Wow! #75 means I’m 3/4 of the way through this experiment which is crazy to me! I honestly was doubting I’d make it this far when I got in about 30-40 because that in itself felt absurd to me. Now, it almost feels like double nature to try to flesh out an idea from a bullet into a whole mini-essay. Quantity hopefully is begetting quality.
Back from the tangent, today’s essay is about the Disney + Pixar movie Luca. It’s a charming animated coming-of-age picture that focuses on a sea monster boy following his dream of seeing the world and pushing past the rules he’s always known. Small spoilers below, but the film has a pretty straightforward plot. The main character, Luca is a “good boy” who always does as his family bids, but he has an active imagination and dreams of exploriong beyond what he knows. He gets an unexpected taste of the real world, discovering that he changes into a human on land through a new friend, Alberto, who is the opposite of Luca in many ways. While Luca always considers the consequences of his actions and timidly approaches everything he wants, Alberto does what he wants without a second thought. The rest of the film is about Luca chasing his dream of achieving freedom and learning about the marvelous world beyond the water, with the help of Alberto’s nudging to chase after what he wants.
A key phrase from the movie that resonated with me is “Silencio Bruno!” It’s what Alberto always tells himself whenever he gets scared to do anything (he has named that voice of reason and caution in his head Bruno). Luca learns to adopt this mantra to gamble on his fate and risk discovery, being ostracized, and even death to chase his dreams. It’s especially resonant for me because I’ve been continually learning how to take more gambles and be more selfish and biased towards action. My default has always been to take the safest route, and I never rebelled against my parents or the rules or even society’s idea of sucess while growing up. I was a “good boy” all the way through adulthood, and only recently have I opened my eyes to breaking the rules and forging my own path. The mantra is another reminder to abandon the chains of safety when they kepe me from chasing what I really want.
Silencio Bruno means betting on yourself, trusting yourself to do whatever is needed to push you towards a brighter future and a stronger you.
So, Silencio Bruno!! And onwards towards that ever-brighter star.
This is the 75th installment in my experiment of publishing raw, lightly edited mini-essays every day towards achieving 100 public pieces. Check out the rationale and the full list here.