The Descendants: THE TRUTH ABOUT PARADISE

[maikuu]

[zuhui]

Hello Mike,
I went to Hawaii last year, and I really like there. I have been to several different island like Hawaii, and I could say that Hawaii is different and even Maldives can't compare with it. From this film I think I knew that everyone has their own troubles and people are the same no matter where they live in. Paradise is not like what people believe and the local people are not every enjoyed in their life. I talked with several local people when I was in Hawaii, they told me they are willing to move and their offsprings are moving to mainland US. Life is not they easy for every people. I think this would be an interesting movie, and I would like to finish it when I have time after class.

Zuhui

[Jessica]

Speaking of Hawaii, the first thing that would come to my mind is beach, sea, hula girls, and aloha. Hawaii indeed is a super relaxing place for vacation. However, it is just a little island on earth. People has trouble on paradise too like what we have in mainland. Islanders who love water sports will get themselves into serious trouble like Liz. Wealthy business men has tons of family communication work awaited to be made up. Kids has problem at school with their assignments as well as other classmates. After all, when you really emerge in the paradise, you probably would not feel much difference, and the life will just be like everyone else in other places.

[Amber]

When it comes to Hawaii, people will come up with leisure, sunshine, coconut, ladies in bikini. Just hearing the word "Hawaii" will make people feel relaxed. However, this is not true for residents there. Living and working in this place is no different from that in other places in the country. People consider Hawaii to be a paradise because whenever they come here, they are on vacation, and they have nothing to worry about, but for resident of the island, it is a different story. This short sequence remind me of a special group of people who are closer to this paradise on earth than anyone else in the world, but sometimes they are furthest from there. Just like Mr. King in the movie says, even though he lives in Hawaii, he has not been on surfboard for 15 years. This city is not just about having fun, but about working and living with families. From this point of view, to Mr. King and other residents of Hawaii, they lose a perfect place to enjoy leisure time.

[Xiaoyu]

At first, I though this movie is about beautiful Hawaii environment and lives there. But it turns out that a sad story came up. I'm a little shocked. I've never been to Hawaii before, so Hawaii, at least for me, is a tourism state in America, which has beautiful ocean and volcano. We can enjoy ourselves there on a vacation, relax and have fun.

However, this movies tells a sad story. King's wife was badly injured in a boat race and had coma, which means she won't wake up for a very long time. And his daughter, Scottie behaved bad in school. She showed her mother's picture in hospital on her art project, which inappropriate in class and caused many parents called to school. Also, Scottie sent text massage contained bad words to her classmates more than once. King, as a father, hasn't took care of her daughter since she was 3. Now, he is very regret and begs his wife could wake up one day and he can be a good husband and a good father in his family.

It is bad for people to regret after something bad has already happen. If we could prepare early, tragedies may not happen.

That's my feelings of this movie. Thank you very much!

xiaoyu Yang Iris

[Gus]

This short sequence shows me that Hawaii is not a paradise or just a fun place to go, it looks like there are a lot of deep problems in Hawaii like cancers, problems with the heart as an example. After that, it is introduced the main problem of the story which is the coma of the Matt's wife in a boat accident and of course the consequences of this accident to the family as the movie shows Scottie's problems with classmates in school. Probably, the story will be around the coma of Elizabeth which will lead Matt to be a better husband and father which is not going to be an easy work since he doesn't encounter this type of situation before. So basically it happens a lot of problems in Hawaii where some people think is a paradise, as some people say "you can`t judge the book by the cover".

[xyweng]

Hi this is Sylvie. Hawaii has been a symbol of tropical tourist attraction to me where the palm trees swaying in the wind and people dancing with a flower loop around their necks. I haven't really thought about the life of those who live there. This movie sequence is obviously trying to break people's illusion by presenting a family's troubles which may seems normal everywhere else in the world. Actually I do believe in an old Chinese saying, the real peaceful reclusion happens in big crowded cities rather than in the countryside with a beautiful scenery. Paradise is not about the place you live. Anyplace can be a paradise if you have inner peace.

[jacqueline]

Does heartache in Hawaii less painful? I don't think so. But people living there are truely lucky enough.

The scenes in the movie reminds me of Malaysia and Thailand, just the place along the shore. People there gave me an impression that they don't really care about working. They might have a little shop on the street but most of the time, the retailers just sat around and made jokes. I adore that life so much cause people in metropolitans are never willing to stop or even slow down their pace, which drives me exhausted really. In Hawaii, according to what I've seen in The Descendants, I can still feel it's cozy environment though King is a business guy who barely stops either.

Of course I wanna go there, the so-called paradise. Although heartache there may not be less painful, they have sunshine, beaches and coconuts after all.

[ClaireL]

Hi! This is Claire.
Honestly, I haven't been to either Hawaii or Hainan in China. Spending most of my life in Beijing, it's kind of hard to imagine what life will be on an island. I guess it could be easy to go to the beach for vacations. And life might be slower than it is in big cities like Beijing or New York and people are less stressful. Maybe people living there have less things to worry about.
However, from the movie, we know there is no such difference between life in Hawaii and life in big mainland cities. People there still have to struggle with their lives and suffer from pains. Like Matt' family, they are having the same problems as most family do, such as the lack of communication. They also have to face the devastating accident that Matt 's wife is in sick illness and may not wake up from coma. And the children issue is also serious in their family and Matt has no idea to deal with his daughter.
So, I guess there is no paradise. Life in Hawaii is the same as life in everywhere else, sucked, but you have to face it.

Siyu LI (Claire)

[reneeliu]

In the past, I used to take Hawaii as an excellent place for vacation because of its fascinating scenery, the brilliant sunshine and beautiful beaches, the enthusiastic people, the cozy wind and the delicious fruits. In my mind Hawaii must be filled with joy and laughter. All the people coming to that place seek for relaxation and refreshment. However, I knew it is not true after I watched this sequence, Citizens of Hawaii have no difference with the people in mainland. They also need to fix a lot of problems that life brings to them. Like Matt, only after his wife got hit deeply and fell in coma in the boat accident, he realized his absence as a good husband. He has to take care of his children, which he had never done after his daughter over 3. A series of family problems are waiting for him. Shit happens in every people’s life, no matter where you live in.