How Aging and Dying Are Depicted in Film Essay

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Aging in the Bucket List and Cocoon

Aging and its natural consequence -- death -- are subjects that raise diverse emotions among persons involved in these processes. Some embrace these pivotal moments in life, some attempt to avoid them. The two films The Bucket List and Cocoon give examples of how different people deal with the issue of aging and death. This paper will examine these films from the perspective of the characters' physical and mental health, their family and social issues, their economic status and social service usage, and cultural diversity issues.

The Bucket List is a 2007 comedy-drama about two strangers who meet in a hospital: Carter is an African-American blue-collar worker, a family man and an amateur historian but a mechanic by trade; Edward is a white, billionaire health care tycoon, who is estranged from his daughter. Forced to share a room in the hospital, the two befriend one another over the course of their treatments. Carter, realizing he only has a year to live, write a bucket list of things he would like to do before he dies. Edward finds the list and encourages him to do -- in fact, he goes so far as to insist that they do it and that he will sponsor it. Thus, the two set off on a journey to experience thrills (sky diving), sights, fine dining and friendship. At the same time, they come to learn something deeper about themselves (Carter learns that his boredom with his wife over the years was simply the result of his incapacity to see how to love her, a weakness he overcomes in the end; Edward realizes that his estrangement from his daughter is the result of his overeager tendency to control everything and in the end they find forgiveness for each other in the renewal of their relationship). The film is a touching tribute to the power of friendship and family and the realities that death can force a person to face. While the film does play up to a stereotypical convention (rich man helping poor man, poor man helping rich man), it does so with humor and heart.

Cocoon is a 1985 sci-fi comedy-drama about a group of aliens attempting to retrieve their friends (who live in cocoons in the sea) by soaking them in life-force in the pool of their rented condo in Florida. The condo's next door neighbors are a group of retirees, who stumble upon the secret of the aliens' life force in the pool and embrace the effect it has on them: they begin to feel younger and to be cured of their various ailments. They climb trees, go dancing, drive cars. Some of the residents, however, refuse to participate and as a result they suffer the natural consequences of aging -- namely, death. In the end, the aliens banish the residents from the pool because they have drained all the life force meant for the cocoons, which now will not be able to survive the journey home to their alien planet. The film delivers a message that suggests that life must be shared, not consumed selfishly so that others are boxed out of its precious vitality. The film ends on a note of forgiveness and hope as the aliens decide to offer life on their planet to the retirees by explaining that there they will live forever; essentially it is an offer of immortality. Most of the retirees agree to go; but Bernie, whose wife has died, chooses to stay on earth and face death the way his wife did.

The physical and mental health issues in The Bucket List are Carter's cancer, which is terminal, and Edward's, which by the end of the film is in remission. The mental health issues are diverse: Carter suffers from depression upon hearing that he has less than a year to live (and therefore will never have the opportunity to fulfill his bucket list), a despondency towards his wife (which he overcomes by the end of the film and feels grateful for her love and for his family). Edward's mental health is characterized by a need to control and his chronic inability to get along with anyone (he is 4-times divorced and estranged from his daughter -- and he inevitably fights with Carter). But by the end of the film, he too has resolved his issues and learned to forgive and be forgiven -- in other words, to humble himself. These problems for these two characters are due to aging as well as lifestyle choices (Carter feels he has missed out on opportunities to do the things he has always wanted to do; Edward's lifestyle has alienated him from those who have wanted to love him).

Family dynamics affect potential caregiving in the film in the sense that Carter's family is distrustful of Edward's mission to help him fulfill his bucket list. They view it as a dangerous and risky endeavor.

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But Edward sees that Carter needs to do something for himself for once so that he can come out of his depression. It is also an exercise for Edward in reaching out to another human being and by extension becoming human himself. Edward is not given any grief about his mission because he has no real family around him in the first place. Thus, it is a perfect arrangement as far as the two are concerned. The only social structures that impede their mission are the social norms that view such activities as skydiving, etc., as enjoyments reserved for the young: together, Carter and Edward break this age taboo and experience life.

The economic status of Carter and Edward is dissimilar: Carter is a blue-collar man while Edward is a white-collar billionaire. They are worlds apart, yet opposites attract. It is Edward's wealth, however, that enables Carter to fulfill his dreams and rise up out of his depression and without this gift, the aging process would likely be more painful and trying for Carter. However, this wealth is also a burden on Edward as it serves to create a wall of luxury between himself and others. Thus, the two achieve a happy medium, Carter by accepting the gift of wealth and Edward by being the giver. The services that the two elderly patients use in the film are the treatment facility of the cancer ward of the hospital -- but this service is not really what inspires the change in the quality of life (QOL) of the patients. Their QOL is increased by the friendship they forge and the lessons they learn about themselves as a result that allow them to be more fulfilled as persons on a deeper level. It is also rooted in their ability to escape their respective environments and explore the wider world and nature, which can offer refreshment and rejuvenation for elderly persons (Van Hoof et al., 2010). It is specifically this ability to get back in touch with nature and the world with a friend that boosts the QOL of Carter and Edward and that allows them to develop more meaningful relationships with their loved ones.

The cultural diversity issues that the film addresses are mainly superficial: Edward and Carter are of different races and classes but they bond because their universal appreciation for intellectual discussion, ideas and the world in general appeals to them. They are able to tap into the universal bonds of brotherhood that transcends race, ethnicity and culture. It is, moreover, the meaning and value of each other's culture that makes an impact on the other -- the richness of Edward's lifestyle impacts Carter, and the humility of Carter's lifestyle impacts Edward, and they are both able to grow as a result. In other words, they both benefit from their exposure to the other's culture and this is consistent with the view of Morgan and Kunkel (2011) that aging and deterioration is largely dependent upon one's lifestyle choices and culture (p. 2).

In Cocoon, the physical and mental health issues surrounding the process of aging are similar: the characters suffer from depression and anxiety about aging (they cannot do the things they could when they were younger, like drive a car, because of bad eyesight, or dance because of arthritis). They also have fears about death and unnatural means of intervention (Bernie and Rose do not take part in the life giving force of the pool because it is foreign and they do not trust it). The elderly are all Floridian retirees so their lifestyle choices are based on upper-middle class values, which have left them somewhat isolated from the rest of the world in their Floridian retirement home complex.

The family and social issues that the film addresses are represented in the dynamic between the elderly couples: the life-force of the pool acts as a fountain of youth that provides them vitality, vigor and a desire to be young again and live forever in Ben and his wife Mary, for example, but also in Arthur and Joe.….....

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