television and movies were integral in
helping me develop Who I am and maybe
that’s just justification so I could
spend eight hours every day watching
Gilmore Girls again or binge watching a
new show or watching making our way
through a list of oscar movies from this
year but actually I viewed television
and movies as works of literature and
valued works that were able allowed me
to analyze characters understand themes
and see kind of parallels between life
and these films and pop culture when I
was in an English class here at UM my
teacher kind of invited me into this
world of movies and television as
literature her name was Susan Leary and
instead of reading books or papers or
essays we watched movies and television
shows freshman year we explored Good
Will Hunting or the idea of the present
and the future present in the now from
watching the movie Noah we also looked
at the juxtaposition and coexistence of
joy and sadness from inside out and then
freshman year we talked about the
parallel and the journey of a hero and a
sidekick a trope found and lost and
that’s what made me be excited to
explore a paper I wrote senior year
called the trauma of leadership and
trauma of leadership pretty dramatic
right but the prompt to find trauma as
something where there was a discrepancy
between what you saw and the views you
had and society’s views so for me there
was difference between how I viewed
leadership and how society viewed
leadership a leader is a term that’s
thrown around often maybe even sometimes
it loses a bit of its meaning because
it’s used so often and a lot of people
are praised for being a title of the
leader or holding the role of a leader
rather than specifically showing actions
and distribute just like displaying
actions and leading by example so rather
than the actions they prioritized the
noun and I viewed this noun prioritized
society viewed as a society exalted hero
and initially I felt like I had to fit
this mold I was supposed to subscribe to
the definition of leadership that other
people
defined for me but as I watched these
television shows and movies
I started relating more to the minor
characters and the people who were maybe
considered the sidekicks often
characters who are unforgotten or who
are forgotten but are crucial in
achieving goals and making waves
sidekicks are connectors let’s look at a
childhood staple if we’ve watched it as
a young kid or with our kids finding
Nemo right Nemo and Dory worked together
to travel across the ocean on this great
adventure to find Marlins son Nemo Nemo
and Dory don’t work together Marlin and
Dory work together
sorry team okay so they’re looking for a
Nemo right and Marlin is super stressed
and focused he’s this hero and he’s
trying to make it through the whole
ocean big feat right but the great thing
about dory is she’s his foil she’s able
to act approachable and be a connector
and allow Marlin to connect to other
fish and other examples as he navigates
his way across the ocean so for example
remember that scene right before they go
into the jellyfish area where they meet
a school of fish Marlin super terse and
aggressive and he’s distressed because
he’s trying to look for his son but Dory
is able to act approach ibly and
relatedly and she’s able to relate to
the fish and get information that she
needs so after a few jokes calling him
Fabio or whatever she’s able to get
directions to Sidney which is what they
need to complete their goal and I
related a lot to that with Dory and I
sharing quirkiness and the ability to
rate to other others but sometimes I
wasn’t really sure that my gregarious
and jovial personality was always going
to be proved beneficial in the workplace
or professional life so I was really
nervous that this wasn’t a trait that
should be valued but I learned from her
example and saw this as an important
trait and something that I could use to
be successful in my own life for
instance I used to be the butler Center
service and leadership student
coordinator and I would run these
presentations with like gifs gifs Dre
stone that galore talking specifically
about our organization and our mission
and all this stuff but sometimes I was
nervous that my jokes would be what make
me be shown as someone less are not
elevated or some
to be respected but hearing feedback
after they were like we felt so
passionate about what you were talking
about because you were passionate and
relatable so there actually is value and
valiance in being the relatable sidekick
sidekicks are also sacrificial and
selfless the hero has a job to do a city
that a save a villian to defeat he’s
focused and under a lot of pressure to
complete a specific goal and the
sidekick supports the hero and his
behind-the-scenes position and role
allows him the ability to take more
risks and work hard to achieve their
shared goal oftentimes the sidekick
sacrifices himself for the hero and the
greater good another example childhood
staple we’ve all seen Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer’s Stone no one okay
so we’ve all seen that movie right
remember at the end Harry Ron and
Hermione are tasked or they take it upon
themselves to go deep down and find and
protect the source of stone Sorcerer’s
Stone from other people they think it’s
Nate but it’s wrong
whatever so basically if they go down
and they’re going through all these
enchantments to try to pass all these
obstacles when they get to Wizards chest
which is just like chess but except
super vile and pretty violent where the
other team like the players destroy
physically destroy the pieces we
