“LOVE. CAN WE?

” INTERPRETATION ESSAY – GROUP 6

Life simply is a long journey in which we will have a companion in each stage and as we
part ways with one another along the path, each will have to continue on ahead, with
memories together on one side and new companions one the other. No matter how much
that companionship means to us, we still have to move on, to continue loving, to continue
living our life and continue our journey. That is also the message our Group 6 wants to
convey through the short film “Love. Can we?”. Our story is a love story made to help
everyone realize the significance of the people who were once by our side.

Firstly, let's take a look at the summary of our film to have an idea of what it is about. In
the happiest moment of her life after realizing her positive cancer test was a mistake, Kelly
decided to find David in order to undo her rejection towards David’s courtship. Upon
arriving at his house, unfortunately, tragic news came to her in fragments, as if her mind
had broken along with it - traffic accident, death, DAVID? Immersing herself in sorrow
and regret, Kelly tried to cling to their beautiful memories by paying a visit to every single
place they had been to. Seemingly impossible to break free from the sorrow, Kelly
gradually made up her mind to keep living since it was David’s last wish. She finally
learned how to accept the bitter truth that David was no longer by her side and as a matter
of fact, she had to keep moving forward without him. Holding tightly in hand for the last
time the bracelet he had given her while confessing his love, she gently placed it down at
the spot they had stood on that day. Slowly she walked at the pace of the setting sun, leaving
behind her treasured past with a smile on her face. Ready now she had, to continue on the
path with the strength of her own.

Before going any deeper into the film’s plot, let us read between the lines to have a deeper
understanding at our title. There are two ways to interpret “Love. Can we?”. At first, when
the story was being told in third person, the narrator reported the boy’s saying to the
audience. At that point, we might consider it as a saying of the boy to a bestfriend who was
also his secret crush. It was like a courtship that the boy had always wanted to initiate. He
wondered whether they could become lovers after so many years of being friends. On the
other hand, if we take this title into a first person perspective, then it was as if the narrator
wanted to directly communicate with the viewers and this was a rhetorical question. He
wanted to ask us, the viewer, a question that whether we can continue to love when our
loved one has gone. Through the first person perspective, we want to create some food for
the audience’s thoughts, to make them deeply question themselves about whether or not
they would be able to move on like the girl in this film. Through the title, we also want to
signify the themes of this film. The first theme is “Love before it is too late”. As we can
see, if Kelly had not hesitated over accepting David’s love because of her cancer, she would
not have been so regretful when he was gone. On top of that, Robert A.Heinlein once said:
“May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live”. This is also the main
theme of our film. Although Kelly had lost one most precious to her, she lives, and she
must, she will find another love of her life.

As regarding the plot, our story is filmed in flashback. Our main purpose is to emphasize
the message that all the wealth in the world cannot buy you a best friend and also a
boyfriend in this case, nor pay you for the loss of one. Therefore, we must learn to treasure
our loved ones while we still can. As shown in the film, all the best memory of this
supposed-to-be couple stayed in the past forever. This flashback technique also highlight
Kelly’s regrets for not accepting David’s love confession. She wished to have told him how
much she loved him regardless of her illness, wished that he was still there to share her
happiness and for her to answer his love.

The scene which raises the story’s narrative to the peak was when Kelly turned down
David’s courtship. After this detail, their relationship was not the same anymore. With his
confession, David hoped to bring their relationship into the next stage, to move from
friends to lovers, but destiny rarely played out as men wished it to be. It was David’s love
that broke their life-long friendship. In this scene, there is also a dramatic irony a love
expressed was rejected by a love painfully kept concealed. Perhaps to his last moments, he
might still think that it was their friendship that prevented them becoming lovers. In other
words, Kelly might have done so to protect their friendship since love is more fragile than
friendship. Till he breathed his last, never could he have ventured to hope that she had done
so for she loved him just as deeply as he loved her.

David and Kelly’s love story takes place in modern society where love is present
everywhere and it is considered the most precious treasure in this world. It is a society in
which we have the right to confess and pursue our love, the right to love and be loved in
return. This modern norm is a powerful motivation for David's courtship. In terms of
physical environment, our story is filmed in David and Kelly’s school. A school is a place
filled with sunshine and all of the most delightful moments. When David and Kelly are still
best friends, the bright color of the school scene represents their pure and naive friendship.
School is also considered the purest place in society and this is where their love begins.
Therefore, it represents their pure and unconditional love.

