Sir, resending my movie analysis in word format. Thank you.
THE THREE IDIOTS
By Jose Manuel M. Pontillas
"FOLLOW YOUR BLISS"
The movie "Three Idiots" is an Indian movie released in 2009 and was adapted from the novel "Five Point Someone" by Chetan Bhagat. It is a comic, light hearted film which offers serious insights about life, learning and friendship. It tackles about the most important human pursuit which is self-actualization. The message of Joseph Campbell to "Follow your Bliss" is perfectly related to this movie. It shows how some students are force to pursue a career not of their willing but later on managed to go for what they are passionate about and ended up being successful. It also tackles how some school and college professor place too much pressure on students and emphasize ranks instead of love for learning.
The main characters of the movie are of course the Three Idiots, in the person of Farhan, Raju and Rancho. The three met at Imperial College of Engineering (ICE) and shared the same room in a dormitory inside the school. Farhan Qureshi dreams to be a wildlife photographer but pursued Engineering course to appease his father while Raju Rastogi studied engineering to improve his family's financial situation but perform poorly in school due to his insecurities. Rancho Chanchad, the HERO/LEADER, is a Prankish yet brilliant college student who possesses all the skills to be successful in career and in life. He loves to invent machines and incurs the wrath of his Professor Virus because of his unconventional style. He highly criticizes the unjust system in teaching and putting emphasis on competition and ranks.
Another important character in the movie is Virus, the College Director and one of the professors of the three idiots. He is an extremely competitive man and took the pleasure of making the life of the three idiots miserable because in many occasions felt outsmarted by Rancho.
The character whom I consider a LEADER in the story is Rancho Chanchad. He is the Hero in the story and his path is similar of that Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey although there are some deletions and twist. Let me guide you to Rancho's Journey:
• ORDINARY WORLD – Rancho came from ordinary family and was orphaned early in childhood. He works as a servant to a wealthy family. He disguised as Rancho, his master's son, to fill him in school which he gladly accepted because of his desire to learn. His real name is Phunsukh Wangdo.
• CALLS TO ADVENTURE – Rancho's adventure began when he has to fill for the real Rancho Chanchad in College. So he was enrolled at the College of Engineering and there his journey began. This event serves as the Herald archetype in the story that allowed him to embark on his adventure in an Educational Institution.
• MEETING WITH WISE MENTOR – For me, Virus, while also portrays the nemesis/the shadow archetype in the movie, somewhat also plays the mentor role but with a twist. His role in the film is significant as he represents the distasteful system in teaching and education where, with his style of teaching, students are pressured and makes them unable to appreciate the art of learning. He represents the bad and not ought to be in the system so that the good and ideal will be highlighted. One of the significant scenes in the film was their first meeting on the 1st day of class when Virus' welcomed them with a speech. Virus speech is a discourse on the survival of the fittest, which arouses the free spirited intelligence of Rancho as Virus is silenced in front of his students on the very first day. This is just the first of the battle between the two, a battle of morals, values and ethical codes. But that meeting is very symbolical since it introduced the astronaut pen which would serve as the "reward" to our leader later in the story. The pen was given to Virus by his former professor as a symbol of excellence and for 32 years, he had been long waiting for somebody to pass on his legacy.
• THE FIRST THRESHOLD – Arrival at Imperial College dormitory where he was forced to stripped down as a part of their initiation. But Rancho disobeyed and chose not to conform; instead, he instantly developed a conducting coil and placing it underneath the door when the senior attempted to urinate at his door as a punishment for his disobedience. Rancho's clear stand against the established system and its flaws is observed right from the introduction of the character. The trickster archetype of Rancho was revealed early on in the movie. And this archetype was consistent in the character of the three idiots and reflects the entire mood of the movie, hilariously funny yet melodramatic. The senior students who facilitated the initiation are the threshold guardian archetype on this scene who initiated the 1st obstacle of our Leader but unfortunately, his wit allowed him to win the first battle.
• TEST, ALLIES AND ENEMIES – In the early part of the movie, our Leader Rancho met his allies, Farhan and Raju. Another shadow archetype was introduced in the film in the person of Chatur or the silencer. He is the typical competitive nerd who is up for the game. Series of conflicts/debates with professors as the story progresses. One of the highlight of the film was when one of his classmates, Jay Lobo, a victim of Virus' rigid policies, committed a suicide. The death of Lobo reflects the shape shifter's archetype where it prompted Rancho to fight for change. Rancho denounced the system and blamed it for Lobo's death. Threatened by Rancho, Virus on several occasion, attempted to destroy his friendship with Farhan and Raju. And this created a domino of problems until one of his friend attempted to commit a suicide, another shape shifter's archetype which eventually instigated change not only in the lives of his friends but their relationship with their family as well.
• SUPREME ORDEAL – The supreme ordeal of our hero was when they were expelled by Professor Virus because of stealing the test papers as a sign of protest for his unjust system. But they earn Virus reprieve when they help his daughter deliver her baby thru their ingenuity. Virus again, played the threshold archetype which almost blocked our Leader's journey to his final destination, his graduation rites.
• REWARD AND RESSURECTION – After helping Virus' daughter, Rancho decided to leave knowing that they were expelled already. But Virus' ran after him and gave his astronaut pen which symbolizes acceptance of his defeat and acknowledgment of Rancho's excellent abilities. This also symbolizes resurrection as we taught our Hero's Journey would end when he was expelled. Now, Virus' represents the Mentor, passing his legacy to his student, Rancho. The legacy of excellence.
