Life Lessons of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”
Well, if you’ve ever watched an episode of MST3K, you’re not asking, “Why?,” you’re saying, “Oh, hell yeah!” If you haven’t, this is a great episode to get you started: The Horrors of Spider Island I’ve watched that episode, oh 50 times at least, and it still makes my inner 8-year-old boy snort with glee. So much snark for the pure joy of it: what’s not to love! Not to mention, their snark is amazing. They’ll reference everything from Joe Orton to Ms. Magazine, to NPR without missing a beat.
Anyway, I was thinking of how much joy MST3K has given people over the years, and I thought,well, thank god, that way back in the dark era of 1988, Joel Hodgson created this silly show on public access TV in Minnesota, a show revolving around the concept of a (Midwestern) man, Joel Robinson, shot into space, watching and riffing on bad movies with a couple of robots. Thank god, Joel gave in to his inner nerd and went for it. Read the comments for any episode, and you’re bound to see more than a handful of people saying, “This show makes me so happy,” or “This show makes me feel less alone.” That’s good enough for me! Joel did something wonderful: he created something that made him happy, and he didn’t let the skeptics talk him out of it. I mean, can you imagine how many people must have rolled their eyes and laughed at the idea? A grown man playing with robots….WONDERFUL!
My point being, next time you’re about to talk yourself out of doing something you care about, please don’t. Please just do it. Your life is too valuable to waste making reasons to justify your unhappiness. Ugh, just typing those words makes me want to vomit, since it brings back the horror joys of law school in a Proustian rush. Barf.
Yes, doing what you love is scary. You’re going to be terribly nervous, you’re going to feel like a schmuck…until it works, and other people come out of the woodwork to thank you. But you’ll never know what an impact something “silly” and “juvenile” can have until you just go for it. Twenty years later, MST3K spawned a still-thriving industry. Imagine if years ago, he hadn’t gone through with it. We all would have missed out on some great times.
There’s enough (moronic, frightened) people in the world who will censor you: you don’t need to help them. You’ve got a lot of living to do!