I like my integers Positive!!

Elle Woods knew what positivity really meant!

   

One of my guiltiest pleasures is the movie Legally Blonde.  Sadly, I could probably recite entire scenes just by memory. And I know this is a pretty old movie, but just recently I figured out what made this movie so relatable to me…. It’s the entire theme of positivity!   

The basic plotline of the movie is that Elle, the charming character Reese Witherspoon plays, appears to be just as she appears, a dumb blonde, but she ends up actualizing the profession of a lawyer, and winning a high stakes case.  To the casual viewer, or even to me at first, the plot seems totally unreasonable, like how can this Paris Hilton-type character become a lawyer?  On the other hand, after viewing the movie, it may seem that Elle really was rather intelligent throughout, and her exterior image was just her following the belief ‘be who you want to be,’ as Elle refused to abide to the typical ‘lawyer’ stereotype.  However, I believe neither of these was the case.   

Look at Elle’s smile in the picture.  Look at her posture, her demeanour, and her style.  Okay, well you probably just think I’m attracted to this young woman.  But yes, that’s exactly it, I am attracted by her, but it’s not because of her appearance, it’s about how she carries her self.  She always has that positive spirit!  She is therefore to become a lawyer not based on the two theories above, but by constantly having that positive spirit throughout her in the life.  And no I don’t mean the ‘positive spirit’ that people like me claim to possess.  We always try to appear positive, but would actually consider ourselves more of a ‘realist’ who constantly analyzes every situation.  What makes Elle different is that she is just naturally and inherently optimistic and has a real fervour for life.  There is not one scene where she stops believing in herself, where she stops believing in the world, or waivers from her fundamental credo that she obviously took a great time to develop.   

Okay, but of course, we do need to live our lives with some realism.  The movie must have been unrealistic if all it took was a positive attitude to attain success.  But that’s a very negative manner in which to look at it.  Now just take the positive side of the road.  Instead of thinking like a -1 mentality (somewhat negative), think in like a +5 mentality (overwhelmingly positive) where everything always turns out how you want it.  ”The movie was amazing, it really shows that the way I am thinking is the right way for success, as illustrated by Elle’s success.”  Now that makes me much happier.   

But what if I now always view the world through these rose-coloured glasses. Sure, I’ll end up taking terrible risks.  Perhaps I won’t study for a test as much as I should, perhaps I’ll end up setting myself in a social nightmare, perhaps I’ll jump off of a cliff hoping that I would live unscathed.  Obviously, positivity is not a one-track road, and it must come in conjunction with our other ideas and morals.  Integrating this step is the challenge in life.  There’s no easy route to attain it rather than simply experiencing life.   

Now let’s assume Cooley’s socio/psychological ‘looking glass’ model.  Basically, this model suggests that our ego, (the perception of oneself) is based on how we believe others view us.  In general, if someone says I’m a loser, ignores me, or doesn’t include me, I’ll feel bad, and thus have a negative ego, whereas if people smile at me, invite me to functions, and engage in natural physical contact with me, I’ll feel good, and thus have a positive ego.  We consequently develop our self through the judgment of others. I’m a strong advocate for this theory because it just makes logical sense.   

But how does this fit in with positivity?  Think about it personally, who would you rather associate with?  Who would you rather have stuck in an elevator with you?  Who would you rather have at a party?  Is it the Negative Nancy or the Positive Pete?  I’ll guarantee you that you would like to surround yourselves with positive people in your life.  It seems flat-out obvious that when you’re down and depressed, you want to have that person who says ‘everything will be alright!’  And the reason why we like this, is because when we’re around people who are just naturally smiling, exuberant, confident, and have that positive self-esteem, we as humans will receive these positive sociological cues from them, and therefore will be happier as well!   

Not only does having a positive view on life help ourselves, but it helps those around us as well.  People will be drawn to the positive person because the positive person will help improve their self-esteem.  In turn, the positive person will have more contacts, more friends, more social activity, and more of a reason to be genuinely happy.  In short, positivity breeds positivity.  It’s like a snowball effect, if you keep on adding positive integers, you’ll get a larger positive number.  Whereas, if you keep on adding negative numbers, the sum will just become more despondent.   

So when people ask me who my greatest fictional influence is, of course I would never say Elle Woods because that just seems stupid and ignorant on the basis.  I would probably say someone like Siddhartha from Hesse’s novel, or Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire because of their perseverance or journey of introspection.  However, secretly, I know I would want to say Elle, because I feel the most important value in life to have is positivity.  That’s the bottom top line!   

Peace and love!!

Tags: cooley, inspirations, integers, legally blonde, life, movie, optimism, plot, positivity, psychology, reese witherspoon, smile, sociology