EVERYBODY missed the point of Cast Away (2000) │ A Video Essay on Betrayal 

*The followup-up video is finally here:* ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DBttgC8fspE.html Thank you for watching! Below is a list of some of the *genius* contributions from the comment section: *1:* @jonXler pointed out that 8 minutes and 52 seconds into the film there is a sound while Chuck records a message on the answering phone. I think this is the *smoking gun* as it sounds like a 'duck' and my grandfather thinks it sounds like a 'dental drill' 😬 *2:* @_misnoma_ pointed out that the timepiece Kelly gives Chuck is a cheap gift for a broke PHD student at Christmas time (when there's no money from tutoring or lecturing). I want to be *really cynical* and suggest that it's not even a family heirloom; Kelly could have been mistaken but I think she lied because it's a known trivia/goof that it wasn't a railroad pocket watch like Kelly claimed ("My grandaddy used it on the southern pacific"), here's a quote from IMDB: _"This is not a real railroad watch since the specific design was controlled by federal regulations, and would have never been allowed to be used on the job by a railroad crewman..."_ So I think she got the timepiece from a thrift store or maybe the University's lost and found. 😅 *3:* @notsureyou pointed out that the watch only having a photo of Kelly in it - instead of both of them - could be her just wanting him to have something to remember her by, as in "you WERE special to me," "what we HAD was special," etc. or it could also have been a guilty conscience present, i.e. "I do love him, this watch photo present proves it." *4* @ironsoul80 pointed out that Kelly's first scene in the film has her standing next to a 'Caution Radioactive Material' sign - with obvious implications - and that there's a poster with a frog making eye contact with chuck, which could imply the 'Boiling Frog' metaphor. *5:* @thatchap brought up the fact that Kelly attempted to *gaslight* Chuck with "You said you'd be right back" which is definitely a strange thing to say. I think it could be taken a few ways, none of them good, but to me it does seem like an attempt at gaslighting, deflecting responsibility, and/or alleviating her guilt. *6:* @michaeljamesmccabe pointed out that during Chuck's monologue with his friend (Stan) he doesn't say anything and looks uncomfortable the whole time; I think that in itself, a monologue is a monologue for a reason, but also on the plane when Chuck asks _"What in the World am I going to say to her?"_ there is an uncomfortable 4-second-pause before Stan responds. I doubt Stan would have known anything for sure but I think he must have had the same suspicions. *7:* @SkidsIsVFL pointed out that: "Memphis had already had 2 failed pro football franchises and were snubbed for expansion after the Oilers moved to Nashville (where they were renamed to the Titans). So hearing a Memphis native say “We (Tennessee) have a football team, but they’re in Nashville?” echoes the city’s feelings of betrayal and the question is aimed at a woman who cheated on him is chefs kiss beautiful-but kinda niche-subtext." *8:* @JamesCarmichael "You could say that Lovett fed his ex" 💀 *9:* @devlinallistair-zx5by pointed out that there could be an element of 'Hypergamy' to Kelly's hooking up with Lovett. i.e. "She's getting her dissertation, so she needs to be with a doctor." *10:* @timsimmons9995 had another interpretation for 'Kelly' which I think is superior to mine: "Kelly means "strife, war," which is interpreted as conflict, a battle, or a disagreement. We can interpret that as meaning Kelly was in conflict or disagreement with herself, or two men were unknowingly in conflict for her heart, etc." *11:* A small mistake in the video: I refer to the guy at the Christmas table as 'Chuck's friend' when he's actually just Kelly's uncle, which I believe supports my point more as Kelly's family don't want to discuss her past relationships at all and a friend would have probably just told Chuck (bro code), whereas an uncle would probably not get involved. *12:* Another small mistake, the woman I referred to as a 'stewardess' is actually a pilot, my bad. *13:* A point which has occurred to me for anyone looking to defend Kelly is that it's not right for her to kiss Chuck and declare her undying love for him while the man she married and the daughter they're raising are sleeping in their home just out of frame. To put it bluntly, there's no way Kelly was going to be honest with Lovett after this: _"So I kissed Chuck and really I love him but I have to stay in this sham marriage because of our daughter and mortgage and I'm probably going to resent you for the rest of our lives etc."_ We are on Chuck's side as he's the protagonist but what Kelly is doing to Lovett is actually really bad. "Kelly is not an honest woman." *14:* Finally, I want to recommend this incredibly deep video by 'Logos Made Flesh' who sadly has since passed away: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ECnvX3oKIMA.html I hope that you enjoyed the video! Once again, *thank you so much for watching!*

