If you wanna have life, have life! If you wanna have death, have death!

The film Harold and Maude is a movie, like The Life of Brian, about the meaningless of life and death.  The main message that I took from this movie was the concept of hedonism, to live for pleasure because life is meaningless and death is just as meaningless.  “You can do what you want.  The opportunity's on and if you can find a new way, you can do it today.  You can make it all true and you can make it undo…If you wanna be me, be me!  If you wanna be you, be you!  'Cause there's a million things to be, you know that there are.”  Basically, do what you want because if you do not, you will regret it.

In the movie, I found that Harold represented death, or at least at the beginning of the film, and that Maude represented life.  I found evidence for this idea in that Harold seems to really enjoy death and, in contrast, Maude tells us over and over again that she likes to watch things grow.  Perhaps Harold’s growth in the movie is the reason Maude likes spending so much time with him.  That, and her love for trying new things.  This might also be the reason Harold is so attracted to Maude, although I’m not sure if you could really say Maude decays throughout the movie…  To take the theme further, Maude brought growth and, in turn, life to Harold.  However, Harold also indirectly brings Maude a desire to die, not in a melancholy manner but in one that is anxious to try something new (and excited to come back as a sunflower). 

There are a couple things that do not match up with my idea, though.  First, Maude, like Harold, goes to many funerals for enjoyment (as seen as she waves cheerily to the people with black umbrellas at the funeral).  Perhaps death intrigues her because it is something she has not tried.  Although, I’m sure she saw plenty enough death to put a bad taste in her mouth because of her history at a concentration camp.  Another problem with my theory is that it almost seems as though Harold cannot die, even though he tries so hard.  When he fakes his death for his last date, Sunshine the actress, he stabs himself with the same knife that kills Sunshine in one stab.  Obviously, in this situation the knife is not a fake, yet we can clearly see Harold stabbing himself in the stomach and the blood seeping through his white shirt.

I found it interesting that the main character, Harold, was not a hero at all.  People might say that his mom was the “bad guy” of the movie.  However, I saw Harold as the one in the wrong.  At first, we see Harold’s mom as controlling and heartless, but when we find out that her son continually tortures her through his fake suicides, we can see that she is not at all heartless.  She is a very loving and protective mother.  Harold, on the other hand, is very hateful toward her and even sticks his tongue out at her when she cries after walking into a brutal suicide scene in the bathroom.  Because the audience is supposed to identify with Harold, we are forced to view her as the villain.