Christanon-kun · @christanon_kun
12th Aug 2019 from TwitLonger
The Infinity Train / Falling Down connection?
So, I've recently watched both Infinity Train and Falling Down.
Both of these deal with the subject of divorce and the main character's anger, fear, and pain in coping with them.
Granted, Tulip and D-Fens are nothing alike. They're two different characters. To say they're in any way parallels with each other would be just as preposterous as the neo-Nazi gun store owner thinking D-Fens was his peer. But it's interesting to see two sides of the same coin here, divorce is such a messy thing that tends to damage the relationship between the parent(s) and their child(ren). The differences are great, but the similarities aren't absent.
Both works' narrative structure puts the protagonist through a journey which ultimately leads them back to their family. They both stress how important it is that they just get home, finding the journey there tiresome and aggravating. There have been changes in their lives, namely in the dynamic of their family, and they feel betrayed by their circumstances. Both act out in retaliation, rebelling against their once ideal, now-corrupted system (this extends to D-Fens's country; the jury's out on Tulip's sense of patriotism). Their world, and thus their worldview, has been shaken.
But Tulip's retaliation is mere escapism, and her problems lie only with her parents, not with society as a whole like D-Fens. D-Fens is destructive, bitter, and completely detached from himself. His journey is the opposite of Tulip's in that he loses himself. He completely defies his family's wishes whereas Tulip comes to accept hers.
Infinity Train is a series about self-discovery, and Falling Down is a movie about self-defeat.
In the end, both Tulip and D-Fens come to realize that some things are just beyond their control. They even get a chance to look back on their pasts, how the tumult and the instability in their family really were there there the whole time.
As the mystery of the Infinity Train unfolds, we discover that many of the cars are the result of a broken, detached person trying to rebuild the world and the life that they lost. The train and its cars are Amelia's self-destructive coping mechanism, with the loss of her husband setting her over the edge. I theorized after finishing Falling Down that perhaps D-Fens may not have gone on his rampage if he was simply given the chance to celebrate his daughter's birthday with her; it's implied early on in the film that his wife isn't keeping him away because he's dangerous to his family, but simply to make an example of him (something even law enforcement dealing with D-Fens find unsavory about her). This betrayal could very well have contributed to D-Fens's breakdown. However, while one can certainly construe his wife's handling of the situation as unfair and insensitive, kicking a sick man while he's already down, it in no way justifies his reaction.
It's fascinating how two vastly different characters in two tonally different works, with two different audiences in mind, can both weigh in this subject with a welcome degree of sobriety and poignancy. The flaws, vulnerabilities and frustrations of both characters are realistically pronounced. There's just something about being able to make that connection.