Spoilers ahead!
If there’s one phrase that accurately describes who I am, it’s “jack of all trades, master of none.” I’ve tried my hand at several hobbies/activities, like writing, blogging, photography, football, drawing, music (guitar) just to name a few. The thing is, I can’t quite consider myself ‘skilled’ in any of these things. If we were at a party and people asked me on the spot to draw something, or play a tune with a guitar, I would impress no one.
This is exactly why I see a lot of myself in Max Fischer from the 1998 film Rushmore. He is president of everything, from the fencing club to the beekeepers club to the calligraphy club. Heck, he even gets to save Latin from being dropped as a class in favor of Japanese. “I guess you’ve just gotta find something you love to do and then do it for the rest of your life. For me, it’s going to Rushmore.” Max Fischer is a caricature of people like me, geeks like me who want to try out everything the world has to offer.
Here’s where it starts to get depressing–no matter how extraordinary Max’s life is, there’s always something that’s missing. For one, he doesn’t get the best of grades. What’s sadder is that the love of his life doesn’t quite reciprocate and instead falls in love with a friend; the central conflict of the film. He has a place in everything except for one spot he desperately wants to be in, a place in his love’s life.
Max Fischer’s predicament, I think, can stand as a symbol for what life truly is. No matter how much we have, there will always be that one (or several other) thing we can never get. The film makes it clear, however, that this is not a thing to mope about, that life can be fun even with the shortcomings and heartbreaks that come along occasionally. Shrug it off and fly a kite; write a play if you want. There are more things to do than to sulk in one corner of your room and linger in what isn’t.
the lone ponderer 