by When the first two Minions movies were released, I was just a child. I remember thinking those movies were amusing and fun. The characters were unique and silly. Gru’s lifestyle seemed fantastic and full of adventures. Now, I am an adult, and I recently watched the new movie Minions: The Rise of Gru. I loved the movie! This time I was able to understand the message of the movie. Which is about being persistent and working smart. How come a movie initially intended to entertain and teach values to children be impactful to an adult?
Gru never gave up on his dreams. He worked hard and strategically to achieve his goal and eventually he succeeded. As adults we often forget the importance of following our dreams and we become entrapped in finding income. Of course, a source income is key to survive, pay the bills, and pretty much, our basic needs. As adults we should focus on finding sources of income whilst keeping our minds into following our dreams. How often does society teach this to kids? And how often do kids take this advice to their adulthood? As an adult I can say, I was rarely taught to think critically to achieve my goals. I rather learned to blindly follow my ambitions and work nonstop. That didn’t work out because I didn’t set a plan in order to make that goal happen. I got to a point in my life in which I was far from doing the things I loved or at least enjoyed and making a living out of it. I stopped thinking about following my ambitions. After watching the movie, I could not stop thinking in ways to work strategically to develop a “system” or a series of steps to get closer to my objectives. As much as Gru did some things impulsively, like stealing the Zodiac Stone from the Vicious 6, he had a plan in mind. He wanted to be a villain, but ever since he was a kid, he had different plans schemed to do despicable things, which eventually made him a villain.
His first plan was to join the Vicious 6. That didn’t work out, he got kidnapped by Wild Knuckles, but soon enough they both adapted to the circumstances and built a mentor-mentee relationship. Which was a great plan for Gru to train as a villain and eventually go solo. Later, he developed other plans such as stealing the moon and downsizing it with his Shrink Ray. Watching this movie made me think I had to work strategically and plan my “system”. Just like Gru found his way to become a great villain.
I also learned from the movie how to value teamwork. I believe as humans we mainly learn to collaborate with other people and work together. We learn about the benefits from teamwork. Yet, how often do we learn to value teamwork and how? I think we commonly take teamwork for granted and only focus on our own effort and ignore the effort others put into collaborating with us. It seems easier to acknowledge one’s effort before other’s abilities to communicate and integrate their work with ours’. This is exactly what happened to Otto in the movie.
The other minions and Gru undermined Otto’s help and his will to work with them. Yes, he made a mistake by switching the Zodiac Stone for a rock with googly eyes, but that doesn’t take away the fact that he was eager to join them. Eager to help Gru grow into an unstoppable villain and reach his goals. Besides, he fixed his mistake and continued to energetically work with the other minions until he was asked to stop.
In a work environment it is always important to count with focused and serious colleagues, there are so many workers who can bring energy to the table too. Energy can be very valuable when working as a team, it can create a fun dynamic which can be great for remembering important information as well as capturing the attention.
I have probably made the same mistake before and didn’t realize it until it was too late. It is time to commit to respect and appreciate my colleague’s work from now on. As humans, we are social beings and we need help from others in many occasions to thrive, grow and succeed. Therefore, it is indispensable to recognize other’s contributions and to adapt to the way they work. Not everyone is going to work the same way as us and it is important to understand that every individual has its own way of organizing. While this might be difficult to overcome, it is not impossible. If the Minions could do it, why can’t we?
An amazing quality of Gru as a kid is how sneaky he was. Probably that is another thing I could benefit from. Of course, I don’t mean to steal anything, but sometimes achieving your goals in a sneaky way prevents haters and negative people from judging you. That way it is easier to grow without the fear of getting judged. I know this advice seems dumb, childish even, but think about it. How can anyone be judgmental towards our goals if they are not aware of them? Sometimes it is better to avoid sharing our ambitions with other people because whenever we express anything to someone it is an open invitation for that person to comment on it. Therefore, if it is hard for anyone to deal with criticism and if it affects our performance, that is why avoiding the criticism in the first place can be useful. Gru became a great villain when no one expected it, except for his minions. His mother did not believe in him, and she constantly disregarded his goals. She did not even like the minions, she wanted them out of her house, which might be reasonable. Nevertheless, she never truly saw Gru and understood deeply what his path in life would be like. She did not see through him or even inspired him to follow his passion. Overall, what I learned specifically from Gru’s mother is to wisely choose who to tell what you may or may not want in your life. Surround yourself with happy, secure, and supportive friends like the minions.
At last, the most important thing I learned from the movie is you can never be persistent enough if you don´t put in the effort to do so. This seems obvious but I’m sure it’s something I tend to overlook. For example, I constantly tell myself to be persistent, yet sometimes I get distracted or tired until my persistence gets lost. The key to keep trying things, is to push yourself to do so after you failed. Just like Gru did after getting rejected from the Vicious 6 or when he eagerly tracked down the Zodiac Stone. When growing professionally it is important to embrace failure and the numerous ways of overcoming it as part of perseverance.
Many children’s movies have a moral intended to influence kids into a rational thinking. Most of them want to teach valuable lessons to their young audience. However, it is possible for these movies to impact an older generation. Not only are they entertaining for adults but there are a lot of messages from these movies an adult can put into practice in his own life.
