Whenever someone finds out that I chose to study film, I am usually met with the same response – “Oh…that’s nice.” This is almost immediately followed up with, “So, what are you going to do with that exactly?”
I know they mean well, but if I learned one thing at Berkeley it’s that going to school is about so much more than the job it sets you up for.
Don’t get me wrong; having a job is important, and I am fully aware that it’s necessary in order to afford little things like rent, or food. But that’s not the only reason to get a degree.
If it were, then my time here might feel kind of deficient. Because not everything I was taught in class has a definite practical use down the line. Odds are there’ll never be a situation when it’s absolutely necessary that I’ve seen Man with a Movie Camera three times. Or that I’ll be asked about Benjamin’s theory on aura and mechanical reproduction while standing around the water cooler. And while my paper on Disney films’ vilification of older women might fascinate some sectors of the blogosphere, it’s probably not something that I’d want to bring up during a job interview with them.
And that’s okay. My time at Berkeley has taught me to move beyond the immediately quantifiable. My film degree isn’t valuable because of the number of achievements I’ve unlocked, or skills I've "collected." Sure, I can differentiate between a tracking shot and a pan, know the correct format of a screenplay and can brag that I once took a class with an Oscar-winning professor, but that is such a small piece of what these past four years have been all about.
Instead, it’s been about being challenged to think critically. To not merely sit there for two hours as your eyes glaze over, but to actively analyze the filmmaker’s choices and their subsequent effect. It’s about begrudgingly taking courses in avant-garde or documentary and discovering that you actually enjoyed films outside of the mainstream and your comfort zone. To see how works like I, an Actress and The Act of Killing have tackled issues like gender performativity or genocide, and the kinds of discussions such films spark.
It’s about engaging in those debates that can be uncomfortable or divisive. To learn how to voice your opinion, while still actively listening to the viewpoints of the opposing side – an exercise that some news pundits could give a try.
It’s about being exposed to a wide range of material from various eras, genres, and nations, and learning how to find the value in things that might initially be confusing, or frustrating, or a little boring. To leave Cal with a better understanding of how to appreciate, rather than immediately dismiss, those things in the world that might frighten or baffle us – whether it's how the media chooses to document growing racial tensions or people's continued obsession with the selfie stick.
Ultimately, this unique program has provided me with the knowledge and the capacity to be an intelligent member of the film industry - someone who now possesses a fervent desire to affect a positive change upon the films I love so much.
I guess I’ll just end by saying that I’m really proud to be a part of this group of risk-takers. People who didn’t choose the safe or “practical” major. People who continually brave that tired question of, “So, what exactly are you going to do with that?” Because, even if none of us ever get to stand on stage clutching that coveted golden statue while choking out our ‘thank yous,’ we still did something pretty rare. We dared to follow our interests and our passions, in spite of all the risks and uncertainties, and we did it at the #1 public university.
And I think that is pretty cool.
Thank you.
Now time for the real world. *gulp*
:') YOU ARE SO COOL.
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