Reflective Essay: The Film That Has Influenced Me The Most

Anita Krizzan once proposed that, “We are mosaics. Pieces of light, love, history, stars…Glued together with magic, and music, and words.” We grow by creating new parts of our mosaics or tweaking former ones. The moment in which my mosaic had the most significant shift was when I viewed the film Five Feet Apart for the first time. The storytelling throughout the film allowed me to realize that I wanted to influence people’s lives through screenwriting. However, there were two scenes in particular that made it apparent that I needed to devote a substantial amount of time and energy into my art. 

An hour and fifteen seconds into the film, I was able to recognize the importance of being able to connect with others and embracing the unknown. During this scene, Will, a teenager with cystic fibrosis, is surprised with a birthday party from other teens in the hospital. Throughout the scene, we are able to see the characters laughing and reminiscing on their bittersweet memories. The aspect about this portion of the film that inspired me the most was that none of them are letting their difficult situation define them or get in the way of making new, blissful memories. At this moment, they are only concerned with allowing space for one another to experience comfort as well as joy. Each of these teenagers is taking it day by day, with the knowledge that tomorrow could be extremely different from today, but they are not letting that dictate how they feel in the present moment. This scene gave my mosaic more color than ever before. It allowed me to view every single person as a work of art and not take for granted the people in my life. It also gave me the gift of being able to realize that if I worry about the future, then I am wasting moments that hold immeasurable amounts of value. Through my own writing, I am capable of giving people a space where they are able to connect with others who have different experiences from them and focus on the moments which are often overlooked in their lives. 

A specific line in the film that genuinely resonated with me was when Stella sneaks out of the hospital and in an attempt to convince Will to join her she says, “I’ve been living for my treatments, instead of doing my treatments so that I can live. I want to live.” Up until viewing this film, I was living for things out of my control, but after hearing this specific line, I made the revelation that life is such a beautiful thing and I am extremely fortunate that I am able to live and do whatever I want. To me, living means experiencing everything to its fullest extent no matter what the world throws at you. I know that in order for me to accomplish this, I need to inspire others to view their lives as something magnificent through my writing and storytelling. 

I believe that since I have watched the film Five Feet Apart, both writing and film have become two of the most important parts of my mosaic. I am fortunate to have discovered bits and pieces of myself while viewing this film. I now understand that I am able to give people the space to discover pieces of themselves in my writing. Film allows everybody to feel emotions that they typically would not allow themselves to feel openly. It is through all of these discoveries that we are able to find meaning in our everyday life. My biggest goal is to inspire several others to never take anything for granted, especially any form of art. Five Five Apart has changed my life in more ways than I ever thought possible and has now given me the motivation to become a part of many people’s individual mosaics.