James Gunn

James Gunn with a raccoon on the red carpet (Marvel (Marvel))

Creativity is the single trait that separates us humans from animals. Our ability to create entire fictional characters and stories that we can relate to is just astonishing. There is a reason why every religion and culture contains its own unique plot and narrative. The Odyssey is to the ancient Greeks as Star Wars is to modern America. This is why I want to create fictional worlds that feel as real as our world. It is the story that defines societies' morals and belief. I have chosen one man who has done just that, movie director James Gunn. He was able to take an already existing Marvel universe in movies and expand it even more to encompass something more than just Earth, but now the universe. His name is synonymous with good storytelling.

I am not so much as stating I would like to be a movie director, but more of a story-teller in general. James Gunn does not limit himself to the big screen. He has also written scripts for video games, books, internet comedies, and TV shows. I too would like to be a storyteller in a variety of media. For this essay, I researched one of Gunn's more well-known roles, that of a film director. I am not one to be too optimistic; I understand that life as a movie director is that filled with hardships trying to get even acknowledged. It approximately takes $30,000 in order to rent the necessary equipment to film a graduate film for college. The odds are stacked against most. Just look at any movie directors past ventures. I guarantee that most of them stumbled around Hollywood near broke asking for money to make a movie. The yearly pay for a movie director is erratic at best. Going from near to nothing pay to a hundred million pay. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the average pay for producers and directors is only $71,350 per year.

James Gunn proves that anyone with a passion for film can make it in Hollywood. Born in August 5, 1970. He went from writing the script for a low budget Scooby Doo movie, 2002, to a big-budget marvel blockbuster backed by Disney. Thanks in part to a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in 1995. James Gunn started his film career in the woods with his brother filming zombie flicks as a child. He later on graduated from Columbia University, then moved to Hollywood. Eventually he worked on the Scooby-doo (2002) movie. Latter in his career, he became the first screenwriter to have two films top the box office in consecutive weeks with Dawn of the Dead (2004) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004). His last film was Guardians of the Galaxy which made $774,176,600 worldwide and was a critical success. As of 2015, he is working on the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy released in summer 2014.

Whether he knows it or not, Gunn has contributed greatly to modern culture as a whole. The famous phrase, "I am Groot" is slowly becoming more and more popular and can even become the next "May the force be with you". America was pleasantly surprised when a talking tree and raccoon was able to touch their hearts. The movie, Guardians of the Galaxy changed the way, in my opinion, the exact extent of what a movie can do. It broke all the laws of relatability. Who would have thought that people would cry when they saw a tree die? Entertainment is essential to the welfare of a society, and Guardians of the Galaxy contributed to this. To quote Luke Buckmaster from Rotten Tomato, "Gunn doesn't so much reinvent the wheel as reshape it a little, giving the rest of the vehicle a fresh lick of paint in the process."

I have many ideas for stories that I wish to one day make a reality. These stories will all have the same vein of humor and realism that James Gunn has been able to achieve through his movies. Again, I will not be limiting to just directing movies. I hope to produce television shows and video games as well just like what James Gunn did. I will start off my career by taking video production and Art of Animation during High School. Although, college will be the most difficult out of all. Firstly, the student debt that comes with college is exponentially high. Most graduates will live with this debt for the rest of their lives according to The Institute for College Access & Success. Recently I watched a video by John Oliver which further confirms my suspicions that colleges are corrupt and charge too much. Nevertheless, a College Degree is all but essential for employment in this time. On top of the student debt, if I wanted to get a film degree, I would have to add another $50,000 to my debt for equipment for a graduate film. Despite all of these setbacks, I will prevail and get a college education.