Earlier this week, I watched Cast Away for the second time, and I noticed how two scenes from different points in the movie illustrate a change in Chuck's character.
(For context: in the scene immediately preceding the first conversation, a flight attendant asks Chuck's friend Stan about his [Stan's] wife's cancer diagnosis.)
In the first conversation, Chuck and Stan sit on opposite sides of a transport vehicle (at times facing nearly opposite directions), and Chuck tries to offer a helpful word regarding Stan's wife's cancer.
Speaking haltingly and veering off on an unrelated tangent, he tells Stan about a renowned doctor whom he's going to try to get Stan and his wife in touch with. Stan's reaction is polite yet disappointed, and his posture is one of defeat.
After Chuck's isolation on the deserted island, he has an-other conversation with Stan while in an airplane travelling to a press conference.
After realizing that Stan went through Chuck's funeral and then his wife Mary's funeral, Chuck offers heartfelt words:
Stan, I'm so sorry I wasn't around when Mary died. I should've been there for you, and I wasn't. I'm so sorry.While Stan still seems sad about his wife's death, he smiles at Chuck's expression of compassion.
There are four significant differences between these conversations. First, the settings: the first conversation is static; while Chuck and Stan are sitting on a transport vehicle, it's not moving. The second conversation takes place within a moving plane and is dynamic. Second, the characters' positions: Chuck and Stan are almost facing away from each other in the first conversation, but the second is more face-to-face. Third, Chuck's comments: in the first conversation, he's trying to show his compassion for his friend, but he does so by trying to fix Stan's problem for him. In the second conversation, he simply expresses his feelings. And fourth, Stan's reactions: after the first conversation, he almost seems to resent Chuck's suggestion of an-other doctor, but after the second, he's clearly glad to have his friend back.
Obviously, the cause of these differences is the time that Chuck spent on the island. Being isolated led him to reëvaluate his personal connections, and now he holds them in greater esteem.
[Here's a post I wrote after I watched Cast Away for the first time.]