The defining piece of proof. The "office" she set up to help search for him the first year....was in the Dentists house. As soon as he disappeared, she moved in with him.

She's still not as bad as his other GF, Jenny

I agree with this synopsis. I found Kelly's behavior odd. I had a wife cheat on me for a period of time in the 90's, she carried on the double life for awhile for convenience until circumstances allowed for her to leave. Ironically she stated me something along the lines of "the love of her life," along with the ever-so-popular "I love you but I' not in-love with you." The grass wasn't greener and she tried returning, I said no. A girlfriend that I saw the movie with pointed out that Cast Away being two words was odd. I never thought much about this movie, but I believe this guy is correct.

I like this. Imagine a man who is rejected by the love of his life and finds out she was cheating on him. What does he do? He focuses on himself, improves himself, gets in shape, isolates himself for a while. Then heads back out into the world a changed man with a new outlook.

That dramatic display of affection near the end of the movie was also, essentially, an act of cheating.

Wow. That revelation is just an eye-opener. He's not just a 'castaway' on an island. He was 'cast away' by his cheating fiancee. The double-meaning that everyone should realize.

Chuck went back to visit with Bettina after she left him at the crossroads. With that last look she gave him, who wouldn't! She was in the barn getting ready to do some work. She invited him to join her in having a cool iced tea. Chuck explained to her all that had happened and how that package sustained his faith that he would return home from the island. This was better than any therapy he could ever have. She was kind and listened with her heart. It wasn't his intent to find love, but rather to find himself and a path forward. Delivering that package, was the key to that journey. Eventually they would fall in love and live happily ever after, but it took a lot of time for her to learn to trust again and for him to open his heart to her after losing Kelly. Bettina added Chuck's name to the arched entry to her land. They named their first child Wilson!

I was having this exact same argument for 20 years with everyone I knew who saw this movie. Details masquerading as banal conversation. The subtle subtext. The child's age was an obvious red flag, though the final nail which sealed it for me was when Kelly ran to Chuck to kiss and embrace him in the rain. Knowing she has a home with a husband and child sleeping inside, and chooses to run from it to kiss and hold a man from her past boldly displays Kelly's lack of impulse control. When Chuck returned the watch to Kelly, he told her that it didn't work, as in hindsight of his relationship. He said to her that he kept the picture, and that "it was faded anyway," much like their bond. He never said to Kelly that it was her who kept him alive on the island. He did declare this to Bettina in a note he left for her, as it was Bettina who gave him the "wings" to escape the island. By chance, Chuck came across her on the intersection at the right time much like by chance he came across her package and her wings. Good to see someone else picked up on the subtleties of the subtext, as people thought I was overanalysing. 😂

I never liked the Kelly character. The fact that she actually blames him. "You said you'd be right back." Like it's his fault he was in a plane crash and stranded for 4 years on an island. I never thought about her having a previous affair but I did think that time line was rather quick for someone who "always knew you were alive." Within a year and a half she married and moved on.

I admit I missed quite a bit. But the fact that Chuck really wasn`t gone that long, and his woman had already married some other guy and had a child by him, a child who was already two years old, indicated to me there was something funny going on with the woman.

I'm pretty sure this is also why the title of the movie is "Cast Away" rather than "Castaway." That's a massive clue right there.

Just an obscure thought....Chuck wasn't truly "Cast Away" until after he was rescued. The life he knew and the people in it (at least the version of those people at that time) no longer exist. He came "home" only to be a stranger in his own life.

