Suits Made You Want to Be a Lawyer Until You Read the Bare Act
I’m convinced that half the reason people chose their careers is because of TV shows — not aptitude tests, not guidance counselors, but prime-time dramas with suspiciously attractive professionals in suspiciously dramatic workplaces.
Case in point: You watched Suits at 16, saw Harvey Specter drinking scotch in a corner office, wearing $10,000 suits and making sassy objections in court...and thought, "Yes."
And then, somewhere between the constitutional law paper and the realisation that Indian lawyers don’t yell "Objection!" in a dramatic courtroom while storming out, dreams were adjusted.
Grey’s Anatomy did the same damage. Everyone wanted to be Meredith Grey, saving lives by day and having romantic crises by night. But actual med school is less "elevator kisses" and more "8 hours of anatomy dissection followed by a nap on your textbook."
And journalism? Enter How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. You saw Andie Anderson writing breezy columns in stylish outfits, going undercover for a dating experiment in the name of journalistic integrity. As a media student, I thought, “Damn, that’s the dream.” Now I’m pitching articles to an editor who ghosted me three weeks ago.
Here’s the thing. These shows and movies sold us a dream version of our jobs — shiny, fast-paced, and full of witty banter. But even if the reality is a little dustier and a lot more unpaid, maybe the fantasy is what got us started.
Because maybe chasing a version of Harvey, Meredith, or Andie isn’t the goal. Maybe it’s just the nudge. And after that? We write our own scripts.
