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The castaway story is always a classic one. Tales of survival and adventure are both harrowing and exciting while being grounded in reality. Life of Pi is generally that as well, though it sacrifices a bit on the realism and adds a dash of fantasy to the proceedings, making this a slightly different kind of castaway story, but one that still follows the basic plot structure of a castaway movie. In terms of such, this movie definitely delivers, and it does so with some utterly beautiful looking visuals in the process. Where this movie really leaves its mark though is the ending. After Pi is finished telling his story, he gives another story in quick telling. One far more realistic, believable, and brutal. After this, he poses this question to the writer he's telling the story to, and also kind of to the viewer of the movie as well.
Now, before I lay the logical beatdown on this, I still want to say that this is actually a very interesting thought that made me think for a bit. Whether I agree with this take or not, I don't want to give this high-and-mighty, holier-than-thou impression that I'm just looking for the slightest logical hang-up so I can smack someone upside the head with it. I mean, I'll definitely admit to anyone that I'm one of those weird people that actually likes it when someone wants to get in my face in terms of philosophy, spirituality, psychology, religion, and general practical logic. I just really, really like finding the truth of things, whatever it may be, and I'm willing to get myself a little mentally scuffed up in order to get it.
Alright, so we're clear on that then? Good. So... I think this is a pretty mistaken way to view both the more fantastical relayed events of this story and also the matter of God. Of course, as the regulars here know, I actually definitely believe in a literal God, or at least that there is a spiritual entity out there claiming themselves to be God, but for the purposes of this discussion, that is irrelevant. As Pi said, we are given two different stories and asked to decide which we prefer. Well, in that case, I prefer the truth of course, whatever it may be. "But Arnox, you idiot. He just got done saying neither story can be definitively proven one way or the other." Yes, that is true, but we have to keep in mind two things here still. For one, we already have a logical rule for situations like this called Occam's Razor.
With that, the last thing to also keep in mind is that even if we may not be able to prove something at the moment, the truth still very usually leaves traces, if not always. So, with these two tools, let us examine the problem again. If we are trying to find the true story here, then it would follow that the more grounded and brutal story is the most realistic one. As to traces, if we look at Pi's face and expressions as he's telling the second more grounded story, we can see full real emotion behind it. Now sure, it could be that Pi is just emotionally getting into this fake story during the telling, but Pi does not strike me whatsoever as a habitual liar. You can't emotionally sell such things without a lot of practice, and Pi doesn't have any history of lying, scamming, or otherwise being morally disreputable.
"But Arnox, you idiot. Whether one story was more true over the other is not the point Pi is trying to make at all. He's saying that in these kinds of cases, it's more preferable to go with the better story if the end result of the two stories is the exact same and we cannot find the truth." No. The truth must ALWAYS be adhered to. When we don't adhere to it, we invite suffering into our lives. The truth may seem unpleasant sometimes, or even extremely nasty, but it is only when we fully confront it and embrace it that we can move on and make better lives for ourselves. Doesn't matter how many illusions you try to summon up to put a barrier between you and the truth. The truth will ALWAYS win. Every single time. The truth never changes and never can be changed. That's what makes it truth.
"But Arnox, you idiot. Maybe the fantastical story isn't for everyone else, but instead for Pi alone so that he can psychologically deal with the trauma he experienced." That may be, sure, but you go ahead and ask any psychologist how well that works. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to confront what happened to you. Once again, running away from what happened is only going to prolong or perhaps even exacerbate your PTSD. Hell, even when someone can't remember a traumatic event that happened to them, it can STILL affect them just as strongly. In fact, it's worse if the person can't remember because they suffer all the negative symptoms of PTSD and they don't even know why or where it's all coming from.
Again though, I still definitely enjoyed the movie a lot and I do like the question it poses at the end even if I disagree with Pi's own take on all of it. And there is one more argument for the fantastical story that I can't really refute, though it's not really a logical argument so much as a defense of Pi, and that is that I can't really say all that if I wasn't in Pi's shoes. It's easy to sit behind a computer in the comfort of my own home and type out exactly why Pi is wrong here, but who knows what I would say if I was thrust into the same situation he was. I would like to think that despite everything, I would still do my best to stick to the truth, but in the end, I'm just a fleshy human who's writing an article for a website of mine that few people care about. Well, regardless of what people think or how many even see this article, the truth matters to me and that is my take. As always, it is up to you whether you wish to accept it or not.
