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Markell Bolinder

Mrs. Hatch

FHS 1500

May 18, 2017

Essay Unit 7

OPTION D: FILM ESSAY

Watch a film with a central message/theme that relates to something we

have studied in this course, then write an essay describing the course
concepts and how they are illustrated by the film. Here are JUST A FEW
examples of appropriate films and the topics they address:

ANSWER:

I chose the movie UP to illustrate some of the concepts we

have talked about in class. In this movie, the plot of the story is
centered on the love for adventure that Carl Fredrickson has as he
journeys his way through the life of hardships. Starting his life off
as a shy little boy but still adventurous, Carl meets the love of his
life Ellie. This story is about Carl going through marriage,
courtship, and also the death of his soulmate Ellie, which all
impact him tremendously. Some of the subjects I wanted to
discuss were relationships in early adolescents onto early
adulthood, memory of the elderly, and also death among a loved
one.

One of the subjects that I felt was an important aspect of this

movie was the relationship that Carl had with his wife Ellie. Berger
(2014) says emerging adults seek to find a partner who is like
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them and have similar hobbies or interests (pg. 417). I used this
quote because it can relate to Carl and Ellies marriage. In the
beginning of the movie, Carl and Ellie find each other while they
are both out exploring and adventuring in an abandon home. This
was one of their shared interests. Ellie further explains to Carl that
she wants to adventure to Paradise Falls and soon Carl promises
he will take her there. Having similar interests kept them
interested in each other and connected.

Another topic that Berger (2014) discusses is the death of a

loved one and morbidity (pg.518). In this movie Carl marries the
love of his life Ellie at early adolescence and lives the life with her
in their multicolored home they fixed up themselves. Carl and
Ellie are best friends throughout their entire life until Ellie his wife
starts to decline and become very sick and ill. Eventually she
ends up passing away, leaving Carl very sad and depressed and
to live his life alone. This death impacts Carl tremendously
because no matter how hard the couple tried to save up to travel
to Paradise Falls, something always got in the way making them
use the money they saved to travel together. Knowing that Carl
couldnt complete his promise to his wife of traveling before she
passed away, he sets off on a journey.

Most people tend to stereotype the elderly for grumpy, hard

of hearing and having dementia or cant remember things, except
Carl shows the direct opposite as he adventures to Paradise Falls.
Although Carl does have hearing aids, he remembers quiet a lot
from his childhood and life with Ellie. Berger (2014) says some
aspects of memory strong throughout late adulthood, including
vocabulary, while others do not such as names (pg. 513). Carl
remembers meeting Ellie, getting married, their adventure book,
and the life that they lived together adventuring. Although he
struggles to remember the boy scouts name, Russel, he
remembers the bigger things that happened in his life and
childhood.
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I believe this movie really illustrates several aspects of life

from marriage, memory, death of a loved one, and how Carl still
has a part of his child life living in him. There are multiple movies
that I could have chosen from, but I decided to do this movie
because it shows the life as a child, throughout adulthood and
into the elderly stage which are the human lifespan. All of these
aspects overall summed up this entire course of Family Health
Sciences.

References
Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to the life span (2nd ed.). In Invitation to the life span
2nd ed.). New York: NY: Worth Publishers.