Response: Real Monster

This is a response to:  http://whatwouldchirstdo.blogspot.ca/2012/03/real-monster.html

The metaphorical usage of cancer in representing a form of “monsters” that are prevalent in the world today is actually quite a clever move on ccandelario’s part.  Death is, indeed, an endpoint feared by a majority of people, if not all human beings. However, how people grapple and cope with this fear is tremendously diverse and varies between one individual and the next—some are profoundly terrified, others more accepting and understanding as evidenced by ccandelario’s reference of Jamie in “A Walk to Remember”.  

From a Christian standpoint, present us a way of better understanding humanity and God; they illustrate the extreme of what we do not want to be like and what we fear can happen to us when it comes to death: being trapped on this earth (vampires), being lifeless corpses (zombies), being buried alive (mummies), and the sort. Monsters also demonstrate the omnipotence of God’s power. Although cancer does not fall into any of the former’s categories, it can still be classified as a “monster”. Cancer addresses yet another fear surrounding death—that of knowing when one is about to die, dying slowly, and of course, leaving loved ones behind. Moreover, what is currently still an incurable disease illustrates the unlimited powers and creative control that God has over the world, a power that can create both good and evil, a power that is solely at God’s own discretion and jurisdiction.

To have movies like “A Walk to Remember” brings another fear surrounding death into reality (despite the fictional love story lines): sickness. Although a tear-jerker and regardless of the grand entertainment and profitable agenda behind them, such movies of the same genre:

  The Notebook

Titanic (WHO IS WATCHING THE 3-D VERSION?! :) )

The Vow

...all bring into reality different ways an individual can die, sensitizing audience members to death’s reality and multifaceted ways of occurrences. In a sense, these movies help us to come to grasp with death and tries to buffer its tantalizing fear so that we do not enter it paralyzed and immobile without an idea of what to do. This extends both to the person that is dying and those who have to witness and deal with the eventual loss of a loved on. Having death in our face teaches us to appreciate the people and things around us. As the saying goes “live everyday as if it were your last”.