Aah, does this world really care about what a loser has to say. People are living a fast paced life, where they really don't have time to bother about anything. Even the onetime heroes (or the so called winners) are forgotten in no time, so who will have the time to listen to the woes of loser. Who will spend his or her precious time on the lost cause? To your surprise, a lot of people do.
The fact is that the people not only listen to the loser's side of the story but enjoy it too. Hard to digest?
Let’s look at few tales of losers that have really captured our mind and imagination. Be it the cute looking "Kevin Arnold" in "The Wonder Years", nerdy looking intern Dr. John Dorian (aka JD) in "The Scrubs", or the nervous Greg in “Meet the parents", all these characters have been a hit with masses. Even "Friends" (almost a cult hit in India) can be identified as story of 6 losers with lives going nowhere and enjoying each and every moment of their life by virtue their friendship.
But what is it, with these characters and their tales which makes them capture our minds and imagination? Perhaps, it has to do with the most basic of human traits. Everyone knows the pain and suffering associated with a loss. While winning makes you feel happy, it also creates feelings of arrogance and overconfidence. On the other hand, loosing brings out the child in you, almost brings tears to your eyes, makes you ponder over each and every mistake you made, and also go over those factors that were never in your control but would have changed the eventual consequence. Perhaps, each loss makes you more sober. Coming back to the point, whenever you see Kevin Arnold staring at Winnie Cooper, you remember your childhood crush, or Kevin Arnold trying his level best to resolve family feuds very well aware of his youngest status in the family, you remember your family feuds, whenever you see JD
in Scrubs, you remember how difficult it is to say no sometimes, and whenever you see Greg in "Meet the Parents", you remember the most embarrassing moments of your life, where you made a fool of yourself trying to impress someone. It’s the innocuousness of these moments that makes you listen to these tales. It also gives you the belief and the satisfaction that sometimes the result really does not matter as much as your feelings. The tales also enable us to discuss and analyse certain embarrassing moments in life, which sometimes one is not able to discuss with oneself let alone others. So, at one level these tales allow us to get in touch with our innermost feelings. We might not be able identify ourselves with the feelings of the character in question, but at least it provokes a thought process, which lets us know ourselves better.
In the long run, these tales also tell you the fact that while losing occasionally might not be bad, one has to cross the line at some point in life in order to be a winner. Some of these characters did that successfully, while others are waiting for the sequels or seasons for that the victorious moment. Even, these characters don't win the eventual war, they are still fighting for the right cause.
The fact is that the people not only listen to the loser's side of the story but enjoy it too. Hard to digest?
Let’s look at few tales of losers that have really captured our mind and imagination. Be it the cute looking "Kevin Arnold" in "The Wonder Years", nerdy looking intern Dr. John Dorian (aka JD) in "The Scrubs", or the nervous Greg in “Meet the parents", all these characters have been a hit with masses. Even "Friends" (almost a cult hit in India) can be identified as story of 6 losers with lives going nowhere and enjoying each and every moment of their life by virtue their friendship.But what is it, with these characters and their tales which makes them capture our minds and imagination? Perhaps, it has to do with the most basic of human traits. Everyone knows the pain and suffering associated with a loss. While winning makes you feel happy, it also creates feelings of arrogance and overconfidence. On the other hand, loosing brings out the child in you, almost brings tears to your eyes, makes you ponder over each and every mistake you made, and also go over those factors that were never in your control but would have changed the eventual consequence. Perhaps, each loss makes you more sober. Coming back to the point, whenever you see Kevin Arnold staring at Winnie Cooper, you remember your childhood crush, or Kevin Arnold trying his level best to resolve family feuds very well aware of his youngest status in the family, you remember your family feuds, whenever you see JD
in Scrubs, you remember how difficult it is to say no sometimes, and whenever you see Greg in "Meet the Parents", you remember the most embarrassing moments of your life, where you made a fool of yourself trying to impress someone. It’s the innocuousness of these moments that makes you listen to these tales. It also gives you the belief and the satisfaction that sometimes the result really does not matter as much as your feelings. The tales also enable us to discuss and analyse certain embarrassing moments in life, which sometimes one is not able to discuss with oneself let alone others. So, at one level these tales allow us to get in touch with our innermost feelings. We might not be able identify ourselves with the feelings of the character in question, but at least it provokes a thought process, which lets us know ourselves better.In the long run, these tales also tell you the fact that while losing occasionally might not be bad, one has to cross the line at some point in life in order to be a winner. Some of these characters did that successfully, while others are waiting for the sequels or seasons for that the victorious moment. Even, these characters don't win the eventual war, they are still fighting for the right cause.
2 comments:
IMO winning/losing is overrated. It's the doing and trying that matters.
hey this is cool analytical work, maybe you can expand it by adding a few more shows
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