Did any see "The Road" - Page 3

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by ThisCat

Well if the world was as ugly as the in the movie and especially the book, I think it would be a very rational choice. I'm not sure you can really compare suicide and child murder due to depression in the world such as it is today to someone making the choice to end her life and her kid's life in post nuclear war world filled with roaming bands of cannibals lurking behind every corner looking to capture, torture, and eat anyone that comes across their path with the chance they might keep a woman alive for awhile longer so they could have their way with her with added benefit of getting to do what someone put in a spoiler earlier in this thread with any offspring that might result. And even if someone were lucky enough to avoid the cannibals, they still had to live on a scorched lifeless planet full of lightening, fires, earthquakes and no food except for the odd canned good still remaining. IMO, it was pretty much the bowels of hell.

To the clinically depressed, this world can seem like the bowels of hell. Obviously, it's nothing like what you're describing, but it does seem that way to some people.

Anyway, I just have a bit of a hair trigger response to comments like that, because I did once think that killing myself was the best gift I could give ds1 (because he obviously suffered from having me for mom, yk?)...and there were times I felt the world was so bleak that it would be a favour to him to let him "free", too. I never seriously considered it, even for a second, and the thought entering my head at all is what finally drove me to get help, even though that meant seeing a damned doctor...but it did cross my mind. The Road isn't real...but depression related suicide and child murder is.

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by Cascadian

DH, otoh, HATED it - said it was a manifestation of his deepest, darkest nightmare. I think he got PTSD from it

I agree with your dh. When people discuss surviving the apocolypse I always say "I plan on going out in the first wave" Of course, I am a mom and I would do whatever I had to for my kids but...wow. I just cannot imagine going through each day.

It was just so grim, horrible and hopeless. I couldn't stop watching and it just kept getting worse.

[BugMacGee]

I just saw this. I didn't think I'd ever feel happy again!

[morganlefay]

I think the film was an adequate adaptation of the book, but to me the book offered a much richer experience. I loved loved loved the book. Although i sobbed for about three hours after reading it, I didn't exactly find it depressing, but hopeful. When DH and I read it for the first time several years ago, he said it made him decide he was ready to be a Dad. I think the ultimate message of the book/film is that amid all this darkness, there was still light--the intense love between a father and son. I sympathize with the mother (she has a much fuller presence in the film than the book) but really the father made the tougher decision to allow his son to live. I think a lot of people forget that there have been many times when civilization (on a large or small scale) has been at the brink of collapse. think of Europe in the Middle Ages during the Black Death, or even the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. People do horrible things to each other when they are in direct competition for the means of basic survival. however, as the ending of the book/movie shows, community can still emerge from the ashes--it's up to "the good guys" to "carry the fire" of humanity and basic love for our fellow humans.

Also, I think the film--and many other "post-apocalyptic" works tap into an uncomfortable fear/knowledge that humans have the capacity to destroy their own world. We don't know in The Road what exactly has caused the destruction, but we know that a man-made or natural disaster could very easily plunge things into chaos. In fact, in the film, much of the footage of the landcape is from real places that have been destroyed or blighted in some way--there is footage of post-Katrina New Orleans, ruined sections of Pittsburgh and strip-mined portions of rural PA, and there's even a shot of the plume of smoke that billowed from the Twin Towers on 9/11. I live on the Gulf Coast and the threat of destruction of an entire body of water--and the livelihoods that depend on it--is very real to me, as the waves bring in black sludge that is like a reminder of our society's greed and overconsumption. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the film/book gives us an extreme version of very real things that are already happening. The author Flannery O'Connor was always asked why her stories were so grotesque and violent, and she basically said that she was dealing with an audience that was complacent and numbed by pop culture, so you have to shock your audience in order to get them to pay any attention-"for the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures." I think this is what McCarthy has done.

Anyway, the book (followed by the film) gained a new significance for me after I became a parent. I would do anything to protect my child, and I think the collapse of society is a very real possibility. even without a total collapse, I fear for her--how will i be able to protect and guide her in a culture that is, in its civilized, technologically-savvy way, essentially violent and savage? How will I find communities for our family to be part of that will nurture her, when community is increasingly fragmented? I think these are questions that The Road engages, albeit in an extreme way.

