Does Carl Fredricksen decide to commit suicide?
In the Pixar Movie Up, is Carl Fredricksen's decision to go to Paradise Falls a metaphor that indicates the intention to commit suicide?
I know that after all this movie is a comedy-drama adventure and some details of the story are omitted, as in many movies of the same genre, but thinking in a detached manner, I noticed some points that make me think to suicide.
The biggest one is that Carl can't get food easily in Paradise Falls, he is old and lame and in the falls habitat is really hard to get food.
The choice of Carl to leave the city in that way with the intention to go to the Paradise Falls makes me think to the famous phrase heard in a lot of shows (movies, TV shows, etc): "I prefer to die rather than to go to a hospice".
So, thinking as an adult, not as a kid, does Carl Fredricksen decide to commit suicide?
Best Answer
Carl can't get food easily in Paradise Falls
I'll counter that argument with another question: if food isn't readily available, how did Charles Muntz survive for so long with his 100+ dogs? That's a lot of mouths to feed.
I don't think you should apply logic from our physical world to the world of Up or else you'll find a ton of other problems with the movie. For example, how come the characters don't freeze when fighting at high altitudes? How is it possible for a couple hundred balloons to lift a house? None of these things really matter, filmmakers can't make sure that everything makes logical sense in their movies. What's more important is that the movie portrays a good narrative and theme in a fun and entertaining way. Which Up definitely accomplishes. Also, I don't think Disney would allow suicide in any of their films (I may be wrong, I haven't watched all the Disney movies). I believe Up's target audience is for children under 12 years old. An audience this young may not even know what suicide is.
Whether or not Carl planned on committing suicide (by starvation or otherwise), we can say that he definitely demonstrated his resolve to fulfill his wife's wish by flying all the way to South America. I think by risking his life he is demonstrating his resolve, not his intention to commit suicide.
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What actually happened to Carl in the movie Up?
At the end of the beloved Pixar movie Up, Carl and Russell grow closer and, presumably, spend several years in a friendship Carl needed badly after his wife Ellie died.Is Karl dead in Up?
Yep, according to some fans, Carl Fredricksen dies in his sleep after he is notified that he needs to leave his beloved house and move to a retirement home. Therefore, everything that happens in the film represents the afterlife. 'But what about the little boy scout?' we hear you cry.What did Carl Fredricksen do?
He found Russell, Dug, and Kevin to be aggravations and obstructions in his goal to fulfill Ellie's dream of moving their home to Paradise Falls, but after he read her final message to him, he did what was right and rescued Russell and Kevin, and accepted Dug as his dog.Stuff we did, Pixar's Up
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Images: Andrea Piacquadio, Liza Summer, Kampus Production, Pixabay