The Big Question: And Then What?

As many movies do, ATL ends with a tidy wrap up of the main characters' lives. After a brief fade to black, Rashad returns with a soulful voice over similar to the one that opens the movie. During it, we witness the progression of the main characters' lives.

Esquire is grinning with undisguised joy while jogging at an unnamed Ivy League college. Brooklyn has found a menial job he has kept long enough to get promoted. Teddy has his own grills business. And Rashad has become a cartoonist, a possibility briefly foreshadowed earlier in the movie.

We don't need to ask, "And then what happened?"

But ATL's ending is not like real life.

As we go along, we don't get to find out at the end of 90 minutes whether our choices work out, whether our needs are met, whether our future is bright. We may see changes after a 5-week period, as I inferred from the movie's timing. 5 weeks is a little while or a long time, depending on your situation. A lot can happen during 5 weeks. A whole life can change in that amount of time. Something you do in 5 weeks may affect the rest of your life, or it may be the rest of your life.

Whatever your outlook, be it 5 weeks or a lifetime, every little bit of wisdom you can get helps you navigate through life. And you can get them from anywhere. Take Marcus the drug dealer. He is by no stretch of the imagination a good role model or pillar of the community. But he exhorts gems like, "Say no to drugs. Dare to be different." Sure, he advises this in jest. But you can apply it in any context you want. When was the last time you dared to be different?

When you're feeling a little too proud of yourself, remember Marcus’s other witticism: "Just 'cause your head big doesn't make you smart." A little reminder to check yourself.

ATL has other more upstanding sources of guidance, like Mr. Garnett. It is very often true, as Mr. Garnett tells Esquire, that getting ahead is not always about what you know. "Sometimes it's who you know."

Let's not forget Uncle George. On the morality spectrum, he fits in somewhere between Marcus and Mr. Garnett. And during one of Rashad's most difficult moments, Uncle George gives decent advice. "It's all just feelings," Uncle George tells his troubled nephew. "From females to friends to funerals... It's all about the feelings."

Nothing can help you predict the answer to, "And then what?" But every bit of good advice can help you imagine it and then live it. Maybe some of these ATL wisdoms will help you.

Five Weeks

In ATL, we meet the main characters at a crucial moment in their life: five weeks before the end of the school year, the beginning of summer vacation, and the Skate Wars at their neighborhood hangout. (Other crucial things are happening with side characters, but they are not our concern.) For Rashad, his two high-school-senior friends, and their older buddy Teddy, it is five weeks before adulthood descends abruptly upon them. They will no longer have childhood to shelter them.

Only for Esquire, bound and determined to go to college, will the academic year ever mean anything again. Brooklyn's string of part-time jobs have already given him a taste of his future in menial jobs. So has Teddy's little business selling grills(1) given him a glimpse into the future.

Rashad's story is altogether different. He doesn't have a plan. What he has is a lot of responsibilities.

Rashad has responsibility at school by day (the least of his worries) and cleaning offices and a Value Village store with his uncle by night. (Uncle George does little of the work and keeps most of the money.) Rashad has a responsibility to his younger brother Ant, for whose future Rashad is saving his meager wages. (Ant isn't waiting for some undefined future though. He wants to get his now.) Rashad has a pretty, mysterious new girlfriend, too. (She's really into Rashad, but she's keeping a very big secret from him.) Rashad has a responsibility to his buddies, too, to plan and practice and perfect a winning skating routine for the Skate Wars.

Needless to say, Rashad broods. It doesn't matter that he is a teenager and that there are many more serious things waiting for him in adulthood. He worries, and I think, "I've been there." You've been there, too, with too much to do, to plan, to worry about. Heck, in these days of economic recession and shrinking government budgets, you may be there right now.

Sometimes living in these modern times in this first-world country gives us much to worry and brood about. There are immediate issues, mid term worries, and long term planning. What's for lunch? How am I going to send the kids to college? Will I ever be able to retire? One way to deal with life's issues, questions, and decisions is to look five weeks ahead.

Tempted by fast food? Visualize a healthier you five weeks from now if you don't have that fatty, greasy meal. Planning for your children's future? Take five weeks to research your options and set one in motion. Can't figure out your retirement? Well, start thinking about it five weeks from now.

Simply put: in five weeks' time, you can change the course of your whole life.

(1) Grill (jewelry) In hip hop culture, a grill (also front or golds) is a type of jewelry worn over the teeth. Grills are made of metal and are generally removable. They began to be worn by hip hop artists in the early 1980s, but they became widely popular during the mid-2000s due to the rise of Dirty South rap. Though grills are fitted to the tooth impression of the wearer, whether they are safe for long-term wear is unknown. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

ATL: What It Is

The movie ATL is not unique. It's a buddy flick. It's a coming-of-age flick. It's a learning-right-from-wrong flick. It's a doing-right-and-making-mistakes film. It's a comedy, and it's a drama. You've seen this movie before.

ATL is a lot of other things, too. It's a stage for an impressive cast of black actors, including several rappers and musicians. It's an ode to a certain Atlanta neighborhood. It's a window into a certain way of life and its opposite lifestyle. It's "a new American story," as its tagline declares. And it's a source of little wisdoms apt for everyday use.

Let me be clear, I'm not talking about the big, obvious lessons of the film. Do Rashad and his friends, like teens everywhere, suffer angst? Duh. Is it difficult for Uncle George and for Ms. Gayle to parent headstrong teenagers? Heck yeah. Should Ant, eager to be grown and rich, turn to "grown man business"? Obviously not.

Tune in to my next five posts to find out how the little wisdoms of this big film stick with me and will stick with you. You'll find yourself wanting to live your passion, looking back at your younger self, dancing in the mirror, looking ahead in five-week chunks, and asking yourself the big question, "What's next?"

Until then, get ATL. Watch it. Pay close attention. And keep in mind that "just 'cause your head big doesn't make you smart."