Movies reflect human needs: Quest

Blogging from A to Z Challenge

Theme: Movies reflect human needs...

Quest

Image from storyblocks.com

Okay, I am stretching this topic a little. Quest is not found on the lists of universal human needs, but goals and hobbies are, and a quest can fit with those.

What do I mean by quest? Activities involving seek and find, or seek and do.

I never considered how important having a quest could be until I stumbled across the following in an article (found here) about natural ways to increase dopamine (to boost my mood). 

Enjoy the Quest 

Our ancestors were on a constant quest to survive.

They got a dopamine surge every time they spotted a new patch of berries or a better fishing hole because this meant they'd live to seek another day.

While you can still pick berries and fish, there are endless other healthy ways you can enjoy the quest in modern life.

You can forage for new music to download, specialty ingredients to cook with, a travel package bargain, a hard-to-find collector's item, or that perfect gift for a loved one.

You can engage in specifically quest-oriented hobbies like geocaching, bird watching, rockhounding, amateur archaeology, and collecting of all kinds.

The act of seeking and finding activates your reward circuits -- with no regrets later.

Ever since learning how a quest can help increase dopamine, I've tried to incorporate them into my goals and hobbies. This is one way I include "hide-and-go-seek" elements mentioned in yesterday's post about Play!

I've been on a quest to find images to represent my daily topics for this A to Z Challenge, and on a quest to watch movies in preparation for these posts (any excuse to watch movies, right?). 

Here are some quest-oriented films:

The Big Year (2011)

• About a bird-spotting competition. Think bird-watching on steroids. (Based on a true story, and stars Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Steve Martin.)

Everything Is Illuminated (2005)

• A young man (Elijah Woods) collects odd items connected to his family, and goes on a quest to find a woman who saved his grandfather during WWII.

Julie & Julia (2009)

• Julia Powell (Amy Adams) challenges herself to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's (Meryl Streep) first cookbook. (Based on a true story.)

Kon-Tiki (2012)

• Based on the true story of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl who set out on a quest to prove the possibility that South Americans settled Polynesia prior to Columbian times. To do this requires using the same methods that would have been used in that time period... sailing on a balsa-wood raft across 4,300 miles of the Pacific Ocean.

One Week (2008)

• A young man (portrayed by Joshua Jackson) travels across Canada in search of the meaning of his life as well as a quest to find "grumps" from a childhood story. (This would have fit with meaning and purpose, too!)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

• Walter (Ben Stiller) goes on a quest to find a missing photo negative.

Spare Parts (2015)

• There's a lot of seek-and-find as the robotics club searches for parts they can use for their underwater robot, especially with an extremely meager budget. (Based on a true story.)

Do you have any quest type hobbies? 

(Note: The movies listed might not be completely family-friendly. See my "Movie Content" information on the blog's sidebar.)