Way back in 1981 I wrote a paper based on the thesis that Star Wars was not about the Jedi, Darth Vader or the fall of the empire. People can't relate to that because it is too distant and out of our experience. My thesis was that Star Wars about the redemption of Adaken by his son Luke fighting his father's sins to redeem his father's fall into darkness. We, as regular people, can relate to a son fighting to save his father from his father's own sins. (It sounds like a Shakespeare play actually.) My teacher did not believe it and gave me a C+ because he could see the time, I put into it and there were no grammar or spelling errors either. Flash forward to the 90's and the trilogy comes out on a VHS tape set with an interview with Lucas at the very beginning of the first movie. Lucas says, 'the movie is not about the Jedi, the Sith or the Empire but about a son seeking redemption for his father." I went back to my old high school to show it to my ex-teacher and to tell him that even back then, the student(me) had surpassed his instructor(him). Sometimes, a big story just hides the really small plot of the actual story.

Mind blown. It’s right there in the title.. it’s Cast Away, not Castaway. Well done.

He 100% cared more about delivering the package with the wings on it than he did about getting back to Kelly. So that furthers your theory. Her art and his dedication saved his life, not the desire to return to Kelly. He ended up where he needed to be, not where he wanted to be. In the end, he ended up with the lady that was also cheated on in the beginning.

I saw this in the theater by myself in Dec 2000 and it was deeply painful to me. I was about a year into my wife having left me and I felt the pain and isolation daily… so at no point did I see this film as a "goofy movie about talking to a volleyball".

A lot can change in 4 years, granted, but I always found it odd (and irritating and contrived) that she managed in that span of time to do all of the following: give up on the idea of him being alive, get over him and grieve, re-enter the dating scene, find a new person and fall in love, get engaged, get married, get pregnant, give birth and then have the baby be at least several months old by the time he returned.

The real message of the movie was, If you need to go to the dentist, don't postpone it but go immediately

What a great video. Having watched this movie a number of times, it always bothered me how Kelly acted so much in love and believed Chuck to be alive, and yet, moved on seemingly quickly and easily. Now it makes much more sense!

So he was cast AWAY before he even made it to the deserted island. NOW I get it!

Did nobody notice that the movie is literally named Cast Away not Castaway?

Me reading the title of this: "you're full of crap!" Me after watching this for 2 minutes: "That tramp!"

If only Chuck had brushed and flossed more regularly, Kelly and Jerry might never have met.

I never understood why Kelly wouldn’t come to see him. I wouldn’t expect my girlfriend to wait forever if I went missing. But to act like you don’t even care they survived is just inhuman. But the fear of being caught being a cheater makes some sense.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned in the comments -- the guy she was (probably) cheating with was Chuck's dentist. Chuck mentioned he was having dental issues when he was briefly home at Christmas. She pushed him out the door onto the fateful flight because she didn't want him to visit that dentist, fearing her cheating might be revealed somehow. His stranding was a consequence of her trying to hide the cheating.

Thought he would learn after Jenny. Better luck next time.

No most of us understood it. Helen Hunts character was a horrible person

And here I thought this movie was about a guy that got stranded on an island via plane crash, silly me lol.

Interesting and sad that Chuck's two most important relationships in this movie (Kelly and Wilson) were basically fictional.

OK. You have me. I BELIEVE. But what I absolutely refuse to believe is that a dental surgeon drives a Toyota Camry.

Im sorry but kelly was trash. She married his dentist (not cool) Then had a baby for him. (WTF!!!) Then she gave up on her career. (Whaaaaat?) Then she was ready to abandon her whole new family in a blink of an eye if he didnt tell her to "Go Home" OH, and she did all that in 4 years... Kelly was the villain of the film.

Wilson was a surrogate for Kelly and he had his emotional reaction when he lost Wilson. Wilson probably cheated on Chuck too.

