America is a country that denies
death. Why do you think Americans refuse to incorporate the reality of
death into their lives? Think about death denial in terms of Beetlejuice.
How does the film, rather than accepting the reality of death, actually deny
it?
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| Betelgeuse Headstone |
Death is something that at one point or another,
generally speaking, most people have questions about such as “Is there an after
life?” and “How does it feel to die?” along with many others. Americans are
afraid to accept the reality of death into their lives simply because it is
unknown not only what happens after we die, but also because everyone is just
as vulnerable to die as the next person. Death has no clock on which it
follows. An example of this can be seen in the movie when the Maitlands die.
They had no idea that on their way home that their car was going to fall into
the river and they were going to drown to death. More than likely they both had
crossed that bridge hundreds upon hundreds of times with out any worries of
anything happening to them at all. The thought that something tragic may happen
probably never even crossed their minds.
It is well established into the American culture
that America is the invincible country, which no one can touch, and if you try
and mess with us, they will get back a hundred times what they tried to give
(usually in the form of invading said person’s country, but I don’t think I
need to get into the details of that.) Furthermore, by denying death we are
imposing the ideas that materialism hold causing people to over look the little
things in life. There is a fantastic poem by Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer
titled April and Silence that illustrates this very fact in however in a
not so obvious way. (I’ll post the poem at the end of this blog along with a
link to Tranströmer’s biography if you’re interested in reading more about him.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand the poem the first time through, It takes a
few reads to really grasp what he’s getting at here.) An aspect of the film
which denies the reality of death is The Handbook for the Recently Deceased.
Any person of sound mind would be willing to accept the fact that the dead
cannot read and therefore by having a book for the dead to read about being
dead shows how the denial of death is present not only in the movie, but in
society in general. When this film first came out I’m sure that not many people
understood or realized what the book symbolizes which is ultimately the denial
of death in American society.
April and Silence by Tomas
Tranströmer
Spring lies deserted.
The dark velvet ditch
creeps by my side
not reflecting anything.
All that shines
are yellow flowers.
I am carried in my shadow
like a violin
in its black case.
All I want to say
gleams out of reach
like the silver
in a pawnshop.
I think you made a very good point when you explained one of the reasons Americans fear death so much: it is all unknown what happens after. Many people in North America have many different beliefs, as opposed to other people (like who live in South America or Europe) that have a more unified belief rooted into their culture.
ReplyDeleteAnother good point you made was when you said death has no clock. It can happen any time, when no one expects, which is another aspect that scares people. It can also happen with the simplest or most routine activities; like you pointed out, the Maitlands probably crossed that bridge hundreds of times, not thinking it would ultimately lead to their demise. I think that’s the mindset for many; something becomes so engrained into a routine (such as crossing a bridge on the way home) and seems so trivial that we never stop and think that something could go wrong there. Americans have a very strong sense of being invincible.
Katie Carey