Lessons To Be Found

One of the great things about some of the nerdiest shows and movies is that they aren't just empty entertainment. Written into the plots and inter-weaved throughout the stories are truths and lessons about life and the real world despite the shows or movies being based in fiction. So I've laid out just a few of the lessons that I have noticed shine through in some of my favorite shows and movies.

1. There Are Two Sides To Every Story - People seldom take the time to follow the old cliche of walking a mile in another's shoes. We jump and draw lines and separate people into piles of good and bad based on our own perceptions and beliefs. The series that I believe has demonstrates this most vividly, would be The Harry Potter Series. Whether it is through the books or the movies the audience experiences the events from

Harry's side of things. We follow his journey and therefore sympathize with him. For so long in the series we see the character of Draco Malfoy as a sort of villain. He picks on Harry and his friends,causing them pain and trouble, he comes from a family of Death Eaters and on occasion shows support for their cause. However in the 6th installment of the series we get a glimpse into the true nature of his character.
While all along we have followed Harry's fight, we have not seen Draco's struggle within himself. Draco and Harry are the same age, they both have friends and people who care about them, and both are tasked with burdens far beyond what is fair to bestow upon them.
Harry must defeat Voldemort, but Draco must fight against what he believes in and what he feels is wrong in order to not only save his own life and the lives of his family, but to make those close to him proud. Draco does not want to kill Dumbledore, but he is ordered to do so. He does not want to join with the Death Eaters but feels loyalty to his family. We only get to see Harry's side of things, but this glimpse into Draco's character shows us that there is a whole other side to this war and it is not right to jump to conclusions about people and events or to assume we know them.


2. Tolerance And Equality- While a great many "nerdy" shows and movies toy with the idea of tolerance and equality, there are a few of my favorites in which it is a common theme. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for one deals with this theme most obviously through Gimli and Legolas' friendship. Dwarves harbor ill-will towards Elves and it comes out in Gimli's behavior and attitude towards his Elvish companion, but as the

trilogy progresses the two form an amiable bond fighting along side one another. Their friendship shows that even though a prejudice can be cultural and deeply embedded within us, with time and patience we can come to find that we are not all so different in the end.
The harry Potter series is a testament to the ideas of tolerance and equality. Within the story we have muggle-borns, half-bloods, and pure-bloods. While some in the series regard anyone less than a pure-blood wizard to be less than worthy of the title there are those who fight against that belief. In fact the events in the 7th book almost mirror those of the holocaust; an evil tyrant bent on purifying the wizarding world, ruling with fear and causing those who do not fit the bill or who oppose him to hide and fear for their lives.  The house elves in the story also play a big part in these lessons.  House elves are essentially slaves. Hermione starts S.P.E.W, a society for the promotion of elfish welfare. She champions their cause and rallies for their freedom even when everyone around her tells her it is an idiotic cause. She believes in what she is doing and makes progress in making their lives better in the end. The idea that everyone is equal permeates through the Harry Potter series and hopefully will span many more generations preaching these ideas.
One of my absolute favorite references to the idea of tolerance of other people's ways of life is from the show Firefly. When the characters are confronted with the situation of conflicting cultural beliefs and customs, Captain Mal finds himself with a wife who he claims he is not technically married to, however, the customs of the woman's people claim that she is. While the other characters speak their minds on the matter the humorous and kind Wash spouts his words of wisdom: "some people juggle geese". He tells about a planet he visited where the main form of recreation was geese juggling, and while we may find that strange to the it was normal.
Each of these shows or films relay to us that things would be a lot better if we all just realized that we are all equal and though we may be different we need to simply accept that some people juggle geese and that is okay.


3. You Are Important- While I'm sure there are many other examples of this lesson in the realm of nerdy shows and movies, the best example I can think of is Doctor Who. The Doctor is a Time Lord, he travels

through time and space and he saves our world and other worlds time and time again, and always by his side are his companions. His companions are just people, ordinary people like you and me. They work in shops,

in hospitals, they are secretaries, they are normal everyday people. The Doctor takes them away and shows them the universe and in doing so he shows them how amazing they really are. They help him fight aliens and save planets billions of light years away thousands of years in the future, and he really does need them there. They are not just being towed along for fun, they really do help him. The Doctor is a thousand year old Time Lord equipped with advanced technology and knowledge and he needs the help of ordinary shop workers and nurses. Doctor Who shows us that no matter who you are or what you do, you are capable of greatness and you are fantastic and strong and you matter. The Doctor says it over and over in each regeneration; he has never met an unimportant person in his entire life. And he would know, seeing as he has been all over the universe from the dawn of creation to the end of time itself. Doctor Who sends the message that we are all far greater than the external conditions of our lives, we are so much more than we appear to be, and we are all important.


4. Friends Protect People- The words spoken by John Watson in BBC's Sherlock resonate strong

throughout the series, as well as many other shows with similar audiences. In Sherlock the friendship between John and Sherlock is the true star of the show. The two would die for each other without thinking about it and would kill for one another without hesitation. They are so true, close, and real of friends that many people think they have a romantic sort of relationship. Those people however, have obviously never witnessed a true friendship. The kind that instant and eternal. John and Sherlock have risked their lives time and time again and have gone to the ultimate extremes to keep the other safe; killing, jumping off buildings, having guns pointed at their heads.
Strong friendships like this are everywhere in the more "nerdy" forms of entertainment. Harry Potter has Ron

and Hermione, who even in the face of mortal danger stick by each other, fight for each other, and protect each other. They save each other in more than just the physical sense, they keep each other sane in the crazy world  that they live in and must fight for.
 In Doctor Who The Doctor has his companions. We have seen glimpses of what happens when The Doctor

Travels alone for too long and it is never pretty. He becomes merciless and violent. He is careless and angry.He becomes Time Lord Victorious and thinks he is all powerful. The Doctor needs his companions to help him keep his humanity. Even though he is not human he is the most human of them all; he feels so much pain and loss and has to live with everything he has done and seen in his thousand years of life, and he needs his friends to protect him from himself.
BBC's The Adventures of Merlin also show us how friends literally can protect people in every episode. Merlin's destiny is to protect Arthur; keep him safe until he can become king and bring about change in Camelot. Merlin is constantly having to save Arthur's life, whether it is from sorcery, or bandits, or war, Merlin always saves him. Arthur has saved Merlin's life too a few times, but mostly it's Merlin doing the saving. Even though Arthur is royalty and Merlin is just his servant the two have a strong and real friendship. They would follow each other anywhere to fight along side them and do what they can to keep the other from harm.
All of these fictional friendships portray the message that people need friends. We need people we can trust and rely on to catch us when we fall, to champion our causes, and too keep us sane and believing in ourselves when all seems lost. We can't go it alone.

Some epic friendships: