The phenomenon of death and the process of dying is rather a controversial topic for discussion as different people have different attitudes towards it. Some people, especially religious ones, treat the notion of death very positively because they consider death to be the transition stage to the better world where people who committed no sins during their life will live happily together with the God. Other people consider death to be the end of the physical life which is not followed by anything, so they are afraid only of having little time to do what they planned on Earth. But both groups of people can be united by one point – they do not want to die the agonizing death and do not want to make their relatives and beloved people suffer because of their early and unfair death.
Hollywood filmmakers have always been known for ability to use the most dramatic subjects for their films and the issue of dying is not an exception. Many masterpieces of movie art are dedicated to the problem of dying and to the emotions this problem provokes. One of the brightest examples of the movies of this kind is the film by Joel Schumacher “Dying Young” screened in 1991. The cast of the film includes such brilliant Hollywood actors as Julia Roberts, Campbell Scott, Vincent D’Onofrio and many others who managed greatly to convey the emotional state of people faced by the problem of being destined to die. So, this essay will be dedicated to the analysis of the depiction of death in the works of art, and in the movie “Dying Young” in particular. But it will not be a standard movie review, although it will have some features of the latter, its base will be the concept of dying but not the plot of the film.
The main plot of the movie under analysis is the love story of two people one whom, Victor Geddes, is suffering from leukemia and is slowly dying despite expensive treatment and the attempts of his relatives to save him. The love to his hired nurse, Hillary O’Neil, is the only thing that seems to reanimate the young man. The whole story is constructed on the basis of these events but we are interested particularly in the emotions of the characters connected with the coming death of one of them.
Firstly, Hillary does not know about Victor’s illness and he treats her coldly, like another representative of the lower social class. But then their relations become warmer and warmer and finally develop into romantic love. Only here Hillary finds out that Victor is destined to die. The consciousness of death which is always somewhere around changes the world for both lovers. Hillary dos not want Victor to die and he assures her that he will not but under one condition – that she will be with him in the most difficult moments. Here we can see how closeness of death makes the relationships between to people closer. They start spending all time together and almost forget about Victor’s disease, he feels healthy and nothing reminds them of their fears. But another fit of the illness turns everything upside down and both characters realize that they can not escape from death – the only thing that is guaranteed for every person on Earth regardless of their race or social status.
The concept of death is skillfully depicted in the movie we have tried to analyze from the point of view of this problem. We can clearly see that the characters of “Dying Young” realize the inevitability of death but try to do everything not to give up up to the last minute, and they see love as the best means of reaching their aim, they consider only love to be the thing that can overcome death.
References
Field, S. (Producer), Schumacher, J. (Director). (1991). Dying Young [Motion picture]. United States: 20th Century Fox.
Gleiberman, O. (1991). No more tears. Web.