questions coming soon...or not so soon! Sorry!
Are there any bright sides to losing your mind? Would you rather lose your mind than control of your body (like with Lou Gerig's disease, ALS). What does your answer to that question tell you about what's important to you? About how you view human nature?
What was most notable for you about the film?
The film really hit me hard. I really enjoyed the educational aspect for the disease because they ask AND answer many questions between Alice, her husband, the doctor, and her daughter. "What is it like?" "What if I do this or that? Will it help in any way?" She tries to exercise her memory and test herself, she tries to help herself by setting reminders and putting everything in her calendar but when one day she can't find the bathroom, you realize you can't hide from the disease forever. What shocked me the most was hearing that people with a higher education tend to go downhill even faster than normal. That I had such a hard time wrapping my head around because you would think someone of greater intelligence would have just the opposite from working their minds so much.
ReplyDeleteBut all in all, it helped me so much with understanding my grandpa. Having him live with me and watching him mentally come and go and seeing him get really bad then suddenly amazing and then slowly go back down again is really difficult. Especially being in school and working, not being able to spend as much time with him as I would like drives me crazy because I don't know where this disease will take us. Talking to my parents about him none of us really understood why he does what he does or what's going through his mind half the time. But being able to go inside the mind of Alice and walk with her through this disease and experience this journey with her really, really helps me with grandpa. I feel like the questions some of us aren't ready or are able to ask my grandpa were answered in this film, and I thank you for sharing this with me.
I definitely like when Alice's daughter asks her what it is like to have Alzheimer's because I am clueless as to what she was going through. I understand that she would forget things, but I always wondered how she really, truly felt. That's really cool that you got to have a better understanding especially since your grandpa suffered from Alzheimer's. I hope everything will be okay and that you get to spend more time with him.
DeleteStill Alice was a wonderful movie and I really enjoyed watching it. I have always been very interested in Alzheimer's and for Alice to be diagnosed at such a young age was just devastating. It was very cool to see how well she knew herself. She was a very smart lady and once she started forgetting even the smallest things, she knew something was wrong. The saddest part was when she had to tell her kids that she was suffering from Alzheimer's and that they have a chance of having the disease as well. Alice would sometimes get very frustrated, especially with her youngest daughter who tried to help her the most. She would forget words and meanings and would snap on her daughter. I can't imagine losing something that you worked your whole life for. It neat to watch her continue to fight through the disease and to still live her life in the best way possible. She is a very admirable woman in this movie.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this movie because as people age, we usually see them lose their brain functions diminish but it is sad when we see an early onset of Alzheimer's. I thought that it was crazy that people who are very intelligent are often the ones suffering from Alzheimer's disease. It is not only hard for Alice who was suffering, but her family tried to stay patient with her as the disease progressed and she got worse. This movie was a very emotional movie for me because I don't want to think of my parents getting to that stage in their life. Although Alice got this disease, it allowed her to form a bond with her youngest daughter and they became super close towards the end of the film. I thought the movie ended abruptly, but I guess the disease had done its damage and there was nothing else she could do.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it was amazing to see how close Alice and her youngest daughter had become, but it is so sad that it sometimes takes a loved one of ours to be dying and deteriorating before we try and fix our relationships with one another. I wish there was a way to get people to realize that nothing is guaranteed and we aren't promised tomorrow. We must settle the issues before it is too late. A lifetime of guilt is far worse than a heated, overdue conversation that has most likely lost its cause in the years of pointless anger and resentment.
DeleteI watched the film Still Alice over the summer with my stepmom. I really enjoyed the film. I thought that Julianne Moore did an amazing job as Alice; I can imagine it was a difficult role to play, but I really enjoyed her portrayal of the character. I am not usually someone who cries while watching movies, but I was getting teary-eyed watching this film. It was so sad to see someone as educated and intelligent as Alice losing her cognitive functions and forgetting such simple things. I cannot image how frustrating that would be for anyone, especially someone as smart as Alice who spent so much of her life learning. I thought it was interesting that even though she was suffering from Alzheimer’s, she still wanted to educate people. Even though it was very difficult, she gave the speech about how she was living with Alzheimer’s to educate other people on the disease. Even through the suffering and forgetting, her passion was still to educate, and she did not give up on that just because she had Alzheimer’s. It was difficult for me to watch how her disease progressively got worse and worse and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. But I also thought it was interesting how she made little notes around the house and notes in her phone about the important things that she needed to remember. Alice wanted to make the life she had left meaningful, and in the end, her family was there to support her, not matter how difficult, through all the hard times.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be no bright side to losing your mind. Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and the other various memory diseases are just horrific. I cannot imagine living with that kind of disease or seeing someone close to me suffer with it. It is heartbreaking to think that one day we could forget the most personal and special memories that seem to be unforgettable and impossible to forget. It seems unimaginable to forget a loved one’s name or even worse, forget who they even are as a person. I cannot begin to think what it would be like to have to see someone suffer with it. I would rather lose the control of my body before I ever had to forget my loved ones and the memories we have shared throughout our entire lives. To forget the struggles, the hurt, the pain, the triumph, the love that I have for the people that are in my life, is unimaginable. I would never trade my memory for anything in the world.
