One of my professors has a theory about American culture. Just like the Victorians had a secret fascination with sex and the dirty deeds that take place behind bedroom doors, Americans have a secret fascination (or fear) of death and its implications. I think she might have something; considering the state of standard television fare, Americans don't seem to have a problem with sex at all. But death? Well, that's not something that Tyra and Oprah talk about too often. Sure, they tell sad stories, but what do they have to say about those final moments? THe justification of death and dying has definitely been an interest of mine in the last year or so, and I think Benjamin Button dedicates his life to the dreaded topic.
David Fincher has admitted that the story revealed itself as a metaphor for death. Despite the fairy tale nature of the film, there is a high body count going on here. Born as an old man who ages backwards as he grows older, Benjamin is surrounded by people approaching death's door. His infancy is surrounded by death; losing the ones he loves, the ones that were around to raise him, becomes his nurture. Thus, Benjamin never allows death to anger him or sadden him. He watches it in a curious fascination, trying to figure out why people go through it, and what it might be like. I think he's drawn to the loneliness of death, because he does understand what it's like to be lonely. He knows what it's like when the world has given up any expectations of you. There is a overall feeling of detachment in the film that pushed a lot of people away from the movie. It's strange to see the blankness of Benjamin when he comes home and realizes his surrogate mother has died. No outburst, no tears, even, just a calmn awareness of what must be.
However, I think the movie does possess a sentimentality that is hard to come across in movies today. In fact, I think the movie is drenched with it. What a strange effect, to look at death in a romantic fashion, to view it not with dread or disgust, but with wonder and intrigue. The only person that runs from death is Daisy, and her character is the hardest to like. There have been comparisons to Forrest Gump, and there certainly are parallels. However, I think there is one fundamental difference between the two movies. Forrest Gump was about life and living and experiencing the world. Benjamin Button is about death and the acceptance of it. Forrest seems invincible from death, and weeps when he loses those he loves. Benjamin seems obsessed with death, and observes everyone's converging journey towards it. You can feel the passage of time in this movie, and it's very calm.
The final minutes of this movie are heartbreaking, and I'm not really sure why. I think it's sad that Benjamin can't experience death the way he has seen everyone else experience it. He wants to be paradoxically alive has he prepares for death, but his condition does not allow it. Youth becomes a metaphor for senility, and he is unable to take care of his vessel and get ready for death. The scene where Daisy reads The Old Kangaroo story to him is beautiful; their relationship inverses, and the symmetry is devastating. I believe Daisy when she sees Benjamin's final moments. He has seen too much death in his life to understand it even as a baby. This is one of the movies, I think, that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Anyone who says David Fincher sold out for this movie needs to go shove Fight Club up their ass. That movie didn't know how to live.
"You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the Fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go."
"Along the way you bump into people who make a dent in your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance."
That closing montage is what I hope heaven is like.
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