Furious 7 : Dealing With the Death of Paul Walker On Screen (1343 hits)
This weekend, the latest in the Fast and Furious series debuted at movie theaters in record-breaking fashion. Titled Furious 7, the movie raced to a $147.2 million debut at the North American box office and an estimated $245 million overseas for an enormous worldwide launch of $392 million, the fourth-best of all time.
Some have speculated that the reason it did so well was due to the nonwhite audience. Thirty-seven percent of the audience was Hispanic, 24 percent African American, and 10 percent Asian. The diversity of the audience was only exceeded by that of the cast. Couple the diverse cast with the exotic film locations and the powerful roles women played, and Furious 7 turned into an enticing invitation. This attractive invitation was extended to a wide variety of people to live vicariously and triumphantly through one of the characters.
However, the diversity of the characters may have appealed to some people, but the opportunity to remember the life of one character drew all people. Actor Paul Walker, who played the character of Brian O'Connor, died tragically in a car crash during a break from shooting the film in November 2013.
Furious 7 was a chance for audience members to say goodbye to Paul. Since 2001, people have watched him play the character of Brian O'Connor, the zealous undercover cop that wanted to make a difference in the world. Coming from a less than desirable home life, Brian overcame the odds, but along the way had to endure his fair share of difficulties and setbacks. As the series progressed over 14 years and 7 movies, audiences watched as O'Connor befriended Dom, fell in love with Mia, and started a family.
So when the tragic news broke that Walker had died, a loyal audience felt that they had lost a member of their family. And while some could relate with their ethnicity or s*x being represented on the screen, all can relate with the suffocating closeness of death and the all too often unexpected nature of it.
More often than not, death shows up without invitation and without regard for others. It selfishly robs us of those close to us and deprives the victim of their future plans. Brash and undeterred, death is anything but subtle while it seeks to usher you into that everlasting night. One might have the chance to rage against the dying light as poet Dylan Thomas said, but death does not discriminate and is without bounds.
So how did Furious 7 handle the death of the beloved Paul Walker? They chose to accentuate the best of death and leave out the rest. Choosing subtlety over brashness, going away instead of being taken away, Furious 7reminisced with fond memories of Brian O'Connor and emphasized the positive characteristics of a very negative event.
In a fitting fashion, the last shot of the movie shows Brian and Dom driving side by side. Then, encountering a fork in the road, they take different paths, with the promise that though they are far away, they will always be close.
Audiences left the movie feeling good, believers left the movie feeling assured. Death knows no bound and comes for us all (Hebrews 9:27). However, we know that in Christ it has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55). It has a chapter in the book of life, but it is not the last chapter. Furious 7 was good, but hopefully it leads to conversations about the One who is good (Luke 18:19).