ReplyDeleteWithout even realizing it, I can see how much the people in my life truly mean to me. Sometimes it takes discussions of situations that are so absurd, but so real and possible, to realize what is most important to us. I cherish human nature and the many blessings and hardships it has given me. I take away from each experience that I have had and I try to learn from the people around me whenever I can. The only way we will make it through life is if we have other humans, enemies and friends, by our side. We can’t do life alone.
Alice was such a brilliant person and an even better professor. She has always been defined by her intellect and once that starts diminishing, she no longer feels like herself. She feels lost because she cannot remember even the simplest of things such as where the bathroom is. As time passes, she begins forgetting even easier and more personal things such as her own daughter’s name and when her own birthday is. Her mind is deteriorating more and more every day and she has no way of stopping it.
I would like to keep my mind intact versus losing my mind and keeping my body. Losing your mind is losing the essence of you. A good example would be Stephen Hawking. His body slowly losing control but has an brilliant mind
ReplyDeleteI believe there are no bright sides to losing your mind. Even if you don't have a good life or living with some kind of disease, not being able to know what is going on with your body or the world around you would be horrible. However I would rather lose my mind than not be able to control my body like with ALS. In serious cases of ALS, one has no control over any muscle movement and may lose their ability to breath on their own.
ReplyDeleteWhat was most notable for me about the film was that I could see how Alice was slowly losing her mind. I liked the idea of keeping questions in her phone and making sure she could answer all of them, meaning she wasn't completely lost yet. The saddest part of the movie was when she watches the video of herself telling her to commit suicide and Alice couldn't even remember the steps she was supposed to take after she watched the video several times in a row. This is definitely an excellent movie and has made me feel blessed for knowing what is going on in my life.
In my opinion there are no bright sides to losing your mind. Your mind is the thing that keeps you grounded here on earth. IF you dont have a clear mind then nothing matters. Your brain and your conscious are the most important things you can have healthy. If i had a choice I would rather lose my bodily controls rather than my mind. It would be really difficult to not be able to communicate or move but atleast i could still think. If i lost my mind i might as well be dead because i wouldnt even be able to understand what is going on around me so why would I even need my body? This view i have makes it clear that human nature to me is almost entirely in our mind and brains, and without them we are nothing but some meat and bones. What i noticed about the film was Alice slowly slipping away. How she slowly started to forgot how to do things and not remember anymore. It makes me think about how scary it would be to be in that situation and how terrible it would be,
ReplyDeleteA bright side to losing your mind may be the fact that you are able to forget things that have hurt you. As much as i would hate to lose control of my body, i would rather lose that than my mind. Our mind is what controls everything we feel and think which i believe to be more important than control over movement. This is also why i believe the complete loss of higher-brain to be considered death. In regards to human nature, this idea shows the importance of experiencing life and being able to form memories that last a lifetime. In my opinion, the most notable part of the film is the video Alice makes, telling herself to commit suicide when she is no longer able to answer basic questions, such as her daughters name. It was extremely sad to watch because i had to see my grandmother go through Alzheimer's and i remember finding an old jewelry box of hers in which she had scribbled some numbers in order to remember how old she was, 79. Alzheimer's is a horrible disease to not only have, but to witness a loved one suffer from.
ReplyDeleteI have seen 2 different family members "lose their mind" and I have also seen a family member suffer from ALS. I have to say that I would much rather Lose my mind. I know that sometimes people can become angry when this happens but I absolutely could not imagine having a solid mind and being trapped in a body that couldn't complete the tasks I want to.
ReplyDelete