I remember disliking Kelly in the film even though I knew it was perfectly rational to move on after someone is believed lost at sea, or otherwise presumed dead. That makes logical sense. There was still this... something. I couldn't put my finger on it. She seemed emotionally distant, like she just wasn't invested. I wrote it off as bad acting for the longest time, just the actress phoning it in on an otherwise great film. Now? This all makes perfect sense.

I think you’re right, the dead giveaway is the “let me get one thing straight.” And the fact that the timeline you showed works so perfectly.

This makes so much more sense now. I absolutely hated that movie on a visceral level, but consciously couldn't come up with a reason I felt it was so horrible when everyone was raving about it. So in the background, my subconscious caught all of those clues, but I never quite put it together.

I always questioned the timeline after the plane crash. She goes from getting the engagement ring to grieving, recovering, starts dating, has a courtship, falls in love, gets engaged again, getting married and having two kids, all in 4 years. (Or maybe it was one kid? I don't remember).

I am ashamed to admit that I missed from this movie any peripheral understanding that is presented here. I mistakenly thought that the movie was about two people incredibly in love, separated, and a man’s incredible survival quest.

I think this movie shows that most of our hopes that we hold onto to survive life are just an illusion. Even so they are still important to our survival.

Clearly, she wasn't mad about Tom.

I thought this was obvious ... 🤔 Kelly is living in the future , as is Chuck . Until Chuck is forced to live in the moment , via survival . They would have never married . The " crossroads " bring Chuck to his future wife Bettina . Bettina was also on the island with Chuck . Represented by the unopened package , he saved to deliver in person . Two cast always , who survived and found one another .

The point of Castaway is a long-form ad for FedEx.

"Kelly had to let you go" but she still has maps and search charts all over the dining room table. This is a woman with commitment issues. I thought I was the only one who saw the inconsistancies of Kelly's moving on.

This movie is depressing af. And when you look at it with your theory it makes it ten times more depressing.

I love the analysis...you suggest that "his entire experience is surrogate for Kelly's betrayal..." I think I would go one step further and say the story was metaphor for what he actually went through. The pain of being betrayed and eventually having to extract the pain from yourself..., the feeling of abandonment and feeling alone becasue society makes us put on the "good face" at such times...an on and on until he finally wakes up from the nightmare, physically he never was "cast away" on an island he was right there stumbling through his life the whole time; but becasue his mind was so caught up on his abandonment and pain years of his life has passed him by. Not something easily recognized except by those who have lived it themselves.

Life is like a planeload of damaged cargo. You never know where it might crash.

I’m floored by all of this. Makes a lot of sense. The double meaning of the words Cast Away… crazy.

A side note; In the beginning of the movie, they pan over pictures of Chuck and Kelly. They are shown having fun on sail boats, we see Chuck's sailing certification and a few trophies. So, Kelly is well aware that Chuck can navigate and captain a sail boat, and is possibly stranded on an island in the Pacific Ocean. All the more crushing that she cast him away. Also in the beginning of the film, Kelly is never home and is never shown (or heard) returning any of his messages.

"She had to live with the choices she made." Isn't that the biggest problem we face? No one thinks that they have to live with the consequences of their actions. You get one life. You live it but you also write pages in your book that cannot be erased or undone.

I always pride myself that I can catch things in movies but this flew over my head… What sealed it was the timeline and when Tom hanks character looked at the fridge and saw the kid noticed the age then added 9 months to that, then put the rest together…. Wow just wow

One of those "wow, how did I not notice that" moments. New twist on a film I've watched countless times. So busy watching his struggles, I didn't think past her finding out he was dead and moving on as easily as most women seem capable of doing.

When I saw this in the theater, in real time I knew there was something wrong with Kelly's timeline ... Chuck's disappearance, how long searching would have taken, then Kelly's marriage and child ... and I knew that Chuck figured it out there in the kitchen and chickened out of confronting her. However, I never put together the clues that this is the underlying theme of the entire movie. Good stuff!!

I've always thought it was a commentary on how sketchy oral surgeons are, that they're not to be trusted, and can easily be replaced by a figure skate and a rock. With nothing more than a volleyball in attendance.

