The Road

The Man and The Boy must survive through a post-apocalyptic earth on their way to a hopefully warmer southern climate in The Road. Although it is not clearly stated what caused the earth’s decay, the Man’s narrations and flashbacks allude to some sort of nuclear war and environmental destruction. The mass destruction of their environment leads The Boy and his father towards the south, searching for food and warmth while avoiding cannibals, of which there are a lot of with the lack of resources.  

The Man becomes extremely sick, but clings on to his life just to get his son to the ocean. He believes the closer he gets to the ocean, the closer the boy will be to safety. Upon reaching the coastline, The Man dies leaving the boy to remember the things he has taught him, and to continue on southward. A man and his family find The Boy on the beach and take him in as their own soon after The Boy is left on his own, making The Man’s will to survive all the more worth it

.

The earth’s lack of light and the brown filter used in the filming emphasize the decaying planet. In contrast to this, the “fire inside” term the two use a lot display hope and warmth. The lack of colors is depressing and highlights how generally hopeless and devastated the world they are trying to survive in is. Light is so scarce in this world that the bright flashbacks are a stark contrast to the now dying earth. The essay Future Almost Lost: Dystopian Science-Fiction Film agrees with the effect of the filter and lack of color, stating “In The Road, the power and force of the uncanny landscape and the burned-out, abandoned homesteads and homes, and the power and force of the bodies that wander and hope and hunt and cannibalize one another, bring one to an experience of the future as painfully intimate, physically present, and overwhelmingly sensational.”

A strong theme I found in this film was the idea of the dignity of death, and with that, the right do die. The Wife, seen only in flashbacks, tried to kill herself, and eventually does, just to avoid being eaten by cannibals and her awful fate otherwise. The Man tells her “We have to. We will survive this. We are not gonna quit,” to which she responds “I don’t want to just survive. Don’t you get it? I don’t wanna. Why won’t you let me take [The Boy] with me”.  She reasons that "Sooner or later they will catch us and they will kill us," she says. "They will rape me. They'll rape him. They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you won't face it. You'd rather wait for it to happen." The Man knows she is right, and when they stop at a car in the road in the beginning of the movie, The Man explains to his son how to kill himself the right way with the gun. Furthermore, The Man is prepared to shoot his own son to protect him from the cannibals. Anything would be better than what the cannibals would do to them, yet The Man still holds out hope. 

The Man knew that if there was any chance of getting eaten, he would have to kill his son and himself, but still had the hope of getting his son to safety up until his very last breath. All he had was his son, and although there was nothing else to live for but him, he had to make sure he was safe. The Man had hope that there was safety somewhere, and had hope that The Boy would live to see a better future.