Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Afterlife in Pulse

I very much enjoyed Pulse but I was confused about one aspect of it, namely the way it portrays the afterlife. For most of the movie, they focused on the fact that life is inherently lonely, and thus this would continue after we die. This was even supported when the surfer looking dude (I can’t remember his name) finally spoke to one of the ghosts in the end and he said that “death was eternal loneliness.” On the other hand, Harue’s experience with the ghosts doesn’t seem to support this. When she walks into that room and starts hugging something that isn’t there, she says something like “I’m not alone.” Also, it seems to me that when people turned into the black smudges, they did it by choice. This was especially true in the scene where Junko (I think that was her name) voluntarily fades away in Michi’s apartment. Why would they want to die if they know that the afterlife is only full of loneliness?

Which version of the afterlife do you think Pulse was going for? Or do you think the contradictions are purposeful to show that we can never really understand what happens after death, even if we were to speak with someone who has died?

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