Perspective and age have matured the original thought I had when I first watched it: Helen Hunt wasn't worth all that.

ironic that he has tooth pain, and the dentist is who she was cheating with. you found the answer, good job.

Been saying this for years. Castaway is one word, yet the title is a deliberate two words. He was cast away

I didn’t wanna believe it but the time line sealed it for me. I woke up my brother as I yelled “HOLY CRAP!”

For the life of me I could NEVER understand why Tom Hanks' character ever wanted to leave the island in the first place. He lived on a tropical island with year round warm temperatures (and no snow), found shelter, a water source and a food source (all for free). He didn't have to pay taxes, rent or have any other expenses. And the best part of all...... NOBODY AROUND TO BOTHER HIM. If that were me, I would never want to leave the island.

Hmmm... I always thought the point of "Cast Away" was to advertise FedEX and Wilson Sports products.

Honestly, there is something extremely Irish (thus extremely accurate) about this psychoanalytic deconstruction of the film. Further evidenced by the fact that the screenwriter, William Broyles Jr., uses female unfaithfulness and/or male alienation as a consistent theme in all of his movies: Unfaithful (literally), Jarhead (overseas tour + cheating gf), Apollo 13 (Hanks sent to space + wife symbolically drops her wedding ring down a shower drain). Not to mention the 'coincidental' partnership of Hank + Zemeckis, who created Forrest Gump's Jenny and definitely had a say in Cast Away's character development. Subconscious or intentional, I think these guys are fixated on the topic of the heroically tragic man and the invariably unfaithful woman. Bravo 👍

I knew it was awkward but I always thought they were just busy working adults😂😂😂

The most obvious giveaway was the moment of her relief when Chuck asked "We have a pro football team now, but they're in Nashville?" - just too obvious.

I thought the whole point of the film was that UPS doesn’t take as long to deliver a package as Fed Ex.

The screenplay was written by William Broyles Jr who also wrote the screenplay for unfaithful.

The light Chuck flicked on and off when he got back home showed him more loyalty and love than Kelly ever did.

The point was - it was a huge FedEx advertisement.

I was a teenager when this came out, and I thought this was pretty obvious even at ~16. Some combination of betrayal, missed opportunity, people changing, not knowing which direction to go.

I liked Cast Away enough I bought it on dvd, but after having been cheated on a couple times, I found myself just unable to watch it again, like my subconscious mind just knew she was a cheating cheater who cheated on chuck the whole time. Makes sense.

the frayed noose at the island cliff signifies he wasn't "hung" enough for her, and Wilson floating away signifies his castration, and thus ultimate escape from her.

The dentist timeline I think is best case for this theory . Also highlights why writers would in so much dental references . There’s more layers and meanings to the film . Big one to the ending is doing the right thing and not allowing her to disrupt her family by giving up what he wanted most . A man who raced the clock off and on the island now uses time for what matters most , people not career .

I’ve been saying since the day I saw this it didn’t take her long to get over him- married and has a baby within 4 years of him going missing. That leaves almost no time for grieving. He wasn’t gone that long at all. Never made any sense to me. You may have taken a little artistic license here, but your theory is spot on. Well done!

Rewatching this film shortly after my wife left me, it really did seem like a cheating /breakup movie. The slow burn relationship abrubtly ending in flames. The feeling of total abandomrnt, and isolation. All of the stuggles just to make it through one more day. And the final acceptance of fact. And of course in the end, the ''now what?'' moment.

That fact always bothered me since watching this in a theatre. She got over him REAL quick.

If youve ever had a woman be head over heels in love with you, its easy to tell, she was not in love with him

I always thought the point of the movie was: Don't work for FedEx

It's the Casablanca effect. The story gets better and better as your mind participates. It's the reason you'll watch a movie 100 times. It's a different movie each time when you consider the back stories and motivations.

Rose was on her back before the lobsters finished Jack, so Tom Hanks should have known better.

Her lack of excitement when seeing him (at the start of the film) always made me feel uncomfortable.

