The importance of losing control
Cast Away is one of my all time favorite movies.
A man thinks he has life figured out. He has a fast paced job he's very good at, the perfect woman; he's ready to settle down, he's made plans. Time is on his side.
Everything changes in a matter of minutes, ironically enough.
At first it's ok. Things are difficult, but he uses the resources at hand to survive. He still believes he is in control. He thinks his situation is only temporary. But that belief is slowly stripped away until there is nothing left but the realization that he doesn't have control over anything. He can't even kill himself.
Still he has objects with him that help him hang onto sanity. The picture of his woman, a package with wings painted on it, and a volleyball he personifies.
After four years, an opportunity in the form of part of a port-a-potty suitable for a makeshift sail washes up on shore. He takes the opportunity. Still, things don't go as planned and he ends up completely void of everything he's tried to hold onto, completely helpless, and he lays down to die.
Then he is rescued.
The woman he thought was his perfect mate has had to move on with her life. She's become another man's wife and a mom. Life continued without him and he doesn't see where he fits. Nothing is what he thought it would be.
The only thing he has left is the package with wings. What he doesn't realize is, delivering the package is going to lead him to the future that is perfect for him. A future he would never have known any other way.
The whole time he was alone, he had the past, the present, and the future with him.
It just took stranding him on a desert island for a few years to get him to come around.
A man thinks he has life figured out. He has a fast paced job he's very good at, the perfect woman; he's ready to settle down, he's made plans. Time is on his side.
Everything changes in a matter of minutes, ironically enough.
At first it's ok. Things are difficult, but he uses the resources at hand to survive. He still believes he is in control. He thinks his situation is only temporary. But that belief is slowly stripped away until there is nothing left but the realization that he doesn't have control over anything. He can't even kill himself.
Still he has objects with him that help him hang onto sanity. The picture of his woman, a package with wings painted on it, and a volleyball he personifies.
After four years, an opportunity in the form of part of a port-a-potty suitable for a makeshift sail washes up on shore. He takes the opportunity. Still, things don't go as planned and he ends up completely void of everything he's tried to hold onto, completely helpless, and he lays down to die.
Then he is rescued.
The woman he thought was his perfect mate has had to move on with her life. She's become another man's wife and a mom. Life continued without him and he doesn't see where he fits. Nothing is what he thought it would be.
The only thing he has left is the package with wings. What he doesn't realize is, delivering the package is going to lead him to the future that is perfect for him. A future he would never have known any other way.
The whole time he was alone, he had the past, the present, and the future with him.
It just took stranding him on a desert island for a few years to get him to come around.
posted by Cas at 9:17 PM
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