Mad About Movies - Spring 2014.1: 21

[DavidC]

CARS and 21 are both versions of a "coming of age" drama: a story in which the protagonist gains life experience and makes the transition from child to adult in at least one essential way.

Thinking of the two movies with this in mind, identify one way in which both protagonists (Light'ning McQueen and Ben) "grow up."

What is one important life lesson that each character learns?

Write two or three sentences describing a scene from each movie that shows their changes.

[Basma]

McQueen and Ben had the same experience, they all have a goal to reach their dreams in succeeded. They learned from their mistakes. McQueen learned that family and friends are important to have a strong relationship with them, and not to give up in his dreams. Ben learned that he needs to do things in a legal way and not to trust anyone. In 21 movie I think the moment when ben get caught while he is playing blackjack at the casino, it was a big change for his career. Also, when he received the letter from Harvard School, he was disappointed. In Cars movie I think when Sally took McQueen to the mountain to show him her best thing in her life is her town. It was a touching moment for him. Although, when he become the winner on the Piston Cup race.

[Aziz Almutairi 1992]

they are interesting movies but as asked lighting learned his lesson by living weak and help-needed he learned that friendship is the most strong thing ever

[JoshJosh1122]

Hello!

I think Light'ning McQueen at the beginning of the movie is arrogant, and he does not want to care about feeling of other people because he thinks he can do every thing by himself. However, he becomes humble at the ending of the movie. Ben at the beginning of the movie is humble, considerate of his friends, but he becomes arrogant after he gets a lot of money. However, after he loses every thing he won, he turns into original Ben.

[ReemAlruwaili]

Hello,
both Mcqueen and Ben were unaware of how is the real world. they only focused on achieving their dreams, winning the race for Mcqueen and enrolling to Harvard Medical School for Ben. however, during the movies their dreams face some "hicups" where both characters needed to face a challenge in order to acheive that dream. Ben was focused on acquiring money for Harvard tuition but during the process he lost focus and endulged in the game which made him undermine his friendships and his Harvard dream. on the other hand, Mcqueen was too focused on his mission to make it to the race and winning, he didn't notice the great oppurtinity that was offered to him in that small town. both of them learned at the end that dreams sometimes cannot be achieved without the help of good friends as well as learning to put things in perspective.

Hope I made some sense in my reply *_*
Thank you for reading.

[Mahmoud1995]

I think ben matured the hard way, whereas mcqueen with experience. Ben thought that he could cheat the system and handle the money for his med school by him self but he learned the hard way that it does not work this way. In contrast, mcqueen started cloistered without friends, then with experience he learned, also, that he can't win without them.

[Ahmed algaid]

Both Light'ning McQueen and Ben have the same experience from a different angle.
They had Thomouhat and personal goals they want to achieve by any means.
Experience was harsh but it was good for them in the end.
They have realized the value of the things they own and the value of friends in the end.

[HashimSH95]

Lightning Mcqueen and Ben are two characters with goals. Ben wants the scholarship and Mcqueen wants the Piston cup. They both go through similar experiences where they make mistakes that has an impact on them and changes who they are. Lightning makes friends and actually loves and cares for them where before he only cared about himself and did not have true and honest friends. Ben realizes that he was going down the wrong way and was not pursing the career that he had originally wanted. He also was not going to be able to graduate which made him feel sad and disappointed. Both characters learn from their mistakes and change for the better.

[Dareen91]

Lightning McQueen had only one goal in life. He wanted to win the Piston Cup. He didn't care about anything else in his life. When he meets the citizen of Route 66, and he experiences his life away from the race lane. He learns that there are much more important things in life than just winning the race. He learned that he has to be kind and sweet, so he can have friends who will help him to achieve his dream.
Ben Campbell also had only one goal. He wanted to be an A student and study at Harvard medical school. He was ready to do anything to achieve this goal. So he joins his Professor Rosa team and goes to Vegas so he can get enough for full college tuition. He likes the new experience and he gets greedy. He turns against his professor and abandons his friends, but when he loses everything and finds himself alone. He finds out that his goal is not the most important thing in his life, he needs his friends who will also help him to achieve his goal.

[Mason2014]

Hi I am Mason. 21 is one of my favorite moives.
I think lots of American movies share the same social value: whether we have talent or not doesn't matter;
what reallly matters is how we choose to use our talent if we have.
In 21, at first he did't make the right decision and abuse his talent to some unproper ways.
However, finally he realized what is the most important things in his life.
Sometimes it is dangerous to overly apply the talent in an adventure; even it seems lucrative.