Actually makes alot of sense. After the meeting and he figures it all out. He seemingly is fine and ready to live and get the girl who really helped him off the island.

Wow! I thought this movie was about a guy who survived a plane crash !

I was at FedEx working way in the background during the scene when they filmed the goodbye part, everyone was talking nonstop about them being there and everyone said tom was the nicest guy and was talking to all us workers when they weren't filming.

I always thought that she didn't wait very long to marry and have a kid.

Lol at these people thinking she couldn't have cheated on him because she loved him 🤣 Women will cheat on their soul mates, bruv.

Most interesting study. And, like it or not, the film has all necessary supporting elements to this hypothesis. Following the same line of thinking, ending up marooned in that island actually saved Chuck from either (a) a heartbreaking dump by Kelly (who according to this theory will drop him like a lead jacket as soon as she performed her title defense dissertation); or, (b) a doomed marriage since following the same logic, if Kelly failed to gain the resolve and moral fortitude to do the right thing and end their relationship, she most likely would have ended up marrying him, not out of love but out of convenience since he was the sound financial logical choice over a dentist, being a regional Exec Manager for FedEx in Eastern Europe already. Yet, it is unlikely she would have the decency to break her established cheating cycle and very likely would have continued her duplicitous liaison. Hence, his forced staying in the island may have actually saved him: penitentiaries... and graveyards are chock-full of betrayed husbands. Definitely, it's a most interesting analysis.

And here I thought the movie was about a ''special'' relationship between a Man and his Volleyball...

All these years and I never looked at Cast Away like this before. Boy do I feel stupid.

I felt that the true love relationship in the movie was between Chuck and Wilson, but Wilson needed to sacrifice their relationship so Chuck could move on - there's no way Wilson would be able to handle the amount of betrayal his beloved Chuck was going to face. Wilson was the best actor in the whole movie, and deserved a sequel - Wilson the martyr for love, adrift on the high seas, looking for permanence, home, the meaning of life - and an air compressor.

Well done. This certainly explains why it was much sadder when he lost Wilson than when he lost Helen Hunt. He had a better relationship with a volleyball than his girlfriend.

They didn't fool me! I was working at a movie theater when this came out and when I watched it I left the theater saying she was an unfaithful woman. The age of the child was the most obvious reason.

I like this. I remember watching it - may not the very first time, but thinking, "wow Kelly got married and had a kid really fast"

Wow, you peeled away the onion for me. So much you revealed that I missed when watching this movie. The image Chuck had of Kelly kept him alive on the island, but it was a false image. What an amazing turn of events.

Everyone watching this movie for the second time watched for clues about red-haired pickup-driving Bettina, the greatest scene-stealer in the history of cinema. The actress died of cancer, may she rest in peace.

I remember thinking she dropped him way too fast. The math adds up to like only a few months of grieving. She moved on before he was declared dead most likely. I remember arguing this with people when it came out lol.

Would have been a nice paycheck to come home to, Plus finding out you don't have to share it and he got his truck back.. it's like a country song from an alternate universe.

I have seen it several times but never before caught this plot line - makes so much sense and explains many things I had thought were slightly off.

I never put two and two together. Damn, she's a 304. Glad he left her when he got back.

The only one that was loyal to Chuck in this movie was a Volleyball named WILSON.. Not gonna lie I got misty myself when Wilson got lost at sea and seeing Chuck upset

Right on man! I’ve been telling a version of this story for years. You got way more in depth than I. I always look at the time line. She goes from losing her fiancé in a horrific situation, deals with the grief, finally gets convinced to get out there again and go on a date with a dentist, keep dating him, fall in love, get married and have a child old enough to walk by herself, all in the span of 4 1/2 years!?! Freaking tramp! If I lost my wife (no matter how it happened) I’d be devastated for years. I couldn’t even imagine dating someone right away let alone marrying them.

The point is FedEx is a terrible delivery service.

If only you made this video 11 years ago, you would’ve saved me a whole lot of headache.