Producer Mike Glad Discusses the Subtle and Not So Subtle Meanings Behind His Film “Wish You Were Here”
Mike Glad says he hopes his film will inspire more people to take the time to enjoy and absorb the surrounding beauty.
Today’s world moves at a dizzying pace. Even during a pandemic, people are on the go. Technology has made it possible for people to accomplish numerous tasks in very little time. According to filmmaker Mike Glad, the ability to take on several tasks at once is fantastic in terms of maximizing productivity, but somewhere along the line, people miss out on connecting with others. Mr. Glad says that is one of the messages he hopes people get out of his film, “Wish You Were Here”.
In a post that appears in the University of California’s the Bottom Line, the author described how the destruction of the quality of human interaction was being caused by technology and the fact that people are more inclined to use a computer or a mobile device verse interfacing with others or sitting down and writing actual script or text. “One of the reasons I wanted to create the movie was because I wanted people to see the beauty and the power of handwritten text. I used over 500 postcards in the movie, and each one featured had meaningful text describing what the writer saw, and their appreciation for the beauty that was around them.”, Mike Glad said.
According to Mr. Glad, simplicity is sometimes one thousand times better than an extravagance. “In some of the postcards I used in the movie, those who visited the smaller towns and boroughs of Guatemala described the journey, on simply made boats. They then went on to describe the simplicity of the uniforms worn by those who were steam handers and the brown clerks in the soiled white attire. The postcards gave people a vision of another world to people who would never otherwise be able to witness it for themselves. I think that something as simple as writing a postcard sparks the imagination, and helps to bring back just a little of the humanity we’ve lost in society.”, Mike Glad said.
Mr. Glad says that there is beauty all around, and that is what he hoped his film would allow people to see. “I placed a lot of focus on the indigenous people in Guatemala because I believe that people would see the beauty in the simplicity of the lives they lived back in the early 1900s and in certain regions, still today. There is something to be said about finding happiness in where you are and in what you have. During the early part of the 20th century, Guatemala was known as the Paris of Central America, and for good reason. It was home to some of the most intricate architecture in the region. I just hope that shedding a little light on a country and its people through snapshots in time will open people’s eyes to the reality that we are all the same, no matter where we are or what we have. Possessions mean nothing because what is in the heart is all that matters.”, Mike Glad said.