Research Report Introduction The objective of this report is to present an analysis of the movie A Walk to Remember.

This is a film that was released in Mexicos movie theaters on May 2002. This is a love story which may also look like a tragedy. The main characters know each other form time before, but a series of events make them fall in love. They marry, but at last the inevitable ending arrives and she dies, after a short period of time living him alone. The perspective that is going to be used to analyze this movie is the psychoanalysis. The main questions to be answered are: who are the main character, what are they really like, what are their motivations to act in the way they do. Method As it was mentioned before, the main method that will be used to analyze the movie A Walk to Remember, is the psychoanalysis. This method will be used to explain the motivations that drive the main characters to act in such the way they do. With this analysis it will be easier to understand why each of them has a certain attitude towards the situations that they face. The reason for choosing this perspective for the analysis is because understanding what moves each of the characters will allow us to get into the films plot like if it was a story happening to someone near us, maybe a relative or a friend. Another possibility is to go beyond that and not only view the story as something near, but even getting to the point that there is such a great understanding and empathy to a specific character that one feels as living the story in one of the characters. This analysis will cover: Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan (protagonists), Reverend Sullivan (Jamies father), and some of their friends. Results To start with this analysis it is necessary to get into the plot and to go with it describing the events, the characters profile and the motivation he or she has at a certain moment according to his/her way of being. The film starts with a group of friends who got together near a dam to planning a joke on a new guy (Clay Gephardt) who wanted to join their group. Next, another car stops by and Clay climbs down from it saying he was ready to do it. Landon Carter, on of this guys, asks him to follow him to a platform where both of them where supposed to jump. Landon deceives Clay so that he jumps alone, but when he enters the water he hits something and loses consciousness. Clays injured and unconscious body was withdrawn from the water by Landon. Then Landon tried to escape from the scene, but he was finally caught. In this first scene we have Landon Carter, on of the main characters; and also some of the secondary characters such as: Belinda (Landons old girlfriend), Dean (Landons best friend), Eric (another main piece of Landons crew), and Clay (the new guy). Focusing on Landon, he is a high school student who is part of a popular group. He is a teenager which can be considered as a symbol of rebellion. And to follow this premise he has a rebel and careless attitude towards school and even to life itself. Being part of a popular group also makes him think he can do whatever he wants with out consequences. But, the main event of his life that marks his way of being is that his father walked away when he was little. This make Landon grew with out a paternal figure, which most of the time represents the authority as the head of the family. This series of facts make Landon a directionless guy.

Now, moving on to Belinda; she is a secondary character. Belinda is Landons last girlfriend. Although she doesnt have much participation at this scene later on she seems to gain a greater significance. Going deeper into the character, she is a pretty and popular girl. This attributes, combined with the fact that she is a teenager just as most of the important characters in this film, make her think that she can do whatever she wants. Belinda is still in love with Landon Carter and she is willing to do what is necessarily to get him back. This background is what later on will drive her take some wrong decisions. Dean and Eric can be considered secondary characters although their participation in the plot of the movie is not as important as the characters listed before. Analyzing these characters one by one seems unnecessary because is almost of the same importance and with a similar background. Both of them are also part of this popular teenage group which is used to make fun of people; they can be considered a kind of bullies. They have been friends of Landon for a long time so they are used to spend time together. They are of a middle-high economic level and they are studying high school just as their friends. The analysis of Clay will be very limited because he is just a tertiary character. Clay is a timid guy who wants to make friends; but this desire in addition to his insecurity makes him vulnerable for bully guys such as Landon and his friends. His main task in the movies is to show how mean can Landon and his friends be. Going back to the movie, the next thing to happen is that after Landons crime was discovered by the principal of the school; the principal forced Landon to participate in after school activities such as tutoring and performing in the drama clubs spring musical. These two activities were by coincidence also performed by a girl called Jamie Sullivan, which Landon new from a long time. The difference was that she did them because she liked them. So, focusing on this new character which is Jamie Sullivan; she is another member of this same high school. Jamie is a typical good girl; she is kind, strong and compassionate. Her mother died when she was young so she had a strong influence from his father. She is daughter of a Baptist reverend, which of course gives her a context in which religion is important. But, she doesnt limit her faith and understanding of God to what his father says; she has her own way of interpreting what God wants (of course according to her religion). In school she is considered kind of a nerd. A strange fact about her is that she has only one sweater. So, wearing always the same clothing and being a nerd doesnt make her very attractive for guys. The main problem in Jamies life is that se had leukemia, and her remaining time (of life) was very short. She had a list of thing that she wanted to do. Now is time to make an analysis for Jamies father. Reverend Sullivan as it was said before, part of the Baptist church. He is really important in Jamies life. Rev. Sullivan is overprotective with his daughter and he has strict rules in his house which need to be followed. He is constantly watching on Landon and at first he totally dislikes him, but he gets time to know him better and changes his ideas about him. Returning to the movie, this coincidence of being together in both of these activities makes Landon and Jamie interact more than what they did before. Landon was