In the next parts of our interpretation, we shall clearly explain about the way we built our
characters. Our main characters in this film are Kelly and David. About Kelly, she used to
be a lovely girl who had lots of friends, including David. She always dressed in bright
colors, which showed that she had a positive way of thinking. She did have special feelings
to David, her best friend, but there were a couple of reasons why they could not be a couple.
Firstly, when Kelly did not know about her test result, she was afraid of breaking her
unbreakable friendship because once they became lovers and broke up, they could never
be friends anymore. And when she learned that she got blood cancer, she was afraid of
hurting David – she then decided to reject him. However, she did not know that the moment
she turned down his love, their relationship had changed, and she did not know that she
would hurt not only him but also herself when she refused her love. That is also the reason
why Kelly at the moment is the girl full of sullen silences. She regrets about what she did
in the past. She regrets because she did not say she loves him when she could. She now
clings to the good old days with her beloved one and she is haunted by the memories. But
like what we mentioned before, we do not want to make a film with a sad ending. Instead,
we want to wake up her optimistic personality at the end. She still holds the notebook, his
diary, as a way to keep these memories in the bottom of her heart, but they are no longer
chains holding her down but are wings to let her fly. She stands up, walks along the street
with a smile on her face, then she leaves her past behind her to welcome the new journey
of her life.

We decided to let David appear in the past to show that he is someone in the past who
immensely influences Kelly’s present and future, but his presence existed no more. David
was not only her best friend, but he was also a special one to her. He was the caring one
with the genuine love who would always be by her side whenever she needed, and he would
always wish her the best things in life. He also had lots of conflicts in himself and he wrote
them in his diary: he was so afraid of losing her, but he wanted to express his love. He
wanted her to think about him but he did not want her to be sad when thinking of him. We
can easily see that even when Kelly did not accept his love, he still wanted her to be happy.
Of course he wished they would become a couple and she could be with him forever, but
even as life slipped away from his body, he still wished that she could move on and let all
the sorrows go with him.

We did intentionally put some objects throughout the film as the symbolism for our story.
The first one is the diary, which was given to Kelly when David died. This diary is full of
David’s thoughts, but when he was alive, they would never be expressed. This shows that
only after he had died did Kelly realize that she had lost something she should have
treasured. The bracelet David gave Kelly is also one of symbolic meaning. This is his desire
to give her a commitment, something like an ornament that represents their friendship as
well as their love. But that was all in the past, and to move on, Kelly has to let it stay at the
place it should be. This suggests that she has overcome her old pain and is ready for the
happiness awaiting ahead of her. Moreover, we did film the scene when Kelly walks along
the street with the diary on her hands to imply that she would forever keep those beautiful
things in the deepest place of her heart, but they are now something that tenderly reminds
her of the good old days she had rather than the sadness and despair that she had been
through.
Additionally, we would like to share something in our interpretation. At first, we planned
to build one more character who would appear only about thirty seconds at the end of our
short film. The scene is supposed to imply that Kelly has overcome her sadness and is now
ready for a new path of her own. However, after our careful discussion, we agreed upon
the notion that there is no need for anyone else as Kelly is more than strong enough now
to pull her life together one more time. we agreed that it would be unnecessary to add
someone to make Kelly fine because she herself could live happily. Therefore, we decided
that we would let the audience imagine and write their own suitable endings for our story.
But regardless of the ending, the same message will be expressed. We want to show that
even when it is hard to say goodbye to your special one, you have to do it anyway – because
it is how life is, so instead of being so obsessed with the past, just make it your motivation
to go forward in life. Like Frances Hodgson Burnett once said in her book, “If you look
the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” What is more important is
your perspective. If you consider the old memories as the beautiful things to keep in your
heart, we do believe that whenever you think about them, your mind would turn into the
most gentle thing.

To sum up, we hope that this film will satisfy the audience with its message and we would
like to send special thanks to Miss Bach Linh Trang, our American literature lecturer for
facilitating us in making this meaningful project. And last but not least, it is undeniable
that the past is an important part which greatly affects your life. But though our lives are
but fleeting moments, should we learn to replace desire with gratitude, each second can
last an eternity. Like in the Great Gatsby of Scott, no matter if “one fine morning we may
beat on, boats against the current and borne back ceaselessly into the past”, tomorrow
we all have to “run faster, stretch out our arms farther.” We all have to move on because
there are all kinds of happiness waiting for us in the coming future. Of course, we can not
repeat the past or recapture the old happy moments, but we can create new ones for our
present and future. You may have to say goodbye to the people you think will go with you
for a lifetime, but as fate has seen fit that our paths have been weaved, so why grateful you
are not but still craving for more?