JACKELYN ASPIRAS The movie analysis, John Campbell and my life story

From: Jackelyn Aspiras <jackelyn_aspiras@yahoo.com>
To: "profjorge.entrep.clark@blogger.com" <profjorge.entrep.clark@blogger.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 29 July 2015, 22:06
Subject: Movie Analysis

Hi Prof Jorge,

I'm happy to be able to share with you and other people one of my favorite books/movies written by Nicholas Sparks— "A Walk To Remember".

 

Best Regards,

Jackelyn Aspiras

 

A Walk to Remember

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i72wRvPw_ik

Synopsis

A Walk to Remember is an exceptional movie. It is not just one of those typical chick flick movies about a girl changing a guy's life. There's more to it.

It follows the conventions of what a romantic movie should be, with lovers' quarrels, obstacles that need to be overcome and a happy ending, but what stands out to me about this movie is apart from the conventions it follows, it also has a heroes' journey in it. The hero journey has always been an interesting idea to me, and to see it in this movie, I believe it made it ten times better. 

Landon Carter is the one that experiences this whole hero journey in this movie. He's the one that fulfilled the steps of the hero journey. The twist here is that, even though he went through the hero's journey, he wasn't the hero—Jamie Sullivan was. He goes through the whole journey to show that Jamie Sullivan is essentially his hero.

1) THE HERO IS INTRODUCED IN HIS ORDINARY WORLD. (Jamie Sullivan)

 

LANDON CARTER

He is the protagonist of the story. He is a popular and rebellious teenager. In the beginning of the movie, he hazed his peer, Clay Gerbhardt, with his friends and it ended with bad results. Clay ended up being in the hospital for broken bones, and Landon got caught by the police. He got off lucky with his punishments though. The principal ordered him to tutor children, brush upon his janitorial skills and join the spring play, where he meets Jamie Sullivan. He ended up with the main part in the play and asks Jamie to help him learn his lines. As they spent more time together, he finds himself falling love with her. She kept rejecting him, until one day his friends decided to prank Jamie and he came to her rescue. After this incident, they fall in love and he starts to change. When he finds out that she has cancer, he did everything and anything for her. He completely changed; he went from being the rebellious, trouble maker to the loving, caring, mature man that he is, and it's all because of Jamie Sullivan.

 

JAMIE SULLIVAN

She is the reverend's daughter and an outcast. She has goals for herself and has a lot of faith. Landon goes to her for help on the school play and she agrees, under one condition "You have to promise you won't fall in love with me," (A Walk to Remember). She helps him with his lines, and considered him a friend, until the day he decided to reject her presence in front of his friends. She didn't trust him and this is why whenever he tried to talk to her and be with her, she rejected him. Landon's ex-girlfriend plays a prank on her in school, and Landon comes to her rescue. She learns to trust him and she lets herself fall in love with him. After some time, she tells Landon of her sickness, leukemia. She withdraws herself from him for a little bit, until he showed her that he wasn't going anywhere. She helped change Landon's character from that rebellious teenager to the loving man that he is.

2)    THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.

When Landon gets caught after hazing Clay Gephardt, the principal punishes him by telling him to participate in community service. The principal tells him to join the janitorial staff, tutor children and join the spring play. The principal says, "It's time for you to start experiencing other things," and this is Landon's call to adventure.

 

 

3)    THE HERO IS RELUCTANT AT FIRST.

When Landon doesn't even try to get along with the children that he needed to tutor and when he makes fun of the spring play through sarcasm, he refuses the call. He doesn't want to experience other things because he's still hung on with being the most popular kid in school.

4)    THE HERO IS ENCOURAGED BY THE WISE OLD MAN OR WOMAN.

Once Landon finally accepts that he has to do these punishments, and has to participate in the play, his aid appears—Jamie Sullivan. He goes to her for help with his lines and in return, she not only helps him with his lines, but became a somewhat inspiration for him to tutor the children better as well. Jamie Sullivan is his aid.

5)    THE HERO PASSES THE FIRST THRESHOLD.

The point where Landon crosses the first threshold is the premiere of the school play. As Jamie is singing, he starts to see her in a different way. When he kisses her in front of everybody, he entered a world that differed from his. After the play, he starts to pine over Jamie and starts to leave his friends behind. Even his best friend says, "This girl's changed you and you don't even know it." The world he has known before has changed, he's starting to change.

7)    THE HERO REACHES THE INNERMOST CAVE/BELLY OF THE WHALE

 

When Belinda, Landon's ex-girlfriend, plays a prank on Jamie in front of the whole school, Landon comes to her aid. He protects Jamie from his so-called friends. He punches his best friend and calls it over with all of them. This is his final separation from his known world.

Road of Trials

 

Jamie and Landon, being the popular kid and the outcast, go through a road of trials. They had to face the tension between Landon and his friends, and also their parents. Jamie's father thinks she's acting childish and Landon's mother warns him to be careful. Apart from these obstacles, the biggest test Landon has to face is Jamie's secret. When she tells him she has cancer—it's an obstacle that they both need to deal with.

