The Descendants: THE TRUTH ABOUT PARADISE

[zhang]

II've never been to Hawaii, but in my opinion the life in the paradise should be devoid of worry, panick, tears and misunderstanding. People love and take care of their families, just like sunshine takes care of a flower. People explore their life with excitement, just like a surfer explore the sea.
If Hawaii is a paradise, then I would see life like this. However, that is not what the movie presents to me. People lives a mortal life just like the rest places on the earth. Against to the beatutuful background, people's sadness, anger and acerbity even become more disturbing to me. Maybe to me, paradise is more about the feeling of happiness instead of a specific destination.
I hope someday I can see the real Hawaii by myself.

[ttangra]

When Matt drove Scottie to Lani's home to apologize for the misbehavior, I noticed that it is not sunny outside; but for me, Hawaii is a place where you can always embrace sunshine. Moreover, Hawaii is a place that is free from trouble.However, that is the treaky part. Life in Hawaii is not always perfect like when think it to be; people there are not always happy, either. They have to face the same problems like the rest of us do.

In the movie, Matt has to cope with all the problems that have existed long before his wife's coma, before it is too late. I believe that in the end, he will get a deeper understanding of his own life and build a closer connection with his daughters.

[Daeyoungkim]

When peolpe imagine about Hawaii, most of people would think that Hawaii is a paradise. There has nice weather, beatuful landscape, and perfect beach. Yes, Hawaii can be a perfect place for vacation. However, people who live in there can not feel that Hawaii is not a perfect place. Matt King's situation is a good example. His wife is in hospital, coma, and his daughter is trouble maker in her school. People who do not know his situation may be envious of his life. Because, he is a richman and living in paradise. But, his reality of the real situation is different. As I mentioned, Hawaii is a paridise for just vacation. If people live in there, Hawaii is a place as same as place you live.

[xueting]

I once thought that Hawaii should be a different world where there is nothing bad but is only filled with wild fantastic sceneries and simple people. However, as a matter of fact, people who live in Hawaii just have the same problems and burdens as people elsewhere would have; there's nothing special with their daily lives[,] and things are even worse.

Exposed to bad diseases, horrible accidents, they are always stressed out to deal with many trivial things such as driving for a long distance merely to mediate kids' relationships with each other, solving problems that actually make little sense. Life is always stuck with something meaningless, but people have to always move on with them. That's the real life for everyone, and Hawaii wouldn't be an exception. And maybe what people should do is just keep going, trying to find something that won't make themselves feel that bad.

teacher's note: This author does a good-good job of describing the mundane realities of life everywhere, even Hawaii. And yet it all happens in paradise. I think the subtext of this post is that the truth about paradise may be: the setting can change, but the human condition remains the same. Nice work, author!

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[HenriqueTeixeira]

Hello, everyone.

Actually, Hawaii is a paradise for us who just want to go there for vacation. Unfortunately, just like all the other places, we can see deseases and problems everywhere. I live in Rio de Janeiro and people usually think that I stay all my day at the beach having fun. Even places that seems to be paradises become boring after spending a lot of time in it. I am here in U.S. just one month and I know that after more 2 or 3 months everything will become boring, nothing will be knew anymore. This part of the film doesn't change my opinion of Hawaii. I really want to go there one day to try to surf and dance. I will probably have a lot of fun. Hawaii will be always a paradise for those who don't live there and a common place for the others.