remember this part yeah would not want
to be playing that so they’re going
through this the only way to get across
this goal is to pass through and play
the game and win and at one point Ron
recognizes keema sacrificed himself so
Harry can continue on and be the hero he
recognizes his position in the shared
goal and accepts his role in this shared
goal to show that the hero can move on
this physical demonstration is a trope
that is often seen in movies and
television but in my personal life I
haven’t fortunately been it been you
know requested or forced to sacrifice
myself physically but sometimes I’ve
given up personal wants or goals that
I’ve had for the greater good of the
group for example I was appointed as a
position of treasurer math major so they
were like you can add that’s what I did
instead of something that I thought
would be a little more out of my comfort
zone or expand my goal interest but I
realized that that’s actually where is
most needed for the good of the entire
organization in my
the scenes role was allowed our
organization to flourish more than it
would if I was a different position
sidekicks are influential Parks and
Recreation is the show that took a
sidekick and portrayed her as important
maybe don’t consider Leslie Knope as a
sidekick but she is just based on the
hierarchical position of the roles at
the parks department Ron Swanson is the
deputy director and she’s the beauty
director like second-in-command but she
literally to quote Chris Traeger does
all of the work she is filled with
positivity and motivation and really
tries to help and motivate others if she
can make April Ludgate smile we know
she’s doing something right she’s a
powerhouse and Energizer Bunny
she loves work friends and waffles not
necessarily in that order and drives her
best to make everyone feel special and
everyone to feel important in this show
taking this story and successfully
telling the story of the sidekick
displaying her as an integral part in
accomplishing the goals of the parks
department allowed me to see
representation of my’s traits and myself
how we share positivity and being able
to develop others and seeing those as
important by looking at Leslie’s example
and the show as a whole I began to value
myself and come closer to the journey of
accepting myself for who I am I began to
appreciate my strengths I learned that
embracing my strengths was itself a form
of leadership maybe I’m not the
quintessential leader according to
society’s definition but I’m learning to
be the sidekick and embracing that role
that’s unequivocally me so thank you to
Dorie and Ron and Leslie Thank You
Phoebe from friends and Dwight from the
office Hurley from lost and George
O’Malley from Grey’s Thank You Susan
Leary Neil and Ramona from real life
thank you all so much
you
helping me develop Who I am and maybe
that’s just justification so I could
spend eight hours every day watching
Gilmore Girls again or binge watching a
new show or watching making our way
through a list of oscar movies from this
year but actually I viewed television
and movies as works of literature and
valued works that were able allowed me
to analyze characters understand themes
and see kind of parallels between life
and these films and pop culture when I
was in an English class here at UM my
teacher kind of invited me into this
world of movies and television as
literature her name was Susan Leary and
instead of reading books or papers or
essays we watched movies and television
shows freshman year we explored Good
Will Hunting or the idea of the present
and the future present in the now from
watching the movie Noah we also looked
at the juxtaposition and coexistence of
joy and sadness from inside out and then
freshman year we talked about the
parallel and the journey of a hero and a
sidekick a trope found and lost and
that’s what made me be excited to
explore a paper I wrote senior year
called the trauma of leadership and
trauma of leadership pretty dramatic
right but the prompt to find trauma as
something where there was a discrepancy
between what you saw and the views you
had and society’s views so for me there
was difference between how I viewed
leadership and how society viewed
leadership a leader is a term that’s
thrown around often maybe even sometimes
it loses a bit of its meaning because
it’s used so often and a lot of people
are praised for being a title of the
leader or holding the role of a leader
rather than specifically showing actions
and distribute just like displaying
actions and leading by example so rather
than the actions they prioritized the
noun and I viewed this noun prioritized
society viewed as a society exalted hero
and initially I felt like I had to fit
this mold I was supposed to subscribe to
the definition of leadership that other
people
defined for me but as I watched these
television shows and movies
I started relating more to the minor
characters and the people who were maybe
considered the sidekicks often
characters who are unforgotten or who
are forgotten but are crucial in
achieving goals and making waves
sidekicks are connectors let’s look at a
childhood staple if we’ve watched it as
a young kid or with our kids finding
Nemo right Nemo and Dory worked together
to travel across the ocean on this great
adventure to find Marlins son Nemo Nemo
and Dory don’t work together Marlin and
Dory work together
sorry team okay so they’re looking for a
Nemo right and Marlin is super stressed
and focused he’s this hero and he’s
trying to make it through the whole
ocean big feat right but the great thing
about dory is she’s his foil she’s able
