Cast Away: ‘Duty to Other’ as a Universal Obligation

What makes the movie Cast Away (2000) by Robert Zemeckis remained in our hearts for a long time is the fact that Chuck, the protagonist, after so many adventures and personal losses, returns the FedEx parcel to the right destination with a note ‘this parcel saved my life’. By this time, this parcel might not have been expected to be delivered to the doorstep by the owner after he or she would have heard about the plane crash, or even FedEx itself might not have expected that, after such crash, the above said parcel could be delivered to the due owner. Nobody can expect more than life survival in such an accident. Chuck does his level best to save his life as well as the packages supposed to be delivered by air by FedEx. What Chuck proves here is that existence is not just survival but ‘duty to the other’ can stand above our day to day survival game in glorifying our life. This is shown not only in his professional devotion to the FedEx agency but even in his sacrifice to love.  He shows so much endurance to ‘wait’ even without an obvious hope in what he is waiting for, and the entire movie displays how difficult it is to overcome terrible loneliness when man is caught in infinite nature.

His girl friend was driven by a simple survival instinct when she chooses to marry another with a loose conclusion that Chuck is dead after the crash, since a.) everybody believed so b.) no one can survive in such a crash. She did not choose to continue her life with the sweet memories of their love for the rest of her life. Such action could have made her love ( hence life) a universal one through her devotion to ‘courtly love’ (a kind of love that waits forever even though there is no much hope that the other will love you in return).  At a very practical level, such waiting could have made the situation less complicated once Chuck actually returned home (Zizek would argue that this is a kind of 'mis-recognition' since the real bad time would begin with their reunion and marriage  One can see that she runs a very ordinary and dull marriage life. Hence love remains sublimated without its bourgeoisie marriage). She fainted by the news that he has returned because the news was a shocking Real (the unexpected) for her.  This means that in her unconscious this ‘return’ was actually expected. She knew that Chuck really loved her and that love itself could have saved his life (not the parcel actually, parcel here is just an instrument of communication). When Chuck was lonely in the island what gave him hope to return and to survive in this God forsaken island was her image in the opposite side of the watch. He keeps on looking at it and that gives him hope to go back to 'civilization' rather than giving up (but by that time civilization has returned to primitiveness by simply choosing survival) . He had enough difficulties and hardships to demotivate his motive and to ‘give up’ (and die finally) but his love for her as well as motive to return the only remaining parcel made his hope constantly ignited. The only sad aspect of humanity is that there is no destination to return to after so much of sacrifice; there was no love and waiting from the other side and even the owner is not at home to receive the parcel. They have given up hope when they must actually be the ones who must be expecting such return.

After returning the parcel, Chuck seems lost as to what he should do next or where he may go afterwards (so far what kept his journey meaningful was the parcel, and once it is delivered he needs another hope to live). The girl who finally appears in the film mistakenly asks whether Chuck is lost and she volunteers to guide him showing  the directions.  It seems to me that Chuck needs no further guidance since so far he had been guided by some universal values of professionalism and love and for the rest of his life too they will be the guiding forces (not just another woman who may not wait until he returns. This again proves that she is not capable of such universal devotion for a final end). In the junction that Chuck is waiting in the last shot of the film, there are four directions to different destinations. Whither Chuck heads to will not therefore be a problem because wherever he chooses to go to, he will be guided by those values and he would be glorified by his deeds themselves even in a future unseen. For a person who is actually devoted to his duty, the time and space are immaterial. Apart from the apparent FedEx propagandist motive behind the movie, the lesson one can learn out of this is the obligation to Kantian value of ‘duty to other’ would make man glorified and can make him more than himself.  One should not give up hope and fight even if there is no immediate final end. This may  be the political lesson of this movie. 

Stuck at a crossroad