The Fountain Symbolism

The Fountain by Darren Aronosky is a beautiful movie that conveys the character Thomas, also known as Tommy, going through a series of life events to complete what his wife Izzi wanted his to complete. This movie talks about 4 main ideas that, all relate to Tommy. These include Shibalba, Death as the Road to Awe, Death as an act of Creation, and Death as a Disease. Shibabla is a dying star that represents a Mayan belief. In this Mayan belief when the star explodes it represents death. We only hear about Death being the road to Awe when Izzi is talking about Moses Morales’s dad. As well as Shibalba being part of the Mayan culture Death as an act of Creation is also a Mayan Myth. Out of all of this Tommy seems to only believe that Death is a
This is why she tells Tommy to finish the book that she has been working on from her last days on the Earth. She also knew that Tommy might never finish the book, until he realized that you can’t go away from death. It happens to anyone and everyone. This is why when she is in the hospital she tells him about Moses Morales’s dad. She states, “Listen. He said if they dug his father’s body up, he would be gone. They planted a seed over his grave. The seed became a tree. He grew into the wood into the bloom. And when a sparrow ate the tree’s fruit his father flew with the birds. He said death was his father’s road to awe”. This is why Izzi wanted Tommy to put a seed in her tomb. She wanted Tommy to understand that she would never be completely away from him. She would always be around him wherever he is. When Tommy accepts to finish the book that Izzi wanted him to finish he seems to be looking for this eternal life that can’t be achieved until he dies. That is why he believes that if the Tree of Life makes it to Shibalba, then they will both be able to live together. When Tommy (from the future) is in space with the Tree of Life he keeps hearing Izzi's voice telling him to finish it. This causes tommy to go back into the present and see where he went wrong. This is when he realizes that Izzi didn't really want him to finish her book. She wanted him
Throughout the whole movie we see that Tommy used to think that Death is a Disease. He used to think that Death was a Disease because he worked in the medical field and Izzi was suffering from cancer. He believed that everything could be cured. This caused him to be in denial on Izzi's death. At the same time, Aronofsky is able to show how Tommy finally does his part in his marriage with Izzi. At the beginning of the movie Tommy loses his wedding ring during surgery. In a way this causes him to want to be able to cure Izzi’s cancer more. He believes that, if he is able to cure her from cancer he will be able to complete his duty as a husband. Little does he know that his duty as a husband is to be with his wife when she needs him the most. While Izzi was suffering from cancer, Tommy was trying to cure her cancer instead of being in the hospital at her side. When Izzi died Tommy found out that instead of trying to fix her cancer, he had to accept that she was going to die and be with her in her last days. This is why when Tommy (from the future) is in his own little space bubble going to Shibalba he puts on his wedding ring he becomes enlightened and was finally worthy enough. This was when he had finally reached the stage of Crown Chakra. That is why in the film when one of the surgeons goes and asks him, “Donovan is open and ready for surgery. Shall we go?” Instead of Tommy going with the surgeon he goes with Izzi and spends his last moments with