This Scene...from Life Is Beautiful

A Discussion on Perspective

This is a difficult scene to discuss…or is it?

In 1997, I was graduating high school. My whole life in front of me. Hopes, wishes, dreams…and it was all seen through optimistic, dreamy, and likely rose colored glasses. I didn’t know what was to come. I only expected good things. Why wouldn’t I? I was 18. Was nervous and a little anxious about my future? Sure, but only a little. I saw things through the lens of hope. Naive, maybe? I guess so, but now I’m 45 and have seen quite a bit of life since 1997. A lot of good. A lot of not so good. But I long for the days of naivete, really.

In 1997, the Roberto Benigni film, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL was released. I saw it in the theatre, of course, but I saw everything in the theatre back then. And I remember thinking, “this is how I intend to look at life for the rest of my life”; that life is actually beautiful, even when experiencing the worst possible scenario that life can toss your way. I didn’t realize it at the time, but what Benigni was attempting to do was present the whole of society, all of humanity, through the character of his son. At first I just saw a father trying to shield his son from the horrors of war, and to keep him safe. Benigni wanted all of us to feel safe. He wanted all of us to look at life differently, no matter the situation.

This is a challenging scene to review because of the overall mood and feeling that is permeating America and the rest of the world right now. I don’t want to start a debate or argument, so I won’t comment or share my opinions or views. What I am going to share with you is a mere possibility of an idea - yeah, the smallest amount of effort you will need to give today. It’s a consideration - just a consideration.

Consider if your life is actually beautiful. Consider the control you have over your own perspective; how you view things, feel about things, and accept the things you can’t control. How are we going to react? I’m not going to tell you how to react because that’s for you to decide based on where you are on your own personal journey, but when it comes to art and writing and story, I am going to tell you that you need to be aware of the affect that your perspective has on others. You need to understand how your perspective colors everything you say, think, feel, and…write. As screenwriters, our personal voice is not just genre choice or word choice. Our voice is our perspective, and how we feel about life (yes, in general), but more specifically, how we act and react to adversity. Your perspective touches every single word in every scene in every act, because how you feel and what you feel is contagious…and more often than not, we don’t even know we’re doing it. We aren’t even aware that our personal perspective is being dumped onto the page, and yet the relationships we present in our stories, how they evolve and end, is a clear indication of how we feel about the world around us. Throw away this idea of what you think the industry or what Hollywood wants or expects. It doesn’t matter because you can still give the industry what you think it wants while also sharing yourself and your perspective. But if we don’t know how to present our perspective on the page, or we’re unaware that we’re doing it at all, the industry will know and the industry will reject you.

Be authentic to how you feel, and how you view the world. Be aware of it, but also…and this is my mere opinion…consider reacting to adversity with the naivete of an 18 year-old. Consider seeing life around you as beautiful in spite of your fears, or how explicitly difficult things may be. Whether you want to place that within your stories or not is completely up to you, but I can guarantee that your day-to-day life will improve, feel lighter, and feel more peaceful at least a little. We could all use a little bit of Roberto’s perspective today, I think.

This scene speaks for itself. So…we’ll just get to it. This scene from Life Is Beautiful.

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