Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Essential Themes
20 Friday Feb 2009
Written by Josh Lipovetsky in Film Analysis
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Benjamin Button is a long movie, but each second is of equal importance. There are many themes; some dark, and some light. The movie is very sad, but really contains great material. The importance of loyalty towards your friends, loving each-other no matter the circumstances, and appreciating what you have are some base themes in Benjamin Button.
Benjamin is friends with everyone in his nursing home. He understands their situation, and feels compassion towards them. When meeting the captain of a ship, his friend tells him that the captain never pays. Benjamin did not care, and boarded the ship on his search for opportunity. He always visited his friends and family in the nursing home, whenever he could. He to to war with his captain, even though he was told to stay home. This quality of Benjamin exhibits loyalty towards people that he meets, and holds a high trust threshold towards strangers.
Benjamin develops a close relationship with Daisy from a very young age. Although he eventually leaves to start a life of his own, he writes postcards to Daisy whenever he visits a different place. Going back the the original concept of loyalty, Benjamin eventually develops an intimate relationship with Daisy. As he keeps getting younger, and Daisy keeps getting older, their love for each-other is never changed. She takes care of Benjamin, until his death as a small ‘infant’.
You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, as the saying goes. Because of the unusual aging properties of Benjamin, he viewed the death of his loved ones from a completely different perspective than a normal aging person. When he is young in age and old in appearance, he is treated as if he has seen death many times. As he gets ‘younger’, he witnesses more death, and that is extremely traumatizing. Benjamin has to cherish everyone and everything in his life, before he becomes too young to appreciate them. It is an extremely difficult situation to deal with, and I would not wish it upon my worst enemy (not that I have any!). Aging backwards is a horrible curse, and it will never happen to anyone (hopefully).
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button shows how important the aging process really is. Without properly aging, life can be a complete mess. However, there are many good qualities to be learned from this situation. The importance of being loyal to your friends, loving others despite any difficult obstacles, and being grateful for what you are given in life.
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4 comments
January 11, 2012 at 1:50 am
You have missed a painful amount of detail and themes in this film. One is the more obvious themes such as individual’s infatuation with always wanting to rewind time has cruelly been missed. This is shown through the use of the clock that runs the wrong way and Benjamin’s life itself. You have also overlooked a HUGE theme of you can be whoever you want to be. This is what I feel is one of the biggest themes. The juxtaposition between Benjamin and Daisy’s life of how she is looked as an extraordinary person and famous for dancing when the truth is she is a normal person compared to the life of Benjamin who is literally living backwards, but he chooses a quiet life of being a normal man. This theme is also practically pushed in your face in the final scene when Benjamin is talking about all the people he met in his life. You should really watch the movie again and re-analyze because this movie is a true art piece and you did a terrible job. If you are going to make a site about analyzing movies please do your best work. I really hope this is not the best. I would be a must more interesting article if you put in more interesting themes the average Joe wouldn’t pick up on.
January 11, 2012 at 1:38 pm
Thanks for the comment! I appreciate the criticism. I’ll do my best to keep improving my analyzing skills!
January 28, 2012 at 7:23 am
I found this very helpful thanks
March 12, 2012 at 5:33 am
you’ve missed out on the concept of trying to be socially accepted ( as shown when Benjamin is trying to fit in with the others in the retirement home)
also there’s the theme of flaws within human nature by having Ben’s father abandoning him at the doors of a retirement home which shows that he’s not mentally ready to accept a responsibility where it requires looking after another’s life.