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Friday, March 31, 2017

Did Martha Mourn?

In the movie "Be Right Back", Martha the main character loses her husband. This provokes the question of did she morn his death. After her husband's death, she invests in a piece of technology to fill the void of her husband's death. Martha became desperate for someone to depend on when she found out she was pregnant. Even Martha's sister noticed that she seemed to have moved on. She became obsessed with trying to find her husband in the technology. In the beginning of the movie Ash 1 explains that once a person dies their pictures go to the attic. Meaning when a person dies they go to another place. The pictures being moved symbolizes that the owner was ok with them moving on. Towards the middle of the movie Martha had not yet moved the picture of Ash 1 off the mantle. Nearing the end of the movie Martha put Ash 2 into the attic like an old picture. I believe that Ash 2 was a picture. He was frozen in time. Ash 2 the computer only had whatever was on the internet, meaning the computer didn't have feelings or life events to shape the way he feels about things. The internet only had whatever Ash posted online. This caused Martha to have to correct every little thing about Ash 2. She looked for every loop hole to prove to herself that he was not her husband, by saying things like "ash wouldn't have done that, he would have fought back!" Martha became overfilled with emotion and broke down. That is how Ash 2 ended up in the attic. He did not do anything wrong, he was just a replica who did not have any feelings, but could act out feelings. In the end, Martha did Mourn Ash's death. At first it seemed that Martha was in denial of her late husband's death. She did not seem to go through the other 4 stages until she became obsessed with the little details, causing her to become angry. The next two stages are bargaining and depression, they seem to be combined with each other. Bargaining by not destroying the computer and depression by seeming to be upset with the computer not being her husband. Finally, the last step is acceptance. Martha accepted that her husband had moved on.  Only on special occasions would Martha go up to the attic with her daughter. Martha's daughter only new the computer as Ash. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe you made a very valid point in regarding the mourn of Martha because of her husbands death. Although, the loss of a loved one is difficult and hard to over come. In my opinion it would have been better if she seeked for help with her sister rather than relying on a robot that intended to be like her husband. You also make a great point about the symbol throughout the movie that showed pictures being put in the attic.

Anonymous said...

I really liked how you tied the stages of grief into your post and explained how you could see Martha in that stage. I thought it was especially interesting how you compared Ash 2 to being a picture because he was frozen in time. I did not notice the connection between Martha's conversation with Ash 1 about the pictures at the beginning of the story and her later putting Ash 2 into the attic until you discussed it. I feel like the discussion about photographs at the beginning were foreshadowing the end of the movie.