The Man Who Invented Himself 

After watching the movie, “The Man Who Invented Himself” I noticed Duane Michals was very theatrical.  He liked to act for the camera, play characters, and make voices for inanimate objects.  At first I thought, “Why is he doing that? Can’t he talk normally?” Then I started to admire him for being his true authentic self.  He did not care what people thought of him. He played characters because it made himself laugh and it made him happy. I think I need to practice being my authentic self more often.  I am a very shy person and most of the time I feel embarrassed to talk to people I do not know because I am afraid of what they will think of me. As a result, people have told me I come off as rude because I do not speak a lot.  I should reframe my negative thoughts by saying to myself, “why wouldn’t they want to talk to me?” If I am being kind towards them, they would have no reason to dislike me. Even if the person is not interested in having a conversation, their reaction would most likely not about me.  Maybe they were having a bad day, maybe they have their own personal problems that they are worrying about. Something else that resonated with me was the idea of the mirror being an illusion.

Duane Michals noticed that he photographed a lot of mirrors.  Michals explained that most of the time, people look for what they want to see in themselves.  I can sympathize with Duane Michals words because towards the end of my high school and beginning of my college career, I suffered from an eating disorder.  My self worth was based on what I saw in the mirror. I saw myself as “ugly” and “fat.” Looking back now, I was neither of those things. I was actually very thin to the point where it was unhealthy.  I would be very critical of myself, meanwhile, I was the only person who had those critical thoughts. From a psychological perspective, eating disorders usually come from a traumatic event, a large change in your life, or many other things.  I was having a hard time adjusting to the end of high school and starting college. I coped with those feelings by trying to focus on something else; what I looked like. I received the help I needed and I am proud to say that my self-worth is not dependant on what I see in the mirror anymore.  Another idea that was very thought provoking was the idea of being in the now.

Duane Michals said that there is no “now” and he believes “now” is an illusion.  He defines now as an infinite line that goes forward and backward simultaneously.  When I thought about it, every second time is passing so how could we really say that there is a “now?”  Time never stops. Technically, the only moment time stops for an individual is when they die. Duane Michals said our lives are just one moment, which is now.  Michals also explained that he thought it was scary that “we” will not be around anymore. I noticed that he talked a lot about death throughout the movie. Looking at his old photos was like “watching his life flash” in front of his eyes.  He even acted at though he was saying his last words in bed and had someone put a sheet over his head as if he died. It made me uncomfortable to see that, but I understand why Michals did it because it is inevitable that everyone dies. Most people do not like to think about death because they do not know what comes next.  He took on the idea of death very logically. Overall, I enjoyed The Man Who Invented Himself  because it helped me reconcile some of my overarching feelings about myself and about life in general.