Movie quote from: Garden State (2004) - Sam (Natalie Portman)
In the 2004 film Garden State, Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) is an emotionally numb burnout whose life experiences have caused him to completely withdraw from family and friends. Fortunately for him, he meets Sam (Natalie Portman), a woman whose abundant vitality lights the way for his own return to life. The story of 'Large' is far too common. We're taking ourselves too seriously.
What is it that causes us to laugh less as we age? Perhaps we start thinking life is serious when serious things occur. This is certainly the story of Large in Garden State. He feels responsible for a significant tragedy in his family. He has disappeared inside himself, fueled by a variety of emotion-numbing pills prescribed by his psychiatrist father. Pills don't solve problems, they just hide them away. To 'lighten up', he has to deal directly with whatever issues come his way. And then let them go.
When people are too serious, they are too close to life's events. Distancing yourself allows you to see the insignificance of anything you choose. When people laugh freely and often, they have accepted the imperfections of themselves and the world they live in. A more carefree life begins with the ability to laugh at your own imperfect self.
Large learns to laugh from Sam, whose epilepsy has never stopped her from enjoying the abundance available to us all. She seeks significance, telling Large to, "do something that no one has ever done before and that no one will copy." Then she dances in a way that no one else ever would.
Sam understands that you don't laugh because you feel good, you feel good because you laugh. So she laughs. She sees the great humor in everything; she takes nothing personally. Sam helped Andrew Largeman and she can metaphorically help anyone who is overly obsessed with the importance of their own life story. So, lighten up. As Sam says, "If you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer than you like."
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