having troubles learning his lines for the musical so he asks Jamie to help him. As it was said before, Jamie is such a good girl that it was impossible for her to refuse although his dad wasnt convinced with this idea. The conflict here starts when she saw Landon at school and asks him if she will see her after class (to practice the script), and he answers her In your dreams. This is mainly because Landon as it was described before is a popular guy who wants to look cool in front of his friends. We can analyze this scene according to Freuds Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is related to his emotions, to what he wants or need at that specific moment. So, according to this his Id will tell him: she is not a popular girl; it will not be good for your image if your fiends know you are seeing her after class. His Superego will tell him: what you have to do is to say the truth, admit you have been seeing her for a couple of time and that you will see her after class. Here is where the Ego should enter and mediate between both of this stand, maybe thinking that what will be good for their friendship (Jamie and Landon) is to admit he was going to se her later without many explanations; but the problem is that we as humans have something called free will. So, no matter if many other people in his situation would have done a different thing, his decision was to hide this friendship. This situation made Jamie filled betrayed by Landon so she decides to end his after school meeting with Landon. Landon eventually learns his script by himself. She stopped seeing Jamie until the day of the play where he was astonished by her beauty and voice. Landon kisses Jamie during the play, which was not part of the script. This is another time where his Id (his emotions) was the one responsible for his acts. After this event Landon tries to get close to Jamie but she rejects him. Later on Belinda, who was still in love with Landon, and the other members of Landons group decided to play a joke on Jamie. They decided to make posters of her with a body in a bikini and her face. When Jamie saw this and all of the students laughing on her she felt humiliated and wanted to run, but Landon got there to rescue her. In this event the guilt can be laid over Belinda. So, analyzing this with Freuds perspective it is possible to think that the Id told her: you need to get revenge on Jamie because she is about to still your boyfriend. The superego would have said: Jamie is not responsible for Landons decision so, you should leave her alone. Here we can see another time how the Id can be the responsible over the actions of this character. After this Landon decides he wants to date Jamie, so he ask her if they can hang out on Saturday; but she denies the invitation because she didnt have permission to date guys. Landon thought that the best way to solve this was asking Rev. Sullivan, who after a speech accepted his proposal. This appears to be the first time in the movie where Landons Ego was the responsible for what he did. He decides that the most appropriate was to ask her father for permission instead of doing it the wrong way. In their date Landon tries to make part of Jamies list (the one she made of things she wanted to do) to be possible; like being in two places at the same time, getting a tattoo (although it was fake), etc. Later, she trusts Landon her reality, telling him she had leukemia. Landon freaked out al first, mainly because he was scared, but then he realizes that he wants to be with her for the rest of her life. They had several issues to deal with, like her needing medical attention in various occasion, but at last they decide to get married. They married in the same chapel as Jamies father and mother did; but a couple of months later she dies.

The story ends with Landon visiting Rev. Sullivan and having a small talk, in which he said he is sorry for not granting Jamies which to witness a miracle before she died; to which Rev. Sullivan answers: She did. It was you. This is maybe the part that includes the biggest reflection in the whole movie, because when Rev. Sullivan say that he was the miracle there are many thing involved in this few word. He was not a miracle just because he was Jamies boyfriend and later on Jamies husband. He was a miracle because he was there with Jamie in the good and bad moments; he was a miracle because he helped her out to accomplish many of her goals (from the list). But, mainly he was a miracle because he changed from being an immature teenager to a highly responsible and successful adult. This change was not just a coincidence; it was a result of Landon having a strong motivation. This motivation for everything that he did was Jamie Sullivan. Conclusion Analyzing the characters of a movie is very helpful to understand its plot. The best way to analyze the character is maybe the psychoanalysis, because it allows us to understand them. The psychoanalysis gives us an idea of the motivations of the characters helping us to live the movie in a more personal way. In the movie A Walk to Remember the characters have a set of motivations which are worth analyzing in order to get a better picture of the story. Landon and Jamie are the most important characters and knowing their motivations helps a viewer to have a better understanding of the whole film.