What can you share with the class that addresses the themes of our course? From murder ballads to requiems to pop and rap, music helps us work through our loss and grief. Films and books can help to -- can serve as catharsis and help us come to terms with human nature, dying, and death.
A requiem is a mass for the dead. There are many famous choral & instrumental requiems: here is one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPlhKP0nZII
The novel Tuesdays with Morrie, written and narrated by Mitch Album, deals directly with death. In the beginning if the novel Morrie is diagnosed with ALS and the reader follows his journey until he reaches his death bed. Morrie approaches this situation in what may be the best possible way. He lives his life to its fullest potential and attempts to leave the world with no regrets. He experiences good times as well as intense suffering, but he remains strong and fights through until the end. The novel is an easy read and possess several themes that we have discussed in class.
ReplyDeleteOne song that I feel is about suicide, even though others find a variety of meaning, is "Superman" by Five for Fighting. I think it can be about more than suicide but that is a connection I see. I think that the lines, "You can all sleep sound tonight, I'm not crazy, or anything..." Are his attempt to assure his loved ones that while the pressure he feels and the thoughts he have may lead him to the idea suicide, he realizes that it would be crazy to commit that act and he won't give in."It may sound absurd, but don’t be naive, even Heroes have the right to bleed..." Even the leaders, the " strong" people have the right to get down sometimes. We are all human and it happens. He is under a lot of pressure to be someones hero and claims, "It's not easy to be me". Even with the pressure he feels and the thoughts he has, he will not justify committing suicide.
ReplyDeleteI feel a good song that exemplifies the feeling of a person going through depression/contemplating suicide is Needle in the hay by Elliot smith a young artist who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia who actually eventually committed such an act. in the song he states. " Now on the bus Nearly touching this dirty retreat Falling out 6th and powell a dead sweat in my teeth Gonna walk, walk, walk Four more blocks, plus the one in my brain Down, downstairs To the man, he's gonna make it all OK
ReplyDeleteI can't be myself I can't be myself, and I don't wanna talk I'm taking the cure So I can be quiet wherever I want So leave me alone You ought to be proud that I'm getting good marks." in his words I feel like he is almost stating that when he is himself, when he is comfortable, everyone worries, everyone obsesses over his actions or thoughts, because he is not being productive, but when he is productive, when he is taking his medicine so as not to be himself, when he is normal and okay, no one cares because to them he's okay even though he's not. this is what it likes to be depressed, you are so removed and unattached from things, and everyone wants to help you fix the attachments, but that's the opposite of what you need. you can't fix what isn't their anymore.
you need help to make new attachments.
The movie The Bucket list is about two terminally ill cancer patients, Edward and Carter. Edward is a corporate billionaire and Carter is a blue-collar mechanic. They both has stuff on their bucket list that they have not accomplished by now. S they break out of the hospital so that they can finish it off.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great movie and really makes you think if your living the life the way you want to live. Are you living to be happy? These kind of movies/stories have changed the way i live. I do things for "now" because you might never get that chance again. I try to take advantage of every opportunity. When i die, I wanna know that i lived the life i wanted to live
DeleteAlso, there is a 95 year old man that I have recently met and became friends with and he always tells me stories of his life. The thing that amazed me (at first) was the way he talked about death. He joked about waking up in the morning and said when he opens his eyes he gets mad that he didnt pass away in his sleep. When i ask him why he feels that way, he says the he had so much fun in his life and he has nothing left to do. He had no regrets, he loved the life he has lived and was ready to move on from this world.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34xoYwLNpvw
ReplyDeleteThis video is not so much about death but more about human nature. It is amazing, it parallels the dualist ideas that plato and DeCarte introduced. This little girl is traped in her own body. Its a unbelievable break through for both autism and for dualism. It demonstrated that the body and mind are not always in unison with one another.
FYI: its a tear jerker
One movie that always resonates with me when thinking about death is the movie Brian's Song. This is a movie based on the true story of professional football players Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers. The two are competitors that eventually overcome their differences and become friends. Later on Piccolo is diagnosed with cancer and struggles to fight it as Gale helplessly watches the health of his friend deteriorate.
ReplyDeleteWhen i think of a movie associated with death i immediately think of Wit. We watched this movie in high school and it is literally about how a woman that finds out that she has stage four ovarian cancer deals with the fact that she is dying. The movie also has literary aspects to it and the woman quotes John Donne throughout the novel who wrote a sonnet on death that begins "Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so." we had to memorize it in high school but thats all i can remember.
ReplyDeleteThe film "The boy in the striped pajamas" is a good film that shows the inherent good in everyone at a young age. It is about the child, named Bruno, of a Nazi who runs concentration camp and moves close to it in order to manage it. Young Bruno lives a wealthy lifestyle in prewar Germany along with his mother, elder sister, and SS Commandant father. The family relocates to the countryside where his father is assigned to take command a prison camp. A few days later, Bruno befriends another youth, strangely dressed in striped pajamas, named Shmuel who lives behind an electrified fence. Bruno will soon find out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring yard is actually a prison camp for Jews awaiting extermination.
ReplyDeleteThe movie that comes to mind for me "A Walk to Remember." Yes, it is a romance, but it also deals with death. It's about a guy who makes fun of this girl and then falls in love with her. Later, he finds out that she has cancer. He use to be the popular kid until he started hanging out with her. One thing that happened a lot was bullying between the girl and the guy's ex friends. I am not sure that bullying happens so much today as it did awhile ago, but you should never bully anyone because you don't know what that person is going through. Maybe they have cancer like the girl in the film. I think it's important to recognize that we should all treat each equally because in the blink of an eye, that person you were being cruel to, might be gone the next day. Then you might live with regrets for the rest of your life and I don't think anyone wants to be lying on their death bed with regrets.
ReplyDelete