Hejie Yan Tuesday 2010-02-16

Defending Your Life

1. Which life philosophy (worldview) did Daniel Miller follow in the beginning of
the movie? Provide evidence from the movie to support your response.
Daniel lived a care free life, he doesn’t take life very seriously (when he was joking
around with his co-workers at the beginning of the movie). His philosophy is
probably “don’t take life too seriously, or else you would’ve never lived.”

2. What is the purpose of Judgement City?

Judgement City is a place where people who have recently died go to prove
themselves to be worthy to move on to the next life. They prove their worthiness in
a form of a trial, where there is a defence and a prosecution to try and stop him
from moving on to the next life. If they are proven not worthy then they are sent
back to Earth to live human lives again to learn how to deal with their fears in hopes
of coming back to the City after death and move on to the next life, this cycle can
repeat a dozen of times until the person either moves on or gets no more chances.
The point of Judgement City is to help people move on to the next life and get
smarter.

3. Who is Mr. Diamond? What does he teach Daniel about the purpose of life?
What does he teach Daniel about himself?
Mr. Diamond is Daniel’s defence attorney, he’s trying to help Daniel get into the
next life. He teaches Daniel that the purpose in life is to try and overcome the fear
that humans are born with, once one conquers the fear he/she can move on to the
next life in the universe. He also teaches Daniel that there is no Hell, people just
keep trying to move to the next life until they either make it or get “thrown out.”

4. How does fear impact our lives? Provide three examples that illustrate how
fear impacted Daniel’s life.
Fear acts like a fog and blocks real feelings, true happiness, and real joy. When
Daniel was in the playground in his childhood he was afraid to stand up to his bully
and he was humiliated.
Daniel had a good friend whose father was an executive of the Casio Corporation.
He had inside info that the company’s stocks was to go big, but being afraid to take
a risk in investing in Japanese timepieces, he invested on cattle. If it weren’t for
his fear of taking a risk then Daniel could be a millionaire.
Hejie Yan Tuesday 2010-02-16

When Daniel went for his interview he was afraid to ask for higher pay and this
reduces his quality of life.

5. Who is Julia? How is Julia different from Daniel? What does she teach him?
Julia is a woman in Judgement city who also died from an accident (close to the
same age as Daniel), Julia is a much more optimistic person, and she seems to be
always happy unlike Daniel who seems to be glum. Julia is curious, unlike Daniel who
wants to stay in the dark, he thinks the less he knows the better off he’ll be. Julia
teaches Daniel to not be afraid

6. What is the significance about the fact that people in Judgement City use a
much larger portion of their brain than the people on earth?
They use a larger portion of their brain because they were able to get over their
fears which made it was possible for them to get smarter.

7. Initially, why is Daniel sent back to Earth? Ultimately, why is Daniel allowed to
move forward?
Daniel is initially sent back to Earth because the prosecution had proved that Daniel
had not gotten rid of his fears (when he was afraid with Julia). He is eventually
allowed to move forward because in the end he over conquered everything to be
with Julia, he was not afraid to leave the tram (despite the consequences that
could’ve been laid upon him) and he almost got run over to try and show his feelings
for Julia.

8. Imagine that you were forced to “defend your life,” what kind of life would
you want the judges to see? What things in your life do you wish you could
change? How does watching this movie change your philosophy of life?
I would want the judges to see parts of my life where I take big risks, because
ultimately fear keeps us from taking risks (everything we do revolves around taking
risks, it’s up to us to decide whether we want to take the risky way or the easy
way). I would change the parts of my life where I hesitated in taking risks, where I
chose to take the easy way out. This movie has made me think, and I’m thinking
about changing my beliefs.