By Isabelle Johnson

Every sunny side has a dark side

In a session with Alex Meck, I told her that I wanted to move people by making them laugh and but also to learn to break people’s hearts and change people’s actions.

But what does it mean to move people?

We can bring joy to the world by making people laugh. It’s pretty messed up after all – we could definitely use one once in a while. 

But how do you make people cry? How do you make people feel something deeply? And does that mean they have to like your work? People can be moved but might not like it. They might not want to see it. Good work should polarise people.

Work that moves people puts a finger on conflict. Something underlying or something palpable. This is where we can touch people.

She asked me – what was the last thing you saw that moved you?

I thought for a moment. I watched Apocalypse Now recently which I found deeply emotional. It was the kind of film to stay in my head for days afterward. It was the kind of film that wouldn’t wear off after watching again (if you can spare 3 hours).

If you haven’t seen it, the film explores how there is little space between darkness and light in this world. 

It is about how we seem to glorify war despite how horrifying it is. There is a discomfort in how stunning the film is – like the awe that I felt watching the scene (spoiler alert) where Colonel Kurtz is murdered.

But it is this discomfort that is why the film is so powerful. This fine line between good and evil that is a truth that we don’t like to articulate.

We are filled with contradictions and so is the world.

All rather dark, I know.

Alex and I continued our conversation.

‘Every sunny side has a dark side’, she said.

With every positive attribute comes a negative one.

I am an overthinker but that means I am thoughtful and a deep thinker. Those who might be passionate might also be bossy. 

I have to learn to dance with ambiguity.

There is a choice and conflict in what we choose to believe to be true or false.

And where do you need clarity? And what can you live with when things are unclear?

And so going into the term, I know that life can never be perfect and I can’t be disappointed if it isn’t. I will never be perfect. And so expectations have to be adjusted.

But if I can use our deep human truths and make people laugh or cry, our fundamental human truths and what makes us feel and think differently then I might be onto something.