The film "About a boy" by the Weitz-Brothers is about a boy who has got social problems in school and at home and a man who gets involved in the life of the boy and finally helps him and at the same time himself to get along better in life.
Will, Hugh Grant, has got nothing serious to do in his life. He lives of the money the song of his father makes. His life seems to be based on getting to know women. To get his aim he starts to invent children only to get more sympathy from the single mothers.
But his life changes on the "day of the dead duck". Will gets to know Marcus, a boy who has got no friends and a depressive single mother who is a kind of hippy and has got lots of problems.
Will goes out with a friend of Marcus mother.
FOR SALE: Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass (Japan) a...
FOR SALE: Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass (Japan) a...
FOR SALE: Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass (Japan) a...She takes Marcus with her and he kills not on purpose a duck. When a park inspector notices the dead duck and Marcus Will protects Marcus. Impressed by Wills action Marcus starts to like and admires him. They go back to Marcus house and find his Mother who tried to commit suicide. They take her to hospital and she is soon well again.
But from that day on Marcus doesn't feel well by living alone with his mother any longer. "Two is not enough" He wants Will to become his mom's boyfriend to cheer her up. Marcus forces Will to go out with him and his mother. Although Will and his mother are too different for a relationship Marcus starts to visit Will every day. Will helps Marcus to fell better and to get along better in school. Will starts to like Marcus and asks him to help him with a woman named Rachel who he really likes and thinks that he has got a child. But through the fact that he for the first time falls in love he tells her the truth and they break up.
Will feels really bad and avoids Marcus, who fears again that his Mom would try to commit suicide again. To cheer her up again he wants to take part at a Rock competition at his school singing the song "killing me softly". This means to commit social suicide.
This is another turning point of the story. Will realises that Marcus is the only one who is really important for him at the moment. So Will speaks to his mother to make her clear in which situation she brought her son by acting only after her own old school ideas of life.
At the school competition Will saves Marcus from committing social suicide by supporting his performance. This impressed Rachel. At the end Marcus and Will make the experience of having real friends and a family.
Which character is the boy in the title and why?On one hand it is quite obvious that the boy the title speaks of should be Marcus. Marcus is developing in the story. At the beginning he has got many social problems in school and at home. His mother forces him indirectly to live after her opinion of life. But then he takes his life and his mothers ones in his own hand by visiting Will and learning from him. Through Will Marcus starts to change his life. Lots of the emotion and feelings go with Marcus. You follow Marcus changes in life. Through Marcus Will changed his life too. So the story seems to have the base in Marcus.
But on the other Hand the boy could be Will too. At the beginning he is acting like a teenager. He has got no real aims in life and is just playing around with women and doesn't care about other people. He is like a child who just cares about himself. Then suddenly his life changes through Marcus. Step by step Will starts to develop an adult behaviour. He realise that his life isn't very good. He even compares himself with Marcus. The Story begins with Will thoughts of life and society and ends with an. It starts with a selfish child opinion and ends with a wise opinion of an adult with experience.
In my opinion Marcus is the character in the title, because without him the changes in the life of Will wouldn't be there. He is the turning point of the story that makes it interesting. Without him Wills life would still be boring and selfish. Marcus is the heart of the story and so should be in the title.
Marcus Jansen
Marcus Jansen
His Archibald Prize winning painting was based on ...