Philosophy Essay: Exploring Tragedy and Meaning in The Road (2009)

This essay provides a detailed analysis of the film 'The Road' (2009), exploring the themes of tragedy, survival, and the search for meaning in a post-apocalyptic world. The essay follows the 4D method of analysis, incorporating definitions, examples, opposing viewpoints, and a final demonstration to support the author's thesis. The author's thesis focuses on the resilience of the man and the boy in the face of adversity, highlighting their struggle to survive and maintain hope. The essay examines the challenges they face, including the destruction of civilization, the scarcity of resources, and the prevalence of cannibalism. The author explores the philosophical implications of the film, including the role of the road as a symbol of hope and despair, and the importance of maintaining the 'fire' of humanity. The analysis includes contrasting viewpoints on the film's themes and concludes with a reflection on the enduring power of the father-son relationship and the human spirit's ability to endure even in the darkest of times.

Running Head: The Road (2009)
The Road
Movie Analysis
System04104
2/4/2020

The Road (2009)
1
Introduction
‘The Road’ (2009) is a beautiful movie which is based on the novel of Cormac McCarthy’s
novel. I first saw this movie during the Toronto Film Festival and it was one of the six
movies that I watched during the Festival. The movie is based on the incident when America
was devastated and people were dying due to hunger and crop failure and the infrastructure of
civilization was destroyed. In such a scenario, a young boy with his father is finding their
ways towards the sea. However, it one cannot denied that sea has always been a great
direction of hope for the world and give a reason to think smartly about the life.
My thesis for this assignment is that the men and boy face the challenges after the entire wipe
out of the word with a positive hope to survive on the earth with a statement that they called
“Keeping the fire.”
Definition
Before starting the analysis of the movie and its philosophical views, it is important to know
what the tragedy was and why these people focus on the words “keeping the fire.” The term
tragedy reflects the adverse situation after the disaster on the planet where everything was
wiped out while “Keeping the fire alive” shows the hope of these two people, ‘a father and
his son’. Complication in the life of these two people shows there struggles for food, shelter,
and life where they face numbers of tough situation where people are fighting for food and
everyone was starving and fighting for their survival. The man and the boy were heading
towards the ocean in search of some hope, life, food, and warmth environment. However,
they found that shoreline was as cold as the mountains and there was no scope of life in the
movie.

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Distinction (Examples)
Even with the disaster in the country, the man and the boy both did not left their hope. The
author of this movie shows a horrible journey of these two people through a distraught post-
apocalyptic world. The focus of the journey somewhere related to the Cannibalism, which is
the reality of some people. The best example of it when the men died and the boy was all
alone; he again turned to the road and met a “good guys.” The movie shows that how boy
never left the hope of founding good man in the world. However, he asked some questions to
the new man and some of those questions were related to Cannibalism as well.
‘The Road’ is definitely an existential story where a father and his son have one focus to
survive and find some meaning in their lives. However, it has been shown in the movie that
without any economic or cultural influence how they focus on to live a life in a world, which
is wipe out by a disaster. In the movie, road can be interpreted by the hopeful and life
alarming. Road can also show the way dark and nihilistic symbol. However, as per my
opinion in the movie road shows the human spirit and strength. The road is the only thing that
was intact in the apocalyptic and the men and boy continue their journey over the road until
they found their destination.
Dialectic (Opposing viewpoints)
Some people criticise the movie because it is not related to reality and people say that ‘The
Road’ is an actual attack on cultural coordinated of the new capitalism. However, the movie
shows the struggle of the father and son to find the meaning of life, but the movie somewhere
confines of the neoliberal imagination. The movies also show the end of capitalism, which
does not mean that end of the world. The another thing which is noticeable is that when the
father found a Coca-Cola in the ash of a supermarket, it shows that when everything was
burned then how father found a soft drink and asked the son to drink, and his son asked in

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return too, but he had only one can of it. It shows the sacrifice of a father for his son.
However, it shows the post-apocalyptic friction which might or might not be true, when
everything destroyed in the apocalypse.
Demonstration (Conclusion)
In conclusion, the movie shows the hope and fight of a father and his son on a road when
everything was destroyed in the world and even the economy and cultural presence was not
even existed after the disaster. The analysis of the movie shows the struggle of two people
even in the tough time of their life and struggle to find out the ways of life on a road, which
was looking endless in the movie. However, they found some people on the road, but they are
fighting for food and all the things they do not have like food etc.