I am writing my common application essay and was wondering if anyone could give me a few tips and even improvements over an idea if possible.
I chose the question: Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
I chose the character Vincent from the movie Gattaca.
Gattaca to Fear
I would never take risks to attain what I wanted. If my dream was surrounded by deadly spikes, I would never take the chance and would most certainly not "go for it". I had always had a special kind of fear. Fear of the consenquences of my actions. Fear of the responsibility that I will have to face.
I once wanted to ask a girl out and I started thinking of the consenquences. If she rejected me then many people would laugh at me making the next few weeks fairly unpleasant whilst if she did accept me, then many people would start teasing me about me and my girlfriend and so on. Eventually, I stayed home drowning myself in video game pleasure and never asked her though the consenquences were actually fairly trivial. I was simply afraid of the risk. I guess I was somewhat of a coward.
On one of those cold winters, I was angrily flipping channels to see if there was anything good to watch as the original movie had been canceled, and finally landed on one channel where it usually showed old classic movies and apparently, a movie just started. The freshness of the fairly novel movie intrigued me into knowing what was so classic about it. The movie was called Gattaca.
Gattaca was about a world where people are discriminated by its DNA. The protagonist, Vincent Freeman, was unfortunately born with a weak DNA. Vincent has an undying dream of going into space but the only way he could see the inside of spaceship was if he was cleaning one. No matter how intelligent he is, no matter what he does, nobody will accept him for a job because of his blood. Everybody rejects him, everybody tells him that he cannot succeed with his DNA.
I was sitting there, staring at the screen. I could not understand him at first calling him foolish. If his dream is way beyond the limit of his grasp, he should just give up. No. He never gives up and is never swayed away from his dream. He eventually resorted to a more extreme method. He would change his identity with another person's so that he can acquire his DNA even if it meant giving up his family, his identity, and his whole previous life.
The credits eventually started rolling. As I sat there still perplexed about Vincent, I felt that this two hour existent character had changed me. The fear was gone. The fear that had lasted in me for fourteen years was but a distant shadow.
My fascination with movies started when I was very young. At seven, I watched A Clocwork's Orange five times and talked about it constantly with one of my parents' old friend. Since then, I started watching all kinds of movie and became fascinated with it. As I grew a little bit older, this fascination had transformed into a dream but I suppressed such a dream because I was afraid of pursuing it. I was scared of facing the consenquences if I took the road that led to my dream.
After watching Gattaca, I felt that my real personality had always been in a dormant state and it was Vincent who awoke me. While Vincent took every necessary step to reach his goal, sacrificing his whole future, I was scared of the consnquences of asking a girl out. I was frightened about what would happen if I failed. Vincent was born with confronting things ranging from his family all the way to his blood whilst I was born in a family with full support from my parents for all the good purposes. Vincent lived in a world with the whole society against him while I had experienced no discrimination at all. If Vincent could succeed, then, why couldn't I?
I chose the question: Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
I chose the character Vincent from the movie Gattaca.
Gattaca to Fear
I would never take risks to attain what I wanted. If my dream was surrounded by deadly spikes, I would never take the chance and would most certainly not "go for it". I had always had a special kind of fear. Fear of the consenquences of my actions. Fear of the responsibility that I will have to face.
I once wanted to ask a girl out and I started thinking of the consenquences. If she rejected me then many people would laugh at me making the next few weeks fairly unpleasant whilst if she did accept me, then many people would start teasing me about me and my girlfriend and so on. Eventually, I stayed home drowning myself in video game pleasure and never asked her though the consenquences were actually fairly trivial. I was simply afraid of the risk. I guess I was somewhat of a coward.
On one of those cold winters, I was angrily flipping channels to see if there was anything good to watch as the original movie had been canceled, and finally landed on one channel where it usually showed old classic movies and apparently, a movie just started. The freshness of the fairly novel movie intrigued me into knowing what was so classic about it. The movie was called Gattaca.
Gattaca was about a world where people are discriminated by its DNA. The protagonist, Vincent Freeman, was unfortunately born with a weak DNA. Vincent has an undying dream of going into space but the only way he could see the inside of spaceship was if he was cleaning one. No matter how intelligent he is, no matter what he does, nobody will accept him for a job because of his blood. Everybody rejects him, everybody tells him that he cannot succeed with his DNA.
I was sitting there, staring at the screen. I could not understand him at first calling him foolish. If his dream is way beyond the limit of his grasp, he should just give up. No. He never gives up and is never swayed away from his dream. He eventually resorted to a more extreme method. He would change his identity with another person's so that he can acquire his DNA even if it meant giving up his family, his identity, and his whole previous life.
The credits eventually started rolling. As I sat there still perplexed about Vincent, I felt that this two hour existent character had changed me. The fear was gone. The fear that had lasted in me for fourteen years was but a distant shadow.
My fascination with movies started when I was very young. At seven, I watched A Clocwork's Orange five times and talked about it constantly with one of my parents' old friend. Since then, I started watching all kinds of movie and became fascinated with it. As I grew a little bit older, this fascination had transformed into a dream but I suppressed such a dream because I was afraid of pursuing it. I was scared of facing the consenquences if I took the road that led to my dream.
After watching Gattaca, I felt that my real personality had always been in a dormant state and it was Vincent who awoke me. While Vincent took every necessary step to reach his goal, sacrificing his whole future, I was scared of the consnquences of asking a girl out. I was frightened about what would happen if I failed. Vincent was born with confronting things ranging from his family all the way to his blood whilst I was born in a family with full support from my parents for all the good purposes. Vincent lived in a world with the whole society against him while I had experienced no discrimination at all. If Vincent could succeed, then, why couldn't I?
