In all area of popular culture, death is a significant element. If I were to list all the movies where death is part of the plot, few films would be left out. However, there are
some films where death is a major part of the narrative, or where death related issues are
explored as part of the thematic element of the film. There is much breadth and diversity
of movie representations of death.
I have chosen some of these films that best represent
some important topics relevant to the themes in this course.
People have many different attitudes towards death. There is no single definition
of death that encompasses the varied meanings in the concept. The tendency to visualize
death as a person has been demonstrated through history. In Meet Joe Black, Brad Pitt is
Joe Black, death represented by a single man.
This film is definitely a fantasy, could
anyone really imagine the grim reaper appearing personally to help dying people settle
the little details of life that need to be handled before dying? Joe is not a particular
personification; he goes through different stages. At first, he is an emotionless deliverer
of news (The Automaton). Then he becomes an enticer (The Gay Deceiver). But the
twist is that he is enticed to live. Rather than take life away for sport, he delights in the
experiences that can be shared by those short on time but long on experience. He enters
into the lives of one family in a way that will change them forever.
Anthony Hopkins
plays a dying man of wealth that Joe Black wishes to understand and learn from. Joe
Black took the body of a man that his daughter had encountered before. He grows closer
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to her, and learns about the little things in life that being “death” does not allow him to
know. He learns of peanut butter, and board meetings.
In the end, he becomes a friend
(The Gentle Comforter). Joe Black takes the life of a father but not in a spiteful way; in
a timely way. A compassionate grim reaper is the essence of Joe Black. What if the
personification of death just wished to learn from life? That is a question explored by the
film in many ways.
Attitudes about death in film and in life also depend on the type of death that
occurs. Suicide is an often explored topic in cinema.
Suicide is one of the
most complex behaviors in a human. An excellent example of a realistic and emotional
suicide occurs in Dead Poet’s Society. Robert Sean Leonard plays Neil Perry, a
charismatic young man whose membership in the society leads him to discover his
passion for acting. But unfortunately, his domineering, unyielding father stands in the
way of Neil’s dreams. Mr. Perry wants his son to go to Harvard medical school and
forbids him to engage in extracurricular activities (such as acting) which might interfere
with his studies.
Neil feels hopeless, helpless and unable to cope with his unhappiness in
his life. These psychological risks predispose people to suicide, especially among
adolescents, such as Neil. Neil feels as though he has no other options so he shoots
himself in the head with his father’s gun. Neil’s conflict with his father is infuriating,
tragic, and in some ways, the heart and soul of the movie. We as viewers get a jarring
look at how someone can be drawn to end their own life.
AIDS is also a significant topic approached in films today.
The fatal disease has
had a profound impact on society. It has risen to one of the top ten causes of death in the
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USA. Philadelphia explores the fight of one AIDS sufferer, Tom Hanks, to achieve
justice under the law. It also addresses the terrible fear that many of us face when
confronted with a condition that is still often misunderstood and for which medicine has
yet to find an answer. The film is a realistic and poignant representation of some of the
trials and turmoils that a gay man faces dying of this disease. The suffering is not
exclusive to gay men and woman.
A touching and maybe even more explicit depiction of
the disease occurs in Gia, an HBO film about a woman who dies of AIDS, caused by
drugs. The very talented Angelina Jolie shines in this tragic story of a drug-addicted star
model. This movie, as a biography, manages to be very realistic in retelling the life of Gia
Carangid and in showing the unglamorous side of the fashion industry. Angelina’s
performance will mesmerize you as you witness how Gia becomes the model-of-the-
moment, only to end up as a doomed heroin addict. Dirty needles cause her to get AIDS.
This occurred early in the discovery and research of the disease.
So not only does she deal with the suffering of the sickness, she must deal with the fear and uncertainty of those around her.
But perhaps one of the most important and least realistically portrayed aspects of
death and dying is grief. But In The Bedroom tackles all of the issues of parental grief in
the most raw and intense story ever in film. This movie is a fascinating and powerful
character study of people in a small town and how conflict and tragedy affect them. It is a
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story that takes place in three clear-cut acts separated by two twists, both of which take
the viewer by surprise although they ” re both foreshadowed and somewhat expected. I
found the actions and emotions of the characters in this movie completely believable, and
you can’t help feeling the despair of the couple as they deal with their son’s murder.
Either way, the parents starts to drift apart due to their overpowering sense of grief and
inability to change things, and it’s not long before they ” re playing the blame game on who
is responsible for their son’s death. When they finally explode, it’s one of the most
powerful film moments in recent memory. The shorter third act shows how they learn to
cope and deal with their problems and try to begin the healing process from their son’s
unexpected and unnecessary death.
In conclusion, death is seen in many different ways in our society. Popular
media, such as film, portrays death in many different ways and shows many aspects of
death and dying.
Hopefully, this paper displays some of the more powerful examples of
death in the cinema.