Transcriber: Giorgia Borsellino Reviewer: Nicoletta Pedrana
Hello, my name is Melanie AbuShahla, and I’ll be talking
about the value of the fine arts.
The blinding lights are shining with great power.
I just added a layer to myself as I put on the costume
and filled in the shoes of a completely new character.
I can hear the sound of my footsteps stepping out to the humongous stage,
but I only focus on my breath, and the sound of my voice.
Once I deliver my humorous line,
I’m greeted with the audience howling with laughter.
As I grin from ear to ear and take a long bow,
I suddenly see the audience standing up to an ovation.
Doing that monologue I was in my elements.
I was doing something I loved, where I felt happy.
Does anyone else get that euphoric feeling when doing something they love?
If you couldn't really tell, I'm an actor.
It’s a huge part of my identity, and that’s what I want to do
for the rest of my life.
But in terms of societal pre-notions and ingrained mindsets,
what I’ve dedicated most of my life to is seen as rock bottom
and not hard to achieve.
Even though we consume
the fine arts media every single day, part of the journey is the end.
But the most satisfying things about journeys, are the ways we get there;
especially when the journey itself is art.
The arts date back to the ancient times in the forms of ancient Greece,
where comedy and tragic plays were seen; and to the Stone Age,
where humans expressed themselves through the arts.
We have seen the arts develop
from just on stage performed once, to being brought internationally on TV,
broadcasted to the whole world.
When humans demonstrated interest in acting,
they were faced with backlash and hate as it was seen as something bad.
For reference: when Shakespeare started focusing on the arts,
the authorities in England decided to ban them as they were seen
as something bad, a distraction to reality and mixing fiction with reality.
Although nowadays, authorities do not go to the extent to ban the arts worldwide,
this cynical stereotype of the arts
and few pursuing them are still seen throughout every generation.
Theatre is a huge part of history’s culture,
nations’ traditions and individuals.
We have seen it with our own eyes.
Actors and films influence our lives every single day.
Fashion, trends, the way we communicate, the way we talk...
The arts impact our decisions and make our identities
whether we recognise it or not.
We are all impacted by them.
In the world we live in today,
us consumers feed off of the energy and media presented by the arts.
TV shows, movies, plays, music. We watch and listen to them every day.
Base our entire personalities on stories and characters.
We become obsessed.
We acknowledge their hard work.
Do they ever realise that all these actors and musicians that they adore
and worship are just theatre kids
that they never took seriously in high school?
Whenever I watch TV, I think:
why are my peers so supportive of all these actors and musicians
but do not understand my passion, my joy, that I get from being like those actors?
Why do we only support the end goal of things,
rather than the journey, as a whole?
Think about that for a second.
As a society, we only appreciate the end goal of things.
The success after a struggle.
Humans generally view following dreams as a weakness, a low point in life,
a vulnerable state,
when in fact following your dreams can be the strongest you’ll ever be.
To put this into perspective,
the pre-notions of the arts and the few pursuing them are all dismissive.
People think that we’re not hardworking, uneducated and undeserving,
when in fact we are one of the strongest categories of people.
We have learned from a young age that others’ judgments aren’t important.
We have learnt that it's enough to be brave and courageous.
And most importantly:
we have learnt from a young age that it’s okay to be different,
because if we all were the same, the world would be tedious.
The hard work of the arts is never appreciated nearly enough.
The rejection, the mental and physical aspects of our work are never seen.
Funny story actually:
I remember telling my friends I wanted to pursue a career in acting
and they said, word for word:
“Oh, so your 4.0 GPA is going to waste”.
But if I said any other career,
they would have filled me with words of love and encouragement.
And I know that for a fact,
because as soon as I said “I want to become an actor”,
I said “I want to become a lawyer” as well
and I guess that’s a bit more believable and worthy than an actor.
But it shouldn't be like this.
We should love upcoming actors as we love A-list celebrities.
We should give the same attention to plays as we do Broadway.
Although we consume the fine arts media every single day,
we do not support the backbone.
All in all, the fine arts are one of the most important things in life.
Their choice and lessons they bring us all are irreplaceable and unique.
Acting and the arts are among the things that’ve kept me going for all these years.
They’re the foundation of all the decisions I make
and they bring me happiness.
Before I end the speech, I wanted to let you want something.
The only thing that will ever make you happy in life
is following that dream you had.
Life isn’t about following the path that society has carved for us.
Life is only interesting to those that step outside
of the dull road that many people have conquered before.
And to me, that’s the fine arts of acting, singing and dancing.
And I know some people may think it’s a silly joke,
but I’d rather have people laughing than regrets on my deathbed
that I never followed my dreams.
So thank you for following the journey with me to this TED Talk.
Remember that your dreams are valuable, and will make the whole world
a brighter place with you pursuing them.