In my last post, I illustrated the ideas of Stoicism found in the movie "Arrival." Since movies are kind of my niche, I will continue along with this format.
The 1970 movie "The Godfather" follows Michael Corleone, the youngest of four siblings, as he takes on the mantle of the mafia family his father leaves behind.
Michael was the family's "good boy." He went to college, he joined the Marine Corp, and he was straight laced, with a good life ahead of him.
However, after an assassination attempt on his dad leads to him being thrust into power over the entire mafia family. He leads his family to victory in the ensuing gang war.
However, as the movie progresses, we begin to see the straight laced Michael fade away, as his desire for more money, power, and influence grows. Throughout the movie, we see him grow farther and farther apart from his family and farther away from being the honorable and kind person he was at the beginning of the movie. In essence, just like the Buddhist preach, we see his desire lead to suffering, for him, and his family.
I think this comparison is very accurate. Often when people begin to turn their full attention to things they desire, their attention for important things fades. This is what happened with Michael. He began to focus heavily on money and power and that led to his attention turning away from his family which is surely more important than money/power. This can lead to people losing their close relationships with their family members which can cause pain and suffering on both ends.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emilee, I think this comparison of Buddhism to the movie Arrival was a very cool idea. I think it demonstrates very well what happens when we let our desires take over our lives, which is why the Buddhists preached so hard for us to turn away from these desires. They saw first hand what it did to people who let their desires take over and how it led to suffering for that person. I liked this comparison with the movie Arrival because it demonstrates a good example of what happens when desire takes over, like it Michael's case, where he then began to lose sight of what actually mattered to him like his family and friends. -Lauren James
ReplyDeleteI love the way you are using familiar movies to draw out themes! I agree, the more Michael gives into his desires the more he loses who he truly is. This ultimately does lead to his suffering. It is uncanny how much this movie does reflect lessons of Buddhism, I had never noticed!
ReplyDelete