Comparison of Aristotle to the Movie: Requiem for a Dream (Movie Review Sample)

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January 28, 2017
Comparison of Aristotle to the Movie: “Requiem for a Dream”
For this essay, I chose to focus on the character that I believe best exemplifies the characteristics of Aristotle’s poetic works. It is a character that begins her journey has a happy, devoted mother with amorphous dreams of being on television. Her name is Sara Goldfarb, and after having a delusion of grandeur that she has been chosen to be on her favorite television show, she heads to the doctor to obtain help in losing weight before the show airs so she can fit into her best dress. This all occurs in the summer, during a contemporary period, in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Ellen Burnstyn plays this enchanting yet foreboding character and it is hard not to fall in love with her, especially in the beginning when after seeing the doctor, she begins to smile in the sun.
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This film follows the pace of summer (uplifting times) and descends downward as each season occurs through to winter, when the character’s destination is revealed. From what seems like a normal, happier life to what becomes of Sara is a total decline of control both physically and mentally. It is not until the next season, when her medication reveals to be amphetamines, which at first bring her everything she wants, happiness, loss of weight, more energy, and a newfound love from her son. Unfortunately, as time goes on, the medication stops working as it did when she began as her body becomes adjusted to the pills and dosage. The sadness for the watcher becomes intensified as the film goes on, especially when she tries telling her doctor numerous times that something is very wrong and the dosage has stopped working. Yet, the doctor just consoles her and tells her everything is fine. This is a very sad commentary on the world we live in.
As the film progresses, she begins to up her dosage on her own, and finally triples the number of pills she is taking. She begins to go through what is known as “amphetamine psychosis” which results in her having horrific delusions of the TV taking over her home and the fridge trying to attack her because of a lack of food. Her physical appearance changes drastically as she begins to stay up for days at a time watching the television until she passes out from her body succumbing to the tiredne...