Law of Attraction: The Secret (2006)

My landlord is a very nice old man. Seeing my struggling with job-seeking, he insists that I should watch the documentary The Secret (2006), and he is going to kick me out of the house if I don’t watch it, which he describes as a life-changing movie.

I agree with the idea behind the movie, not the implausible “law of attraction” but the habit of positive thinking. To certain extend, the movie reminds me of also the best-selling book The Alchemist, through a boy’s pursuit of personal legend, the book tells that when you really want to fulfill something, “the whole universe conspires to help you”. It sounds very much like the lines in this movie and the famous saying from Aladin: “You wish is my command”. Coincidently, in the Alchemist, the boy has two stones, Urim and Thummim, to help him overcome frustrates and feel good. In the documentary, one interviewee mentions that he puts a stone in his pocket, feeling grateful for something when he touches it. Still, I like the novel better. In the book, the boy experiences up and down, and tries every possible way to achieve the personal legend, not just imaging he found the treasure while sitting in the dessert. The movie could mislead by repeating "ask, believe and receive”. This idea contradicts to Chinese philosophy which I grow up with that no working, no fruits. Overall, the movie used a more straight-for-word and aggressive to tell positive thinking, no, to sell it.

This design of the documentary is quite business-oriented and it is indeed a marketing success. As Wikipedia noted, the major selling point of the movie is the secret of “how to enhance wealth”. Therefore, it has a great hook, a popular way of narration (citing historically famous people), and a clear message. It once again proves the power of world-of-mouth selling. In certain way, the documentary projects the ideal middle class life and indicates people can achieve it by thinking. (Is it the reason the documentary becomes so popular on those talk shows?)

For me, it is just too far to believe the “law of attraction”, especially being presented in this way. I will rather go with the simplest saying, “dream big, work hard”. BTW, I think Wikipedia really does a good job in The Secret (2006) article in English.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_%282006_film%29