Batman may wear black, but he’d look far better in green…

I’ve just returned from seeing the Dark Knight. I’m not going to bore you, with a review of it you probably don’t want, but I would urge anyone who hasn’t seen it to go do so, even if, like I did, you think it’s not your thing. Unsurprisingly enough, I’m now going to talk about Heath Ledger’s acting. I don’t want to dwell on it too much though, as it isn’t necessarily what I want to focus on. As you are no doubt aware, the world has gone crazy about the acting of the late Heath Ledger. So, when I went to see the film, I was expecting amazing things.

I thought all the acting was fantastic, but with Ledger’s performance, I was always expecting more. I was always expecting there to come a definitive moment, when he showed why the world has gone nuts about him. That moment never came. Despite the fact that his acting was outstanding throughout, I was never quite satisfied, because I was always expecting more. I was therefore somewhat disappointed with the one thing I didn’t expect to be disappointed by. The reason for this is obvious; when something is hyped beyond all proportion, we can never be satisfied by the original. The hyperbole that has surrounded Ledger’s acting, the exaggeration of, what was, an already pretty flawless performance, meant that the original could not compare to the descriptions of itself.

It follows that when we expect something to be perfect, we are always let down. Nothing in life is perfect, we can only hope to find things so close, that we cannot see the gap.

The problem is, what follows that. By the logic that shows us optimism doesn’t work, we can argue that when you expect everything to go wrong, you will be pleasantly surprised. If you expect the worse, what you receive will be better than what you expected.

Now in this logical mindset, there is no problem at all, we get better than what we expect therefore we are always pleased with the results. However, it is not as simple as what it appears to be. If we live life pessimisticly, always expecting the worst, our lives will not be happy ones.

I don’t believe in karma. I don’t think that there is some supernatural force that punishes our wrongdoings, and rewards our good deeds, but I do believe that the ideas behind karma are vital to a good life.

First off, by thinking something bad will punish you for your bad actions, one, somewhat selfishly, is far more reluctant to do these things. By the same token, you are more likely to help others and do good things with your life. This is great, but unless you actually believe in a supernatural force then it would seem this method of living doesn’t work as the motivation to do so isn’t there.

However, a supernatural force is not required to affect your life in ways you cannot consciously perceive. If you live your life expecting the best, you will be disappointed, but your will subconsciously do things that will lead yourself in a positive direction. If you live your life expecting the worst you won’t get disappointed, but your life will spiral downwards, until the pleasing result you get from what you do, will be so close to worst case scenario you won’t even notice the difference.

The message here is that optimism works, but expecting perfection will lead to disappointment. By aiming for 99% rather than 100, you will be far more likely to achieve your goal. Oh, and most important of all, avoid hype like the plague, and see all movies the hour they come out!

For an entry on another Heath Ledger film ‘Brokeback Mountain’ , check out this post.