One beauty pageant after another

We’re in the last stretch of Oscar season, and in the spirit of the Academy, I have a request from you. I ask you to, in the back of your mind, root for “Little Miss Sunshine” as the recipient of this year’s best picture award. Oddly enough, however, I hope it doesn’t win.\nThis might sound strange, considering it is one of my favorite movies to be released this year. If you’ve seen it, you probably agree. If you haven’t seen it, put this newspaper down, leave your lecture hall, buy or rent it from the nearest video store, and watch this film! Once completed, resume this column where you left off.\nIn the meantime, the premise of the film is simple: dysfunctional family travels cross-country so that painfully average Olive (played by 10-year-old Abigail Breslin, nominated for best supporting actress for her role) can compete in the “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant. Every step of their pilgrimage is met with obstacles, villainous materialism and the extremely powerful opponent, vanity. It culminates into a powerful ending with the message that, simply put, follows:\nDo whatever the hell you want.\nNow, I am aware it is somewhat out of my jurisdiction to review movies, but I am going to flex my creative license and apply this film to your everyday life.\nAre you a business major because of the hopefully promising career of a lifetime of security? Are you a graduate student because of the prestige of an M.A. on your resume? Are you subconsciously driving from point A to point B without looking out the window to watch what’s going on during the journey there?\nThe message is simple: Life is more than the material accolades for which we strive. We hope to achieve the best jobs with the best promotions. And to achieve that, we are building up with internships, painfully high grade-point averages and more resume-building classes than we would like to take. Even before then, we were working in 10 student organizations in high school to make sure we could get our internships and opportunities in college.\nWhat is a job if it takes so much out of your life that you can no longer enjoy the ride there? What is life without looking at the ice on the trees last week or listening to people’s random conversations on the bus? What is life when your greatest achievement is a piece of paper telling you that you are worthy of having a job?\nI’m not asking you to drop out. I’m not asking you to switch your major from business to studio art because you like to draw. I am asking you to learn a lesson about the right side of your brain and appreciate what’s on your way to class.\nUnhook the iPod from your brain and hope that when “Little Miss Sunshine” wins best picture, the producers will stand up and say: “Thank you, but we don’t need a shiny metal object to know we’ve created art.”