Is Final Destination deep, or just death?
i genuinely think final destination has nothing to do with death. obviously death is literally what happens in the movies, but i think death is more of a metaphor for failure, and the whole franchise is basically about what happens when you become so desperate to succeed that you forget to actually live.
the “final destination” can be seen as whatever constant goal you’re chasing. you keep thinking that once you reach it, everything will finally be okay. but there’s always another goal, another problem, another thing you have to accomplish. you become so focused on getting to this imaginary point in the future that you waste your actual life trying to reach it.
and this is where i think the whole idea of hedonism comes in. death is inevitable, and you can temporarily avoid it, but you can’t permanently escape it.
so the rational response isn’t to spend your entire existence hiding from it or obsessing over safety. it’s to actually live while you’re here. not necessarily in the “haha drugs and fast food”stereotypical hedonism way, but more like pursue what ACTUALLY matters, because death is inevitable
the characters who isolate themselves, obsess over avoiding death, or spend all their time trying to control what happens next are basically sacrificing their present for the possibility of a future that will never exist. meanwhile, the actual message is almost existential..meaning isn’t just handed to you. you have to seize it yourself.
so “death” becomes more than just death. it can be failure/uncertainty. and the fact that you cant control everything. you can postpone it, run from it, and convince yourself you’ve escaped it, but eventually, something will go wrong. and if you spend your entire life trying to make sure nothing ever goes wrong, you’ve already wasted the limited time you were given.
I feel like Tony Todd’s speech in his last scene really brings this all together. “Enjoy every single second, you never know when.”
TLDR; I think final destination’s message is to spend your life doing what you love, rather than chasing a big goal.