Rage against Time: The Spirit of Youthfulness in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Stanley "Dod" Warhol College

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light”.

The opening stanza to Dylan Thomas’ poem echoes its theme of aging, asserting the necessity of the elderly to live boldly and strongly fight against death and the perception of time. Age is just a number as a concept alludes to the fact that the spirit of youthfulness is within us at any age in our lives though elusive. Thus, raging against time is a necessity to keep it vehement or it fades. In David Fincher’s film adaptation The Curious Case of Benjamin Button this concept is explored in a fantastical manner largely through the eponymous protagonist in that he ages in reverse. Similarly, in other characters, the motif is observed through the essence of youth in their vocations and resolves. The film follows Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) from birth to ‘adulthood’, born with appearance and conditions of an elderly person he is abandoned by his father as an infant. In his childhood, Benjamin dwells in a nursing home with other ‘fellow’ elderly people where his adoptive mother works. But due to his child curiosity, since he is technically a child despite his appearance, he seeks adventures and to...