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Interesting movie but the parents lack of thinking annoyed me [SPOILERS]

posted 8 years ago by Dejay
3 replies | jump to latest

SPOILERS!!!

Maybe I'm watching too many movies but I tend to get annoyed if the protagonists are absolutely clueless and act in a predictably stupid way. The parents didn't stop to think for one second! Here are the things I almost immediately thought about of trying and what the movie unfortunately didn't explore:

1. Sleep with him in the same room / bed and wake him if it gets spooky
2. Give him a drug that suppresses dreams (wouldn't have worked of course)
3. Tell him that the cankerman has a weakness: He will flee as soon as you sing the Hickory Dickory song!
4. Tell him that it's just his imagination and that he can control it
5. Train him in techniques for lucid dreaming
6. Give him a wristband that buzzes to wake him and can be remote controlled
7. Measure the area of effect of his dreams - move to an isolated cabin with lots of uninhabited space around it.

They should have immediately talk with Cody about what was happening when they first realized it, and should have make a plan for how to deal with it. If they had talked with him they would have quickly discovered about his boogeyman and could have easily avoided the problems. They were very weak and stupid people, making them negligent or reckless parents. Honestly, no wonder their first son died.

The movie even mentioned lucid dreaming, so the most sensible thing would have been to read books about it and immediately start to train him in that. There are techniques on how to train yourself to remember dreams (dream journal) and how to achieve lucid state while dreaming (e.g. if you see the cankerman you'll know you are dreaming, and you can influence your dream).

I'd be curious why they didn't try a drug that lets you sleep and rest but actively suppresses dreams. If such a drug exists. And if that is healthy or not. But it sure might have been a stop gap solution to the problem.

At least they could have slept in the same room / bed as the kid as a safety measure, so they can wake him up when things get spooky. It wasn't even needed for the mother to give the kid sleeping pills, all she had to do is take away his coffee and tell him to go to sleep - and tell him she'll wake him if something bad happens.

And if they had stopped to just think about it for a moment, they could have started to learn more about it. Like measure the area of effect of his dreams. And move to an isolated cabin with lots of uninhabited space around it, and maybe sleep in a separate cabin like a mile away from where the kid is sleeping - with walkie talkies to make sure he's ok. At least then the kid can sleep without worry of hurting someone and grow up until he can control it.

I would have loved to see how that story plays out!

PS: And yeah I realize the writer didn't want the movie to be about that - but it still strikes me as annoying writing.

[–] westlyp 8 years ago

SPOILER ALERT!

The parents didn't really know The Canker Man existed.

Cody mentioned it once to the Mother, but it was very early (the very first night Cody lived with them if I'm not mistaken), and the mother told him that he didn't have anything to worry about (she didn't know Cody had an ability). She did what other parents would do, make the child feel comfortable. The father didn't know anything about The Canker Man.

By the time she knew he had the ability, I guess the mother was too busy using Cody to see Sean that she forgot about The Canker Man, especially in the first couple of dreams, Cody only dreamed of harmless things, like butterflies. The father on the other side still didn't know anything about the monster.

The first time the father heard of The Canker Man was when the police came to their house asking about the missing kid. The police mentioned it, but the father didn't think it had anything to do with Cody. Cody also said that he saw the bully ran away. When the father tried to mention about The Canker Man to the mother later that night, Cody was very nervous so he tried to change the topic a few times. Then he asked about how Sean died and the mood/topic completely changed.

So I think by the time the parents realized of The Canker Man, it was a little too late. 😁

[–] Dejay 8 years ago

Well it's a bit nit picking on my side. But it's really unrealistic that you wouldn't talk with your kid about what is going on. They just shrug and wait for the next night? So it's not really explained by "they didn't know". For some reason, they weren't interested to learn more about the biggest miracle ever. That's not very plausible.

I enjoyed the movie but as soon as it was clear to the viewer what was going on, my mind went to all the things I would do to understand and make sure the kid and my wife is safe. It's not exactly a big leap from realizing if his dreams come true, so do his nightmares. I had nightmares as a kid.

Of course you could just imagine that they did try but Cody didn't want to talk and got scared / angry and they didn't want to push it. Then the kid would have been less sympathetic.

I would have preferred them learning enough to be careful and take some precautions, then the mother still wants to see her son again and/or something goes wrong.

PS: Added some spoiler tags :)

[–] westlyp 8 years ago

I get what you're saying.

There's a scene in the script (I think it's not included in the final draft/movie again?) that turned out to be very sweet and funny between the Jessie and Mark where they called Natalie to find out about Cody's ability.

There's also a very short scene where Mark and Jessie trying to talk about Cody's ability, but in the end they just accepted it. But I know it's not enough. 😁

PS: When I wrote "SPOILER ALERT!", I didn't mean to yell at you to add a spoiler tag, I meant it for my reply. But it's nice that you added it, just as a precaution. 😁

PS 2: If you want to read the script that I have, I can send it to you. You can see the differences and tell me what you think about their decisions to delete some of the scenes. 😊