience the same kind of pain that he goes through when his mother leaves and every time he finds the toy, he receives immense pleasure. This is similar to Plato’s “allegory of the cave” in that both the child and the men in the cave received knowledge of the world around them and understood it better in order to achieve happiness. The child knew his mother would return just as his toy did and the men in the cave went outside and saw the real world to become happy. It also shows how once you acquire knowledge, you cannot go back to being ignorant. As the internet says “cannot unsee”.

This tells me that as far as happiness is concerned, it is easier to achieve it when you have a good perception of the world and see things as they really are. More knowledge does not make you happier but being comfortable with the way things are in your life is sure to bring more pleasure every day.  The child understand that his mother will come back and even though he still feels pain when she leaves, it is lessened.  However, the pleasure he feels upon her return is increased. The man in the cave has been chained up and sees mere shadows of what the world really is so once he experiences what it is like outside, he becomes much happier because his eyes are open to the truth.