Disclaimer: This post contains major spoilers for the movie Looper. You have been warned. If you don’t want to have anything spoiled, turn back now.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to see the movie Looper. I knew virtually nothing about the movie. I’m pretty sure I hadn’t even seen the preview, to be honest, but there weren’t any other movies showing at the right time, so we took our chances. Overall, I was very pleased with the movie. One of the great things about having low expectations is the ability to enjoy more things than those who blow expectations out of proportion.
Anyway, that’s beside the point. This morning, during one of my restless episodes at 3:30, I thought about the concept referred to as “closing the loop” in the movie. Those of you who have seen the movie will know what I am talking about. At the end of the movie, the main character Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) makes a decision to “close the loop” on himself (let the reader understand). For me, some of the greatest dialogue in the movie appears in the aforementioned scene.
Joe: Then I saw it. A mom that would die for her son. A man that would kill for his wife. A boy angry and alone. Laid out in front of him, the bad path, I saw it. That path was a circle. So I changed it.
The young Joe made a decision to “close the loop” and end the circle of violence, pain, and suffering that he saw being perpetuated over and over (at least in this situation). This scene has stuck with me and made me think lately. Is there a sense in which we often try to “close the loop,” so to speak, but often fail? Let me provide an example. There are children all over the world who have and are growing up in broken families with lives filled with pain and confusion. Some of these people vow to “close the loop” as they grow older. They will never be like their family. They will be a good husband, a good father, a good mother, a good wife. But many times these efforts fail. We underestimate the power of our experiences and “closing the loop” seems impossible. I don’t know if this makes sense to anyone. It’s not the easiest idea to communicate. What do you think? Do you think that “closing the loop” in this sense is even possible? Can people “close the loop” to end the pain and suffering in the new relationships they create as they mature? Is there another sense in which you interpret “closing the loop?”