to act approachable and be a connector
and allow Marlin to connect to other
fish and other examples as he navigates
his way across the ocean so for example
remember that scene right before they go
into the jellyfish area where they meet
a school of fish Marlin super terse and
aggressive and he’s distressed because
he’s trying to look for his son but Dory
is able to act approach ibly and
relatedly and she’s able to relate to
the fish and get information that she
needs so after a few jokes calling him
Fabio or whatever she’s able to get
directions to Sidney which is what they
need to complete their goal and I
related a lot to that with Dory and I
sharing quirkiness and the ability to
rate to other others but sometimes I
wasn’t really sure that my gregarious
and jovial personality was always going
to be proved beneficial in the workplace
or professional life so I was really
nervous that this wasn’t a trait that
should be valued but I learned from her
example and saw this as an important
trait and something that I could use to
be successful in my own life for
instance I used to be the butler Center
service and leadership student
coordinator and I would run these
presentations with like gifs gifs Dre
stone that galore talking specifically
about our organization and our mission
and all this stuff but sometimes I was
nervous that my jokes would be what make
me be shown as someone less are not
elevated or some
to be respected but hearing feedback
after they were like we felt so
passionate about what you were talking
about because you were passionate and
relatable so there actually is value and
valiance in being the relatable sidekick
sidekicks are also sacrificial and
selfless the hero has a job to do a city
that a save a villian to defeat he’s
focused and under a lot of pressure to
complete a specific goal and the
sidekick supports the hero and his
behind-the-scenes position and role
allows him the ability to take more
risks and work hard to achieve their
shared goal oftentimes the sidekick
sacrifices himself for the hero and the
greater good another example childhood
staple we’ve all seen Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer’s Stone no one okay
so we’ve all seen that movie right
remember at the end Harry Ron and
Hermione are tasked or they take it upon
themselves to go deep down and find and
protect the source of stone Sorcerer’s
Stone from other people they think it’s
Nate but it’s wrong
whatever so basically if they go down
and they’re going through all these
enchantments to try to pass all these
obstacles when they get to Wizards chest
which is just like chess but except
super vile and pretty violent where the
other team like the players destroy
physically destroy the pieces we
remember this part yeah would not want
to be playing that so they’re going
through this the only way to get across
this goal is to pass through and play
the game and win and at one point Ron
recognizes keema sacrificed himself so
Harry can continue on and be the hero he
recognizes his position in the shared
goal and accepts his role in this shared
goal to show that the hero can move on
this physical demonstration is a trope
that is often seen in movies and
television but in my personal life I
haven’t fortunately been it been you
know requested or forced to sacrifice
myself physically but sometimes I’ve
given up personal wants or goals that
I’ve had for the greater good of the
group for example I was appointed as a
position of treasurer math major so they
were like you can add that’s what I did
instead of something that I thought
would be a little more out of my comfort
zone or expand my goal interest but I
realized that that’s actually where is
most needed for the good of the entire
organization in my
the scenes role was allowed our
organization to flourish more than it
would if I was a different position
sidekicks are influential Parks and
Recreation is the show that took a
sidekick and portrayed her as important
maybe don’t consider Leslie Knope as a
sidekick but she is just based on the
hierarchical position of the roles at
the parks department Ron Swanson is the
deputy director and she’s the beauty
director like second-in-command but she
literally to quote Chris Traeger does
all of the work she is filled with
positivity and motivation and really
tries to help and motivate others if she
can make April Ludgate smile we know
she’s doing something right she’s a
powerhouse and Energizer Bunny
she loves work friends and waffles not
necessarily in that order and drives her
best to make everyone feel special and
everyone to feel important in this show
taking this story and successfully
telling the story of the sidekick
displaying her as an integral part in
accomplishing the goals of the parks
department allowed me to see
representation of my’s traits and myself
how we share positivity and being able
to develop others and seeing those as
important by looking at Leslie’s example
and the show as a whole I began to value
myself and come closer to the journey of
accepting myself for who I am I began to
appreciate my strengths I learned that
embracing my strengths was itself a form
of leadership maybe I’m not the
quintessential leader according to
society’s definition but I’m learning to
be the sidekick and embracing that role
that’s unequivocally me so thank you to
Dorie and Ron and Leslie Thank You
Phoebe from friends and Dwight from the
office Hurley from lost and George
O’Malley from Grey’s Thank You Susan
Leary Neil and Ramona from real life
thank you all so much
you
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