The 2014 movie The Giver recently showed up on Netflix. I didn't see it when it came out in theaters because I had read the book when I was in 5th or 6th grade and I remembered it being too depressing because I felt the premonition of what the future was like was too close to reality. I remember the book also had a very unsatisfactory ending.
This movie adaptation, however, is wonderful! I literally watched it two days in a row because I enjoyed it so much!
As usual, I am most impressed by movies with a strong moral message. The strongest message I got out of The Giver was about the dignity and value of human life. In Jonas' society humans have been reduced to lukewarm puppets. The don't have any ambitions of their own, they lack creativity and they no longer have any strong emotions good or bad. Some aspects or their community are good, there is no conflict, no bullying, everyone has a purpose, and everyone is treated equally. The dark underbelly is: if you don't fit into their perfect little world you are put to death!
As Jonas begins receiving the memories of people and cultures before his time he sees people fully living. He experiences true joy, creativity, beauty, wonder, and love. He also sees the darker side of humanity, greed, hatred, fear, pain, and death. All of these things are absent from his community. In order to blot out the worst of humanities traits, they also had to blot out the best. However, once Jonas understands what death really is, the loss of a unique person who is unrepeatable, he realizes his community did not get rid of the darkness of humanity, they sugar coated it and made it acceptable. Jonas sees his "father" murder a perfectly healthy innocent baby simply because he was a twin. The book elaborates more on this, explaining that twins were unacceptable because two people that alike could cause them both to stand out and gain extra attention either positive or negative. So one twin was always killed after birth. The book also explained that babies that had some sort of deformity or health problem, mental or physical were also killed. Their society also killed off the elderly once they got to a certain regardless of their health.
The memories Jonas saw of people dancing, singing, praying, enjoying nature and extream sports reminded me of the value of each human person. No two people are alike and each individual is beautiful simply by living. A newborn baby and a helpless elderly person are both just as valuable as everyone else. People don't have to do anything for their life to be valuable they are valuable because they are children of God. Each person's continued existence adds a value of its own to the world. Jonas society did not recognize this and our own is headed right down that road. A quick google search reveals that 60 - 90% of woman who's babies are diagnosed with down-syndrome before they are born decide to kill their babies via abortion. As of 10/2015 5 states have made euthanasia legal. Euthanasia primarily affects the elderly, the poor, and the terminally ill. People who begin to see their lives as a burden on their loved ones or who can not afford health care may opt into suicide.
We are losing the sense of value of each human life. So often life can become about either trying to fit in with others or competing with others. But what we are created to do is live fully as ourselves and become the person God created us to be. There is no need to change just to fit in and there is no need to compete to be better than others. We are supposed to love others not kill them. If someone is sick we should love and take care of them not make them feel like a burden. If an unborn baby is not "perfect" that doesn't mean we should kill them. That baby still deserves to live. Some people think if their unborn baby is sick or has some kind of problem that is it is more loving to kill them to spare them any pain they may experience in this world. Everyone who has ever lived and ever will live will experience some kind of pain in their life, that is part of being alive. The people in The Giver did not experience pain and they did not experience love either and hence were they truly alive? That's what the movie wants you to decide.
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