Coates: Nice is Different Than Good

For my Politics and Reel Life class, we were assigned to watch the movie, "Good". At first, I thought the movie would be boring, but as it continued, it made me think. What classifies the true meaning of good and bad. At first, John Halder seems to be a normal person, but then he changes his ideals because of society. He slowly begins to fall into the wrong crowd and ends up losing a friend over it. John was blind to the wrong that he was doing because of society. He is between the lines of fear and blame. He tries to do what will help his friend, after his friend realizes the danger is in. John is still afraid of what could happen to himself. He ends up regretting his fear, only after it is too late. Sadly, it is not his fault that he was so afraid. He was so pressured into making the right decision, but was unable to pick the good one. If John really cared for his friend, he would have done anything to save him. Instead of buying one ticket for his friend, he could have bought one for himself as well and they could be away from the thing that they fear. But he didn't. In the end, John only saved himself and was left to what would be a dark, scary world.

The movie relates to today's world in many different ways, but the thing I noticed most was the way he conformed to society. Today, many people have sectioned themselves into different social groups or 'cliques.' Teenagers especially can have trouble with this. It may not always be the best choice, but sometimes people are drawn to different groups because they are accepted. In my life, for example, I have been more drawn to people who sing or play music over those who do not. Luckily, all of my friends are good people, but I always wondered what would have happened if they weren't. Although this is a smaller majority than the movie, the ideals are similar. Would I have still been friends with these people if they enjoyed the same things I did, but had bad morals? I think at a younger age, I could have been swayed to go in the wrong direction just to fit in and be a part of this group. If my ideals were different, I could have risked being rejected by peers who were like me. Now that I am older, I have a stronger independence to be who I want to be, and I could live without people who have similar interests.