DE Weekly: Life, Perspective, & Midnight in Paris
Below is an archived email originally sent on November 4, 2024.
Life, Perspective, & Midnight in Paris
Right now is the best time in human history to be alive. I know, with all the troubles of the world today, this seems like a tone-deaf statement. But I’m not being facetious–I really do believe this.
At some point, you might’ve thought to yourself, “Man, if only I were born thirty years earlier! I could have done x, y, and z!”
Or maybe you’ve thought, “I wish I could’ve lived in [insert city] in the 1920s! How amazing it would’ve been!”
I know I’ve certainly felt this way before. I still do about some time periods and historical events. But I’d be wise to remember the following:
"In all the areas within which the spiritual life of humanity is at work, the historical epoch wherein fate has placed us is an epoch of stupendous happenings." –– Edmund Husserl
Wise words from Husserl.
This line of thought reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Midnight in Paris. It’s a Woody Allen film from 2011 starring Owen Wilson as the protagonist.
Wilson plays a screenwriter named Gil, vacationing in Paris with his fiancée (played by Rachel McAdams), who he doesn’t seem to have too much in common with.
On a walk alone late at night, Gil is scooped up by an old car that transports him back in time to les Années Folles–literally the “Crazy Years”–in 1920s Paris.
He then embarks on the night of every writer’s dreams. He meets all the famous writers and artists living in Paris during that time of cultural and artistic significance. F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and more. He feels right at home.
At the end of the night, Gil has to come back to the present day. But every night, he can go back and spend more time in the 1920s.
One night back in time, Gil sparks a new love interest with Adriana, one of Pablo Picasso’s former lovers. One night, a horse-drawn carriage appears to transport the two of them even further back in time, to La Belle Époque.
In Adriana’s opinion, this era is actually the best. She considers it Paris’s golden age.
While at the Moulin Rouge in this time period, they meet another group of famous writers and artists who argue that the golden age of France was actually way back in the Renaissance.
A lot more happens in the movie, but I won’t spoil the whole thing for you. In the end, though, Gil realizes he’s got to come back to the present day and confront his real life.
He breaks things off with his fiancée, moves to Paris, and finds a new love interest who he has more in common with.
The important takeaway is this: he realizes that he can’t live in the past. Even though he had fun transporting back to what he considered the greatest time period, he sees that everyone he runs into has their own ideals about what the best time to be alive is. And they’re all different.
So, he decides to make the best of the life he has now, in the time period he actually lives in. He confronts what’s in front of him and tries to carve out a life that’s true to himself.
If you’ve had the thought that you would be better off being born in a different time, ask yourself this: what would you give up?
Your family? Friends? Interests, hobbies? Your work? The music, art, and everything else you love?
“But just look at the state of the world!”, you might say.
I hear you. And, yes, simply flipping on the news would have us believe the apocalypse is nigh. It’s easy to get stuck in the doom loop. This is called “blackpilling”. It’s what nihilists and cynics do. Don’t fall for it.
The reality is this…
Today, we have the lowest levels in human history of childhood and overall poverty. We have the highest living standards in history. We’ve eradicated some of the most devastating diseases known to man.
Think about what we take for granted: penicillin, electricity, plumbing, modes of travel, easy access to food… we have opportunities most of the people who ever lived could never have dreamed of.
To me, the era we live in is not just a good one. It’s the best one.
There will always be things to worry about, and modern tragedies we can point to. We can always dream about the past, and what it might have been like. But, like it or not, we can’t time travel (yet).
What we can do is accept the time we live in, and realize that it’s pretty damn good. There are some amazing things out there. We should take advantage of that. We should be excited about life, and about the future.
Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Brandon J. Seltenrich
P.S.––
If you haven’t watched Midnight in Paris before, go give it a watch. It’s very good. And I know it’s a bit early in the season for some of you, but two more movies along the same lines are It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. Lots of the same lessons.
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