The Curious Case of Fate and Free Will

I finally got around to devoting the necessary three hours out of my life to seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised with what I found. Since it's release, I've heard more than a few comparisons made between this movie and Forrest Gump - mainly because of the huge scope and nature of the two tales. Aside from the storytelling, strong performances, and outstanding visual effects, this movie struck me for an unexpected reason, and that is it's dealing with the topics of fate versus free will.

Anyone who knows me at all will know that this is one of those heavy philosophical topics I often enjoy pondering, regardless of how futile such exercises may be. It's just something that's always fascinated me. One of the reasons Forrest Gump ranks up there in top 5 movies list is because of its statement about the issue - the movie has Momma on one side of the equation, teaching him that he makes his own destiny, while Lieutenant Dan stresses that each one of our futures is set in stone (who contradicts his own beliefs in saying that Forrest had the ability to alter this by rescuing him from the jungle.) Forrest eventually decides that it's possible that both forces may be at work at the same time - like the feather, which slowly drifts through the air. There are things we know are true about that feather's flight - mainly that, at one point or another, it's going to land. But the course it takes, as well as where is lands, are affected by many variables, such as an obstacle, or sudden gust of wind from a passing car and whatnot. Some things will happen, others, we're not sure clear on.

With all that happening, the movie introduces us to Forrest by having that feather land on his foot, for him to pick up and stare at in wonder. I have to believe that, while Forrest may appear simple on the outside, he really does understand the true meaning of that feather, and wonders, "Why did it land on my foot?" What parts are fate? What parts are affected by other means? Just how fragile is the universe, anyway?


There's a great scene in Benjamin Button (and I'll try to keep this spoiler-free) where a character ultimately ends up getting seriously injured. Throughout the moments leading up to the accident, several smaller incidents are spelled out which, if any one of them had happened differently (ie: a woman didn't forget to leave her keys on the counter, a child didn't run across the street at one specific moment, a girl hadn't gotten in a fight with her boyfriend the night before, leading to her not forgetting to make a floral arrangement for someone running late to something, etc.), the seconds altered in the process would've been enough to prevent the accident from happening - an accident, as it turns out, that significantly affects the course of a characters life. As I stated to a friend during the movie, "this is chaos theory kind of stuff." I was giddy with excitement as the scene unfolded.

Run Lola Run is film which is built solely around this concept - that even the smallest change in our surroundings can greatly affect the outcome of any given situation. The film goes to the extreme in that we see the same situation rewind and play itself out 3 different times, but all with different outcomes. The whole thing is a study on chaos theory.


We had our own "Run Lola Run" moment the other night during a game of cops and robbers, where our initial group showed up just after someone in the area had been jumped, and just before the victim decided to call his friends and go after them. Had my friends arrived minutes earlier or later, they would've been tangled up in this gang fight, but luckily were able to evade any trouble, and we were all able to meet up for a fun game (which had an interesting conclusion, but that's a story for another time.) But that fact of the matter is that odds favored our accidental involvement in a gang fight, which probably would have not ended well. How much of that is luck? Some would argue that it isn't - that the universe has a plan, and it planned for us not to run into any danger.

Well for now, I'll take the Forrest Gump route and say that "I think both is happening at the same time." As for Benjamin Button, there's definitely a lot there to think about - fate, free will, what we do with our time given, how life needs to be looked at in reverse to understand it, and slew of other things I could write about for hours. On the topic of fate and free will, it doesn't really give a conclusive answer as to what it believes - maybe the book will paint a more clear picture. In the meantime, I recommend everyone get other there, see the film, and form your own opinions on the matter.