• RETURN TO THE ELIXIR – Leader Rancho, carrying with him his new learning and a world of experience, went back to his hometown and became a teacher-scientist where he managed his own school and trained students to be inventors.
SIMILARITIES OF RANCHO AND ME AS A LEADER
When we were asked to choose a movie and how we're going to compare it with Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and our life story, this is the movie I think of. And upon doing the project, the more I am convinced how similar our characteristics are and how closely related is my journey to that of J. Campbell have identified. Truly, I am convinced that I was born to be a leader :-). Please allow me to use the archetypes of Carl Jung, one of the inspiration of J. Campbell in coming up with his monomyth, so I can clearly present the similarities of myself and the Leader, Rancho. The first characteristics that I was able to identify myself with Rancho were being a comic and free spirited. That is so true of me. I always go for the lighter side of life and choose to stay positive even during times of crisis. Rancho and I also exhibit the same archetype first of which is the Caregiver Archetype: Rancho, many times in the movie, showed how much he care for the welfare of other people especially with his friends. But the greatest thing he has done was inspiring his friends to follow their bliss. As for me, I believe that this is one of my strength, my human relation skill. I am compassionate with my friends and my staff. I visit them in the hospital when they are sick. I attend the wake of their family. I attend their birthdays and other important occasions. Making a person feel valued is of utmost importance for me. I invest much on my Emotional Bank Account (EBA). Second archetype is the CREATOR: Rancho is a scientist by nature and goes for practical learning. Even when I was young, I had the knack of inventing simple things already. And my Job was a perfect fit for me. I love the idea of having to figure out how things work. It challenges me and get my creative juices flowing. The last archetype is the EXPLORER: Rancho is fearless in exploring the world and rather unconventional. He wants to make a difference and change old system in education that isn't working for the students. I am also of the explorer type as I would love to take risk. I am more challenge if the task is unfamiliar. But one thing I learned in life is as much as we want to take risk; we can always calculate the possibilities of success and failure thru careful planning. I am also struck by Rancho's motto which is, "Pursue Excellence, Success will follow". I believe this is one of my secret recipes on being a leader. In everything I do, I always put my 100% effort, even how minute it is. I always value effectiveness and efficiency at work. And if a task is entrusted to me, I always try to go extra mile in accomplishing it.
RANCHO and I have the same ultimate dream. That is to uplift the quality of life of people. I dream of putting up my own company where I will hire truly hardworking people who were not given a chance to study because of poverty. Like those who are selling furniture in the streets. It breaks my heart when I see them carrying heavy furniture and going house to house with the hope to sell at least one piece. And those selling goodies in the middle of the traffic just to earn centavo per piece of what they sell. They are risking their lives everyday so they could bring something home for their families. I truly admire them because they would rather bear carrying big loads and expose themselves to danger than to steal. I would also like to put up a foundation so I could help poor families better their lives thru education. Simple as I am, I dream that every Filipino family will have a decent living.
My personal journey also resembles the Hero's Journey. I came from a small and humble province of Bicol and live a very ordinary life. A typical "probinsyano" (ORDINARY WORLD) and my adventure started when my family moved to Manila (CALL TO ADVENTURE). My calling to move away from the ordinary world was because of an unfortunate event. My father got sick and one of his feet was amputated that is why the whole family has to move from a rural to a highly urbanized society (HERALD ARCHETYPE). There were hesitations on my part, but young as I am, there is nothing I could do but to follow my family. There I met one of my few mentors. First of which is my Uncle Rey. He is a businessman and would always take me in his business transactions. Through him, I learned about the value of hard work and being tough. Another mentor is my beloved father. It was only when he got sick that we were together permanently. Because when I was younger, he gets to visit us only once in a month in our province where he would stay only for few days. His sickness despite being unfortunate, gave us an opportunity to know him deeply and bond with him. He always instill in us the value of education and thru his example, I acquire the value of good human relation. My father is not perfect but I had good memories of him and he is a big influence in my life. My first threshold was studying in private school in Manila. It was quite hard for me to adjust because of the language barrier and culture difference in the province and Manila (THRESHOLD GUARDIAN). And my life became more difficult because it was during that time when one of my father's feet was amputated which makes him unable to work. I survived high school and go to the next level. Trials after trials came, one tragedy after another. Our family was really put to the test and there came a time when we were so down financially. Along the way I met friends in college who are really good to me. We had lots of funny memories together like that of the three Idiots. The shadows in my life are not actually individuals, rather the series of crisis my family went thru. My supreme ordeal was when our house was burn down and nothing was left except for the clothes we are wearing. Seeing my father in the wheelchair, I felt my world turned upside down. But then, there were God sent people (ALLIES) who helped us rise again from this catastrophe. That incident represents the threshold guardian in my journey. Where I taught I am almost there to finishing my course, but this tragic event presents another big obstacle. But my trickster archetype, my free spirited and happy disposition somewhat help me overcome these obstacles. And so I survived and began to enter the world of work. From there, another cycle of Hero's Journey begins. The call to another adventure begins. This time in a perfectly different world, which is the world of work. I met significant mentors along the way. They are truly wise men and offered insights about life and work. And from here my journey as a leader continues. And now I met another Mentor in the person of Professor Jorge Saguinsin. In my journey, the message of Campbell "Follow Your Bliss" strikes me most. Bliss for me connotes fascination or delight. And to follow your bliss means to follow what delights you most or what you are fascinated about. My profession is my bliss. And truly as they say, "Find a job that you love, and you'll never find yourself working for the rest of your life". Pursue what you love doing and what you are passionate about, success will follow.
JOSE MANUEL PONTILLAS 4
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