Atonement with the Father

This step is said to be the center point of the journey—where the protagonist is faced with a problem bigger than himself. This step is seen in the movie when Jamie tells Landon she has cancer. It's the climax of the film, and it's the part where Landon has to decide whether or not he'll be there for Jamie or leave. Her sickness is something bigger than himself because he has no cure for it. He can't just make it go away, even if he does go and ask his father, who left him, for help.

Ultimate Boon

When Jamie collapses because of her sickness and is taken to the hospital is the ultimate boon. While laying on her hospital bed, she tells Landon to read her a book from her mother and she says "like this journey never ends, like you were sent to me because I am sick." For her to say that shows that right there is what he went through a journey for—love. He went through everything, leaving his friends, becoming a better person for Jamie. He's her hero for sticking with her and being by her side, but she's also his hero—for teaching him how to love and that is the ultimate boon.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

The proposal is the crossing of the return threshold because it's the final point where Landon has to figure out how to express the knowledge he had gained from his journey, from loving Jamie. When he proposed, that's when he integrated the wisdom of love into reality. He decides to show Jamie how much he loves her and how much he has learned from her by proposing to her.

MASTER OF THE TWO WORLDS

The wedding shows this step quite well because it shows that both Jamie and Landon are comfortable with showing everybody that they love each other. It doesn't matter if they're popular or church kids, through the wedding, they express to everyone that they love each other.

RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR

This final step is when the character comes to a realization. He doesn't regret the past, and he doesn't anticipate the future; he is simply just living. After what Landon has gone through, meeting Jamie and then losing Jamie, he doesn't regret any of it. In fact, he cherishes it, "Jamie saved my life. She taught me everything—about life, hope and the long journey ahead." Because of her, he has the freedom to live, and love life. He learned to love because of her, and about life, but also he learned about himself. He discovered that he can be a good person with her being his motivation. He completely changed his life because of her, and that is why she is his hero. 

 

 

What is the relation of this movie in my life story?

During my grade school days, like Jamie I was so shy and a certified phlegmatic. At school, I was always being compared with my three siblings who have mostly high level academic. performance while I was just on top 6 of our class and this motivated me to learn more and work hard in the future. It was then that I realized that I need to give myself a chance to change and improve. During my summer vacation, I bugged my parents to let me work to practice socializing with these confident-seeming people (cashiers at Jollibee Foods Corp) to overcome my shyness. I was so happy that they gave it a go. I was able to shake my shyness and became more flexible.

They say that, "Your high school years are a great time in your life." You will gain new freedom and have new experiences as well as new responsibilities. Starting high school, like Jamie, I was full of goals. I wanted to succeed academically, and join a school club or group to make new friends and be exposed me to a whole world of people who shared the same aspirations as me.

I worked hard and stay focused. As a result, I was elected as president and received first honors.  It was also the first year of high school when I met my best friend. It's funny how you can meet someone and barely know them, yet you feel as if you have been friends for a lifetime. That was how I've felt when I met my best friend. We have so many commonalities and enjoy doing things together.  

For most students, entering college is a terrifying and an overwhelming experience. It's a case of when the fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all. I don't know if I would be able to adjust to a place where every single student has to stand on their own two feet and take responsibility for my education and future. This transition from high school to college is one of the most significant in my life. After passing the entrance examinations, my original plan is to take BSBA and so is my best friend. We both agreed to attend same university and take the same degree but on that day the Dean encouraged me to pursue BS Accountancy instead and was persuaded to be on the list after giving in to my request that my bestfriend should also be given a slot. During my first semester, I did feel slightly overwhelmed by the college experience. But I began to become comfortable when I connected with other students. It allowed me to have others see my strengths and weaknesses. Everything was going well until that unfortunate day—we got a "uniform" bad grade without due cause. It was one of the lowest points of my life when I was disqualified for being a candidate for academic honor (magna cum laude). This experience has made me look internally at a person that has been through so much, and yet still finds the strength to get up in the morning and face the world.

This experience has helped me realize that every person has a tough time at one point or another and that getting a bad grade, or not understanding a subject, means you need a little extra help to do your best. Having this kind of mindset I was able to cope and on same year second semester, I met some good professors that motivated me along the way and assisted me into following a special path. To relate with the movie, this is when Landon hazed his peers ended in a bad results and was punished to do some community service. Jamie helped and inspired him

 My college experience has helped me realize that college is about finding yourself; who you are as a person and the type of person you want to be.

It expresses many difficult situations in which I have to make it through somehow. Like in this movie, Jamie and Landon's story exemplifies how life throws us for a loop. It gives us the most tragic and painful hardships of our lives. But in turn we also receive the greatest gift God has given us and that's love. Through faith, Jamie lives her remaining days on earth the best way she knows how to - by not giving up on her faith for God. As for me, through love (love for God, love for my parents and siblings, love for my friends.) I made a leap of faith and decided to go on and strive, think and reflect back and be a much better person.