Symbolism In The Bucket List

The film, The Bucket List, has many examples of the American Death System. The American death system has several elements; people, places, times, objects, and symbols. The Bucket List shows all of these elements. Throughout the movie the main characters, Edward and Carter, are in and out of a hospital where they are being taken care of by a variety of nurses and doctors. These people are all a part of the death system, they are constantly surrounded by people dying, having to take care of people who are dying, and they have to inform people that they are dying. Carter’s wife Virginia was a part of the death system since she used to be a nurse. In the film she mentions how awful working as a nurse is since you often have to watch people die …show more content…
The main factor that helps improve their attitudes throughout the film is their friendship. Throughout the film Edward and Carter help each other cross actions off of their bucket list. By doing things on their bucket list they are able to find a calmness since they are living life they way they wanted to. This happens more for Carter in the beginning of the film but by the end Edward has to have this outlook as well. A major factor that influenced Edward’s attitude towards death was the fact that, for most of the film, had no family or anyone who he truly cared for. This made Edward not really care about his death since he did not feel like he was leaving anything or anyone behind. He also had a negative view of dying. This was abundantly clear when he was going through chemotherapy and said, “Somewhere, some lucky guy's having a heart attack” (The Bucket List). Edward was very unhappy with the way that he was dying therefore he had a negative attitude towards death. Edward’s outlook on life and death had been mostly negative during the film, but by the end, after going on his bucket list journey with Carter, he had a better outlook on life and death. This is clearly seen when Edward decided to visit his daughter and make amends, even though he used to be against the idea. The bucket list influences Carter’s attitude, both negatively and positively, throughout the …show more content…
2) Go on a road trip while traveling on Route 66; I will accomplish this by getting a group of friends together and go one summer before we all graduate college and get real jobs. 3) Get a tattoo; I will just go and do this one day once I’ve saved up enough money (preferably before I am 25). 4) See the pyramids; I am currently an Anthropology major so I am planning on going on digs in the future and I want to go on a dig in Egypt. 5) Backpack around Europe (and see as many countries as possible); I am actually planning on doing this next summer after I spend a semester abroad in