On the weekend I watched Indie Game: The Movie. It really struck a chord with me being a gamer and also and animation graduate.

While the film didn't go into the process of making a game in as much depth as I had hoped, it did show the heart ache and struggles of being a creative. From my experience of making a final year film in college, putting my soul into it and having it up on a screen for strangers to judge every aspect of my work and message, I can relate to the protagonists of Indie Game: The Movie, so some degree. The difference between us is that they risked everything they had and put themselves on a global stage with financial repercussions.

I think that this is a good behind the scenes look of what it takes for the every-man to be successful. They sacrificed their social lives, relationships, security, pride and put themselves out to succeed or fail in massive proportions on a public stage.

In underdog movies like Rocky, The Shawshank Redemption or Forest Gump, the opportunity to become a success in life seems to be granted, a necessity for survival or a result of a special character. In Rocky, Rocky is randomly chosen to fight Appolo Creed at the whim of of the champ's manager. In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne never belonged in prison nor would his character allow himself to stay there. He was destined to escape or for his personality to die in that prison. In the case of Forest Gump, he was just an exceptionally unusual character one could not call him an every-man. Despite his low level of intelligence, his high sense of morals and integrity led the way for his success.

These three characters, though fictional, I think are representative of how we view successful people. You either have to be lucky/chosen, be pushed into an all or nothing situation or just different, genius or otherwise.

Where is the real every-man successful guy (or gal)? They weren't chosen or pushed, they didn't have to risk everything and they're not (that) different from us. Regardless, they chose to put themselves into the hard up, stressed out stage of success or failure. Those are the real underdogs. The ones that fought the status quo of life. Their stories are less dramatic and if they quit, no one would notice and no one would die, but doesn't that make the idea of quitting 100 times easier an option and yet they still didn't take it?

Not too many everyday people know that Bill Gates made his first great leap with Microsoft by buying DOS from a programmer and using it to partner with IBM. He didn't invent the computer or anything to begin with. He was a middle man who built a business.

This is a rather long rant about noticing a common theme in a movie I watched on the weekend:

• success comes from pushing yourself when no one else is looking, 
• working though doubt
• and believing in yourself to finish what you start.