We live each day projecting a film of the world around us. Essentially, we are living projectors, but when you pause to consider the audience or try to understand who is actually watching this film within us, it becomes unsettling. There is likely some sort of collective film, as old Jung might have written about when formulating his concept of the collective unconscious.

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A good illustration of this approach to life, in my opinion, is the pandemic-era meme showing two contrasting slides: one depicting a person lounging in home attire, and the other showing a heroic figure against a backdrop of ruins, representing the idealized version of events. For many, the latter became a reality in 2022. That year, the Russian Federation was designated a terrorist state.

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A friend of mine, whom I had previously considered a reasonable, although eccentric, person, volunteered to fight on the front lines of the Russian invasion. In a brief conversation about how such a thing became possible, he mentioned that he gladly exchanged the ideal Western world for the 'glorious future Russia.' I can only speculate about the films of Russia that people were watching in the 17th, 41st, and 90s years. However, the film I am witnessing today, alongside my contemporaries, becomes increasingly vulgar and grotesque with each passing day.

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