Introduction
"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." (Forrest Gump)
This quotation from the movie Forrest Gump pretty much sums up our lives. Our life is full of uncertainty and we will never know what will happen in the future. This uncertainty makes our life amusing as we prepare ourselves to anticipate the unknown future. Likewise, death is unpredictable but inevitable. We may try to prepare against it by trying to stay safe and healthy but no matter what it successfully grips us with its claws. The movie 50/50 depicts a character that is very young and risk averse but suffers from a life threatening illness. After his diagnosis, he is in denial and he feels he has no support.
Synopsis
50/50 is a comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Levine and inspired by a true story of writer Will Reiser. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, this movie is about love, friendship, survival and finding humor in unlikely places. Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a writer for a public radio who is also a risk-averse man. He has an attractive upcoming artist girlfriend, Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard) and a knuckleheaded friend Kyle (Seth Rogen). His life is turned upside down when he finds out that his nagging back pain is a rare form of cancer of spine. After Googling about the cancer, he finds out that he has a 50/50 chance of survival. He is sent to a young and inexperienced therapist, Katherine McKay (Anna Kendrick), and although their sessions begin with a rocky start, he slowly begins to open up to her about his disease and how it is affecting him. Also, after finding his illness, he mends relationship with his mother Diane (Anjelica Huston) who is also taking care of his father with Alzheimer’s. ...
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...ect matter like cancer and at the same time provides witty and natural humor.
Works Cited
50/50. Dir. Jonathan Levine. Perf. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. Summit Entertainment, 2011. Film.
DeSpelder, Lynne Ann, and Albert Lee. Strickland. The Last Dance: Encountering Death and Dying. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2009. Print.
Forrest Gump. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. By Eric Roth. Perf. Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise. Paramount Pictures, 1994. DVD.
Franklin, Anna. "Questions About Young Adult Cancer That ’50/50′ Doesn’t Answer." Interview by Marc Silver. National Geographic. 30 Sept. 2011. Web. .
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Pulp Fiction. Dir. Tarantino Quentin. Perf. John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth
“Remember those posters that said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”? Well, that’s true of everyday but one – the day you die.” – Lester Burnham
Forrest Gump. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. Screenplay by Eric Roth. Perf. Tom Hanks and Mykelti Williamson. Paramount, 1994. Film.
Nuland, Sherwin. How we die: Reflections on life's final chapter. New Yord: Vintage Books, 1993. 140-63. Print.
Braveheart. Dir. Mel Gibson. Prod. Mel Gibson. By Randall Wallace. Perf. Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, and Patrick McGoohan. Paramount Pictures, 1995.
It talks about those who live with terminal cancer and how they learn to deal with it. There is several emotions for all of those who experience it, and there are some similar ones everyone has according to this article. It sounds like it could be accurate, but there is always room for a little bit of doubt. It is done done on .com site, but shares some similarities to other articles and was found google scholar.
Jurassic Park. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Per. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenbourough, Ariana Richards and Joesph Mazzello. Universal Pictures. 1993. Film.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape Dir. Lasse Hallström. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp. Paramount Pictures, 1993. DVD.
African American reactions to death and loss can be traced to their African roots, their centuries of slavery, their commitment to Christianity, and their post-slavery treatment in American society. Among those to explore death and dying in twentieth-century African America is author Karla FC Holloway. In her book Passed On: African American Mourning Stories: a Memorial Collection, Holloway thoroughly investigated the myths, rituals, economics, and politics of African American mourning and burial practices, and found that ways of dying are just as much a part of black history as ways of living.
Isn’t it overwhelming to consider the fact that approximately one in eight deaths in the world are due to cancer? To make this more comprehensible, the number of deaths caused by cancer is greater than caused by AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. Along with the idea that this disease does not have a definite cure is a mind-staggering concept to grasp. If not caught in time, cancer means guaranteed death. These types of thoughts were floating around my head when my mother had told me that my father had mouth cancer.
Gladiator. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. Dreamworks L.L.C and Universal Studios, 2000. DVD.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Dir. Michel Gondry. Perf. Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet. Focus Features, 2004. DVD.
"Life is like a box of chocolates," says Forrest Gump (as played by Tom Hanks) to anyone who will listen."You never know what you're going to get."
Travers, Peter. "Forrest Gump." Rolling Stone. 06 Jul 1994: n. page. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.