Sorry for the lecture, but that's what you get from an English teacher

[heartmama]

I thought the author was a man oops

[echospiritwarrior]

holy crust, I couldn't believe DH paid money to rent that movie, or that any money was spent to make that movie. I wouldn't wish that movie upon my worst enemy.

This is not something to watch pregnant. I was a mess!

[ThisCat]

Originally Posted by heartmama

I thought the author was a man oops

The author of The Road, Cormac McCarthy, is a man. The PP was making a comparison to author Flannery O'Connor.

[kittywitty]

Originally Posted by ThisCat

The author of The Road, Cormac McCarthy, is a man. The PP was making a comparison to author Flannery O'Connor.

Oh good. Because I suddenly felt really stupid.

[redhotmama]

Originally Posted by heartmama

I don't really find it shocking that the author wrote about shocking stuff--make no mistake, ALL of these things do happen in real life, maybe not in our lives, but certainly this happens, is happening somewhere right now. People eat people. People burn people. Families commit group suicide to avoid torture. Children grow up in barren wastelands devoid of hope. The author didn't invent this stuff, he just put it in a future setting.

Right you are, heartmama.

[katiecat]

Originally Posted by morganlefay

I think the film was an adequate adaptation of the book, but to me the book offered a much richer experience. I loved loved loved the book. Although i sobbed for about three hours after reading it, I didn't exactly find it depressing, but hopeful. When DH and I read it for the first time several years ago, he said it made him decide he was ready to be a Dad. I think the ultimate message of the book/film is that amid all this darkness, there was still light--the intense love between a father and son. I sympathize with the mother (she has a much fuller presence in the film than the book) but really the father made the tougher decision to allow his son to live. I think a lot of people forget that there have been many times when civilization (on a large or small scale) has been at the brink of collapse. think of Europe in the Middle Ages during the Black Death, or even the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. People do horrible things to each other when they are in direct competition for the means of basic survival. however, as the ending of the book/movie shows, community can still emerge from the ashes--it's up to "the good guys" to "carry the fire" of humanity and basic love for our fellow humans.

Thank you morganlefay for your whole post. This is how I felt about it. I did not watch the whole movie as I found it paled in comparison to the book which I loved. (I was always watching it on a dying tv which was very dark and given the darkness of the movie...well I could hardly see a thing!)

[CatsCradle]

Originally Posted by morganlefay

I think the film was an adequate adaptation of the book, but to me the book offered a much richer experience. I loved loved loved the book. Although i sobbed for about three hours after reading it, I didn't exactly find it depressing, but hopeful. When DH and I read it for the first time several years ago, he said it made him decide he was ready to be a Dad. I think the ultimate message of the book/film is that amid all this darkness, there was still light--the intense love between a father and son. I sympathize with the mother (she has a much fuller presence in the film than the book) but really the father made the tougher decision to allow his son to live. I think a lot of people forget that there have been many times when civilization (on a large or small scale) has been at the brink of collapse. think of Europe in the Middle Ages during the Black Death, or even the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. People do horrible things to each other when they are in direct competition for the means of basic survival. however, as the ending of the book/movie shows, community can still emerge from the ashes--it's up to "the good guys" to "carry the fire" of humanity and basic love for our fellow humans.

Also, I think the film--and many other "post-apocalyptic" works tap into an uncomfortable fear/knowledge that humans have the capacity to destroy their own world. We don't know in The Road what exactly has caused the destruction, but we know that a man-made or natural disaster could very easily plunge things into chaos. In fact, in the film, much of the footage of the landcape is from real places that have been destroyed or blighted in some way--there is footage of post-Katrina New Orleans, ruined sections of Pittsburgh and strip-mined portions of rural PA, and there's even a shot of the plume of smoke that billowed from the Twin Towers on 9/11. I live on the Gulf Coast and the threat of destruction of an entire body of water--and the livelihoods that depend on it--is very real to me, as the waves bring in black sludge that is like a reminder of our society's greed and overconsumption. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the film/book gives us an extreme version of very real things that are already happening. The author Flannery O'Connor was always asked why her stories were so grotesque and violent, and she basically said that she was dealing with an audience that was complacent and numbed by pop culture, so you have to shock your audience in order to get them to pay any attention-"for the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures." I think this is what McCarthy has done.

