Stranger Than Fiction

Watching Stranger Than Fiction in a film class setting is fun because the film displays several key aspects of film, like different camera angles, changing of colors and spaces to evoke different moods, things like that.  Watching it in a film and literature class is even more exciting because of how the film speaks to the interplay between plot and story, author and director, reality and fiction.  But what is perhaps the most interesting, is watching Stranger Than Fiction in the context of a Christian institution because it speaks to some tough topics and everyday realities we face as people, and especially, as Christians.  Through different characters and situations, Stranger Than Fiction examines the idea of altruism/sacrifice and how our actions/interactions with others can affect or change us.

Harold Crick, the main character, has heard he is going to die soon, and spends much of the movie trying to avoid this "imminent death;" begging Karen Eiffel to change the ending of her book and keep him alive.  But in talking with his literary adviser, Professor Hilbert, Harold is asked to willingly die for the sake of Eiffel's book, as can be seen here:

This scene raises some serious questions for us as viewers.  What is the value of our own life?  How much can we sacrifice for another person?  What does it take for us to be willing to die for someone else?  

In this scene, Harold says, "I can change . . . " and he does change, but not to avoid his death, but to accept it.  How did this happen?

Harold started changing from the very beginning of the film when he heard Eiffel's narration.  He didn't change drastically right away, but he became more aware of himself and the world around him, more conscious of what he was thinking and doing.  He changed even more having to interact with Ana.  She is so opposite of him, she's free-spirited, opinionated, colorful.  Ana changes him a lot, especially in the day of the cookie scene.  After spending all day enveloped in her world, he comes down to leave and she's just finished pulling cookies out of the oven.

Right after the video cuts off he realized she baked the cookies specifically for him, and that he was "screwing everything up" by not accepting them.  

Throughout the day, Harold started to see Ana as a person, rather than just a auditee.  He learned her story, and watched her life.

Hearing Eiffel's narration, and spending time around Ana, gave Harold something to focus on other than himself, which is the key to his willingness to die the way Eiffel originally wrote.  Caring about someone else made him the type of person who would tell Eiffel to keep her story the way it was.  Harold became willing to sacrifice his life for Eeffel's story, so she became willing to sacrifice her story for his life.