Harold and Maude

PART TWO: In the Film Harold and Maude, we follow the story of a boy named Harold who is obsessed with death and inexplicably, kills himself multiple times with no effect. This film is a solid example of pushing the limits of Classic Hollywood Film, it includes known actors, a fair budget, good special effects and was produced by one of the “big five” film companies, namely, Paramount Pictures. In the film Harold and Maude, Harold Chasen, a nineteen-year old death obsessed boy, elaborately stages fake suicides after barely escaping a chemistry fire in his school. Harold, who often attends funerals for his own amusement, meets and forms a relationship with Maude, a seventy-nine-year-old fellow funeral goer. The two form a strong bond, Maude…

love have settled on the new romantic comedy Harold and Maude by director Hal Ashby. What better than a romantic comedy on date night, two quirky, upbeat, individuals who fall in love through adversity and live happily ever after; all while getting a few laughs along the way. Like most couples you may not say much during the viewing but as soon as you walk out of the theater you want to say the first thing that comes to mind about the film. What would have been your response to Harold and Maude…

The value of life in Harold and Maude The movie, Harold and Maude, released in 1971, is directed by Hal Ashby and written by Colin Higgins. It talks about a young man, Harold, who is fascinated by the world of death. He simulates suicide, drives in a hearse and goes to the funeral as a hobby. He meets Maude in a funeral. She is an energetic old lady full of life. They had a romantic adventure together until Maude commits suicide on her 80th birthday. Through Maude’s influence, Harold loses his…

Harold and Maude (1971, dir. Hal Ashby) is a twisted, yet effective radical romantic comedy that I enjoyed. The film is filled with strange suicidal scenes, dark elements, a few heart-warming moments, good laughs, and taboos that challenged cultural ideologies of the time period. I placed this film as a radical romantic comedy for a few main reasons: an ending that feels satisfying without the characters ending up together, a quest for peace by the main characters, the jettison of cultural…

“Harold and Maude” is a direct example of developmental psychology and a lesson in living and dying. At this time Harold is a 20 year old unable to be a productive member of society due to his complete lack of interest and a self-reflective personality of faking suicidal tendencies. Maude is the explicit counterexample of this. A 79 year old who has had a less than enthusiastic past, but does not let it define her. It is found quickly that Harold has had an interesting childhood with a mother…

Gregory Currie argues that an agent who desires some X in the imagination may be slanted to desire for X in reality. This concept, however is not constrained to the imagination required to be a part of a film, a written work, or other forms of fiction. The agent regularly considers fictional desires as being both sound and tastefully refined and frequently views anecdotal desire as being undesirable in connection to the present reality. Along these lines, fictional desires may lead to harmful…

Final Essay From the curriculum that we have studied in this course, we were faced with the pros and cons of aging and with dying. There is no doubt always the desire for longevity but we can see that, that drive to live longer may not be such a promising one. As we continue to talk about these topics we should know what are the ones we need to be asking. The questions that we are posed with can be answered from many avenues, films like Harold and Maude, Cocoon, and books such as Spring…

Culture thrives on the compatibility of group dynamics. Everyone does not need to get along, but everyone must acknowledge each other. While watching Harold and Maude, the first impression I got off Maude was that she was rude. She did not account for the wellbeing of those around her while she broke social norms, such as stealing people’s cars and not listening to police officers’ orders. When Harold and Maude frequented the funerals, Harold was at least respectful of showing grief and wearing…

“Immature love says, 'I love you because I need you, ' mature love says, 'I need you because I love you, ' ” Erich Fromm. In the case of Harold and Maude, love goes beyond the continuum of our norm in today’s society. With an age gap of about seventy years, lots of people find the film striking and intriguing as an effect of the storyline. Life and death remain bonded by love displayed in a cynical, yet comical way. Contrariwise, is it passion or companionship that is the primary motive of…

Harold Chasen is one of the two main characters of the book “Harold and Maude“ by Colin Higgins. Shortly after the book had been published in 1971, the movie of the same name, directed by Hal Ashby, hit the theatres. In the novel, Harold, an introverted, death-obsessed boy, meets Maude, an old, freedom-loving lady. The reader witnesses Harold’s development under her influence. As the story is told from Harold’s point of view, the reader does not get a lot of information about his outer…