My friends, Erin & Paul,
recently discussed one
of my favourite films
on their podcast,
Trash, Art & the Movies.
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Funnily enough I wrote about the film a couple years ago and the post even ended up being linked to in its wikipedia entry, but–through the vagaries of the Internet–it vanished literally the day before the podcast went live and Erin wanted to share it with listeners. So I just spent the last half hour reposting it on my site and it got me thinking and inspired today’s question.
Zoë Lund was an actress who died at the age of 37 (two years younger than I will be in 17 days). Her filmography is very short, consisting of a handful of film and television appearances, but her starring role in a 1981 rape-revenge film called Ms. 45 has made her an icon for those lucky enough to have seen this exploitation-arthouse masterpiece.
Her story is a sad story, but I cannot help but appreciate how in her short life, she still managed to make an impact. Certainly a much larger one than I have. And that makes me wonder if I had the choice for one short moment of true greatness or a lifetime of successful mediocrity, which one I would choose.
The cool answer is the former, but I’m gonna pick the latter. Fleeting greatness–it would seem–is not a gateway to happiness, but instead more often a ticket to despair. Give me my consistent humdrum routine of midlevel accomplishment. At least I have a smile on my face.
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