The movies today, other than Disney, don't really have any spiritual value anymore. They are only about action and full-packed entertainment. In fact, the movies no longer have any morals anymore. I'm afraid that the movies today only reflect the moral decline of today's society. There's more violence to the movies and many women are still objectified as sex objects regardless of the execution of female empowerment.
Even the heroes we look up to like Ironman and Deadpool, are total jerks. I know not all heroes are perfect, but why do people look up to these total jerks? It just disappoints me that the perception of heroes is changing. When we think of heroes now, we only think of Marvel superheroes and those in comic books. Disappointed with the movies that are out nowadays, I decided to go back to movies in the '80s decade and in the early 2000s.
When deciding which movie to watch this summer with my sisters, I remembered this movie called "Tuck Everlasting." During 6th grade, one of the books I had to read for class was Natalie Babbitt's "Tuck Everlasting," which focuses a 10-year-old girl named Winnie Foster who runs away from her home in Treegap to the woods where she encounters the Tucks, a family of immortals who drinks from a magical spring that gives them eternal life. After finishing the book, our teacher made the whole class watch the 2002 film adaptation of the book. Although many people liked the book more and there were minor changes in the film, I actually liked the movie adaptation. In my opinion, the movie has a great cast and has successfully captured the themes and the morals from the book.
After re-watching the movie with my sisters, it left me in heavy thought. The 2002 film adaptation of "Tuck Everlasting" was a movie definitely worth re-watching. Here are the reasons why.
1. Winnie Foster is a good role model
The heroine in "Tuck Everlasting" movie is merely a 15-year-old. She is a girl of noble beauty and not at all sexually objectified. She is cooped up in her house like "a poor, little rich girl." She is also forced to be sent to boarding school, a decision she can't get out from. She runs away in order to liberate herself from the confined expectations she must live up to. Therefore, this makes her very relatable and very sympathetic. Throughout the movie, she learns and slowly falls in love with Jesse Tuck, the son of the Tucks. She also risks everything to protect the Tucks from having their secret exposed when she helps Angus and Mae Tuck break out from jail. This proves to show she is brave and unselfish. Unlike Bella Swan in the "Twilight" franchise, Winnie does not give in the temptation of living forever with her true love, Jesse Tuck. Even though the audience (including me) all want her to drink from the spring and live an immortal life with Jesse, I believe this choice is what makes her very heroic. And it is also what makes her a very good role model.
2. The love scenes are purely romantic
Unlike the gratuitous sex scenes and heavy makeout scenes we considered as "love scenes" in movies now, the 2002 film adaptation of "Tuck Everlasting" executes clean and touching love scenes that tug at our heartstrings. There is a moment in the film where Winnie overcomes her fear of drowning and swims with Jesse Tuck. Jesse simply carries Winnie in the water, spinning her with smooth continuous motion. There is nothing explicit in this scene besides Jesse being half-naked with his trousers and Winnie in her undergarments. Another moment is when Jesse and Winnie dance around a campfire and share a kiss twice. We can already feel the underlying sexual attraction without the need of showing sex. These scenes have the whole audience grinning and saying, "awwww…"
3. The film teaches us the importance of living
The biggest themes conveyed in the film and in the book are life and death. In a world of technology where we are distracted by social media and the screens, living is something we are taking for granted. Angus Tuck, the husband of Mae Tuck and the father of Jesse (as well as Miles), explains to Winnie that living forever is not as great as it seems. He tells her that immortality only makes people end up feeling like "Rocks stuck on the side of the stream" and thus, cannot live. Then he tells her the biggest advice: "Do not fear death but rather the unlived life. You don't have to live forever. You just have to live." This statement alone convinces Winnie
1) Not to drink from the spring and
2) Go back to her family.
With death, we are reminded to live our lives to the fullest, no matter how tough it can be. Otherwise, we will spend the rest of our lives coping with feelings of regret and failure.
The 2002 film adaptation of "Tuck Everlasting" overall is an unforgettable cinematic masterpiece for me. The film not only lives up to my expectations of a good movie but also proves itself to be a movie worth watching.
![By Fernando de Sousa from Melbourne, Australia (Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.theodysseyonline.com/media-library/by-fernando-de-sousa-from-melbourne-australia-flickr-cc-by-sa-2-0-https-creativecommons-org-licenses-by-sa-2-0-via-wi.jpg?id=18186671&width=600&quality=50)