Anyway, the book (followed by the film) gained a new significance for me after I became a parent. I would do anything to protect my child, and I think the collapse of society is a very real possibility. even without a total collapse, I fear for her--how will i be able to protect and guide her in a culture that is, in its civilized, technologically-savvy way, essentially violent and savage? How will I find communities for our family to be part of that will nurture her, when community is increasingly fragmented? I think these are questions that The Road engages, albeit in an extreme way.

Sorry for the lecture, but that's what you get from an English teacher

You summed up my feelings on the subject really well. Btwn: I thought the film was a pretty good adaptation of the book...one of the better adaptations that I've seen to date. Also, and as an artist myself, I don't feel one bit sorry for Cormac...I know what it is like to imagine certain things and try to find some moral undertone in a world of madness. I have liked all his books, and I do think there are some pretty big questions about humanity that he addresses, even indirectly. I think the last thing we want to think about is the supposed inhumanity in ourselves, but people are very capable of it...as has been shown over and over again in our history. It is also hard for us to reconcile with the fact that "good" doesn't always prevail, and I think this is one of the common themes running through his books. His books aren't for everyone, obviously, but I think they have a lot of merit. They have certainly helped me gain some different perspectives and have certainly made me question how I would survive given a similar set of circumstances. I'd like to think that I'd never be in a situation like that and am thankful that I've never truly had to survive under extreme conditions. But, it makes me pause and wonder.

[Imogen]

I was very much disturbed by this film ~ thank goodness, judging from some of the comments, I've never read the book.  Like many people here, it wasn't a film that I could easily forget.  I sat and watched it with a friend and we were both just speechless and depressed at the end of it.  

I'm not sure if could or would want to survive in a world like that ~ a world that is essentially dying.

I found it very draining and for me, there was no light at the end of the tunnel at all.  Yes, the boy survived, but for what?  A world that was dying?

Depressing film, thought provoking, but depressing.

[madskye]

Read the book and saw the movie.  To me, it was a great book because it made me think and feel so much.  The book made me really think about how much I appreciate the world I live in, appreciate my family, and just how precious every moment can be.  I can't think of any other books that have had a similar impact on me.

It did creep me out, and give me bad dreams!  But I thought it was beautifully written, and then also raised so many questions about how I would behave or like to think I'd be behave in similar circumstances--I didn't think it was just a gratuitous scary or gory novel.   

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

Even the roasting baby scene--that's a very quick glimpse of something horrific that they wander across.  I don't think the author devoted more than 3 sentences to it...but I think it serves within the book to show just how desperate and depraves some have become.  That there are no limits any longer and that helps me as the reader  understand a lot of the Man's decisions.  I know it's horrible I would hate for anyone reading this thread to think that that one snippet is wholly what the book is about.

The movie was also intense, but I thought Viggo Mortensen and the young boy were both really, really good.  I had read the book and I knew what I was getting into when we watched it.  And, it's bleak and the world is dying, but there are also some clues that it's coming back.  The bug that they see in the movie towards the end of the movie, in the book the very end passage about the fish deep in the river (I don't have the book here, but I took that to mean that deep within, there were still living things, and that the earth would make its way back--but I am an optimist!).

There's no arguing that it's depressing, but his writing is so lovely, and can lead you in so many different directions.  It's also a big departure for him, style-wise.  His other books that I've read were way more dense and wordy and showy. This one is stripped down to basics.  I think that's part of the reason Cormac McCarthy is thought to be a great writer--he doesn't just do one thing--he's written a lot of books in his career that vary in style and substance. 

For me, it was just very, very powerful. The only other book that I can think of that's given me a similar experience is Sophie's Choice.