Ashton Kutcher, is that really you?

Ashton Kutcher, a very successful Hollywood actor gave this speech at the teen choice awards in 2013. What he said was completely opposite of what people who know him or have seen his movies or interviews expected him to say during this speech. Ashton talks about when he was a teenager growing up how he had to get a job, before being famous, before having any money. His first job was as an ice cream man, and he worked that job until he got a new job, and than worked that one until he got a new one. He states that he never quit a job without having another one lined up for him already.  Though he was working these jobs, he had a bigger vision, and bigger dreams, ones he knew he could achieve, but had to walk down this road for a while to attain those dreams.

The cultural parable of Reich that this speech goes into is that of the Triumphant Individual. Where the little guy gains success, happiness, wealth. He goes against the grain, defeats all the odds and finds that success that many never thought would be possible. Ashton talks about how he was just a normal teenager with ambitions to be a movie star, but he wasn't overly gifted, he didn't go to a famous acting school or have special privileges that he was born with that made him an instant superstar. He simply had a dream, worked hard to save enough money to move to California and chase that dream, in the process, he failed hundreds of times, but he never gave up, he believed in him self and knew that if he kept trying, he would succeed.

The process premise that Ashton Kutcher uses is the third premise, which is Attitudes. He talks about how his beliefs and his attitudes and opinions are what made it possible for him to achieve what he has. Not only does he say he had these things, but the major portion of the speech is him telling the audience that we need to have these attitudes, we need to believe in ourselves, that we can change the world and make a difference, if we have these beliefs and opinions of ourselves, there will be nothing we can't accomplish. I think he succeeds very much so with this premise of trying to persuade people to believe in themselves. During and after the speech it had me wondering and thinking about what I want to do in life, and how I am going to do it. The different goals and dreams that I have, etc. In this speech he is trying to get us to see in ourselves what he saw in himself, and to act on it, and to not give up on it. No matter what anyone says, if we can believe in ourselves, we have the attitude it requires to fall down a time or two and get back up, and are willing to have our own opinion, we will succeed.

This speech was great and very inspiring to me. People today look at Hollywood actors or celebrities and instantly dis-credit them from having any real advice or input in the real world, to me, this speech was what thousands of people who follow a guy like Ashton's every move needed to hear. The speech has been re-watched on Youtube almost three million times, and was broadcasts to millions of different homes, clearly I am not the only one who heard what he wanted me to say and surely not the only one who is acting upon it.