Now, before I lay the logical beatdown on this, I still want to say that this is actually a very interesting thought that made me think for a bit. Whether I agree with this take or not, I don't want to give this high-and-mighty, holier-than-thou impression that I'm just looking for the slightest logical hang-up so I can smack someone upside the head with it. I mean, I'll definitely admit to anyone that I'm one of those weird people that actually likes it when someone wants to get in my face in terms of philosophy, spirituality, psychology, religion, and general practical logic. I just really, really like finding the truth of things, whatever it may be, and I'm willing to get myself a little mentally scuffed up in order to get it.
Alright, so we're clear on that then? Good. So... I think this is a pretty mistaken way to view both the more fantastical relayed events of this story and also the matter of God. Of course, as the regulars here know, I actually definitely believe in a literal God, or at least that there is a spiritual entity out there claiming themselves to be God, but for the purposes of this discussion, that is irrelevant. As Pi said, we are given two different stories and asked to decide which we prefer. Well, in that case, I prefer the truth of course, whatever it may be. "But Arnox, you idiot. He just got done saying neither story can be definitively proven one way or the other." Yes, that is true, but we have to keep in mind two things here still. For one, we already have a logical rule for situations like this called Occam's Razor.
With that, the last thing to also keep in mind is that even if we may not be able to prove something at the moment, the truth still very usually leaves traces, if not always. So, with these two tools, let us examine the problem again. If we are trying to find the true story here, then it would follow that the more grounded and brutal story is the most realistic one. As to traces, if we look at Pi's face and expressions as he's telling the second more grounded story, we can see full real emotion behind it. Now sure, it could be that Pi is just emotionally getting into this fake story during the telling, but Pi does not strike me whatsoever as a habitual liar. You can't emotionally sell such things without a lot of practice, and Pi doesn't have any history of lying, scamming, or otherwise being morally disreputable.
"But Arnox, you idiot. Whether one story was more true over the other is not the point Pi is trying to make at all. He's saying that in these kinds of cases, it's more preferable to go with the better story if the end result of the two stories is the exact same and we cannot find the truth." No. The truth must ALWAYS be adhered to. When we don't adhere to it, we invite suffering into our lives. The truth may seem unpleasant sometimes, or even extremely nasty, but it is only when we fully confront it and embrace it that we can move on and make better lives for ourselves. Doesn't matter how many illusions you try to summon up to put a barrier between you and the truth. The truth will ALWAYS win. Every single time. The truth never changes and never can be changed. That's what makes it truth.
"But Arnox, you idiot. Maybe the fantastical story isn't for everyone else, but instead for Pi alone so that he can psychologically deal with the trauma he experienced." That may be, sure, but you go ahead and ask any psychologist how well that works. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to confront what happened to you. Once again, running away from what happened is only going to prolong or perhaps even exacerbate your PTSD. Hell, even when someone can't remember a traumatic event that happened to them, it can STILL affect them just as strongly. In fact, it's worse if the person can't remember because they suffer all the negative symptoms of PTSD and they don't even know why or where it's all coming from.
Again though, I still definitely enjoyed the movie a lot and I do like the question it poses at the end even if I disagree with Pi's own take on all of it. And there is one more argument for the fantastical story that I can't really refute, though it's not really a logical argument so much as a defense of Pi, and that is that I can't really say all that if I wasn't in Pi's shoes. It's easy to sit behind a computer in the comfort of my own home and type out exactly why Pi is wrong here, but who knows what I would say if I was thrust into the same situation he was. I would like to think that despite everything, I would still do my best to stick to the truth, but in the end, I'm just a fleshy human who's writing an article for a website of mine that few people care about. Well, regardless of what people think or how many even see this article, the truth matters to me and that is my take. As always, it is up to you whether you wish to accept it or not.
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