Cast Away Analysis

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Using the restroom, eating three full-course meals daily, and having a roof over your head are common events. Imagine all taken from you. Would you be able to survive? Director Robert Zemeckis gives us a potent character struggling for survival. Chuck Noland, played by Tom Hanks, is a work-hound committed to the FedEx Company trying to expand a new branch. After an excruciating plane crash, his life is changed forever. With a whole new world in front of him, Chuck must rely on his love for Kelly, played by Helen Hunt, to survive. We are drawn into an extensive, grueling ordeal. Chuck not only has to keep his sanity -- he has to stay alive. This believable piece of work causes us to think about our own lives. Are we living the way we should? Are our relationships what they need to be? If you think of what it means to being ‘cast away,’ you can consider different alternatives. A fisherman could cast his line into the depths of the ocean -- but he still holds on, so he has not 'cast away'. An emperor of early civilization could cast away a peasant into exile. Even a high school freshman could be cast away from the popular crowd, therefore meeting new friends elsewhere. But what about a man cast away from everything he has ever known? A man on a deserted island. In this classic scenario, you would think of the man as being cast away, but in this film, the life of the man is cast away. The structure of this film is, as we shall see, a double escape. It is divided into three parts: Chuck’s life as a FedEx employee, the struggle to survive on the island, and the resolution with Chuck back in the United States. When the plane crashes, Chuck escapes his busy life. Although the crash is depicted as a horrible event, it enables the adventure to begin. We meet Chuck delivering a FedEx package. FedEx plays a big role in this film. Not only is FedEx Noland’s employer, but
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