The message(s)
I'm not sure if I liked/agree with some of the messages in the film. First, I have seen a documentary detailing the slow hospital bed deaths of three people, and this is only slightly less horrible than the real thing.
That said, I feel the behaviour of the "doctors" to be a bit ridiculous. Showing that doctors are interested in prestige above all else, when in reality these are people that devote their lives to helping people is absurd. Cancer is not the only disease in the world. There are endless researchers to which we should be grateful for reducing or eliminating things like tuberculosis, leprosy, small pox, etc... Even cancer has a smaller impact than it would otherwise because of the hard work of so many people.
Similarly, the message that a life spent obtaining knowledge is somehow pointless is just as ridiculous. Beyond religious solutions, what is the point of our existence? Is it happiness? If that were the case, we should all be lobotomized, or hand out cocaine like candy. It's a good thing that people are happy, but it is not the end goal of humanity. In fact, I would say that ending suffering is a more important goal than propagating happiness. The only way to end suffering is through our search for knowledge, and is the only real goal worth pursuing. Yeah, Vivian's intellect could have been put to better use than teaching english (maybe like health research?), but she can still take pride in knowing she contributed to the future by teaching students. In fact if Jason goes on to cure cancer, or at least contributes progress to that goal that eventually is reached, then Vivian herself has indirectly contributed to it as well. What does it matter how many people are around us and love us when we die, if we have contributed nothing to the future? To anyone who would say something like "you are going to die lonely and miserable", do you not realize not wanting that is a selfish desire? No matter how miserable and lonely your death, I can guarantee there is someone else who has died an even more miserable and lonely one.
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astrolupine: even with makeup, you can't make an actor's face look like a chair