MovieChat Forums > Wit (2001) Discussion > Why was Jason such a JERK? He should hav...

Why was Jason such a JERK? He should have been FIRED!!!


He cared nothing that Emma Thompson was in pain the entire time. As she spends her last dying days suffering, he doesn't even try to be human at all. I could care less about the play and if it was the same there- It's unrealistic! No doctor is THAT cold, sorry. I've been to hospitals before and they never treat you like that. They're still kind and assertive. If I were Emma's family in the film, I would have sued Jason and the hospital for mistreatment of her. It was downright cruel. Same with Lloyd's character. Who cares if she was an experiment, what Jason's inhumane actions were actually constituting was unethical, and he should have been fired. Thoughts?

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My thoughts are you didn't understand the film if that is what you take away from it.

How old are you, 14? 15?

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As with much fiction, the authors/producers are asking you to suspend your disbelief so they can explore certain topics and that often means going to extremes. So while Jason's character was often a jerk, it was to point out how far some people might go and to explore such situations.

Also, I find myself wondering if Jason's character was written that way for another purpose. Sometimes people just don't know how to deal with intimate situations and those seemed to be the times when Jason was most insensitive: the pelvic exam for example. And so, he was trying to hurry through it to get the experience over as soon as possible and so was brusk and fumbling before long. In the case of the pelvic exam, I think he discovered just how bad the tumor was or had become--remember his exclamation of "Jesus!" and he wouldn't explain it to either Vivian or Susie and he rushed off right away? That sounds like he found out more than he had been expecting and needed to consult with Kelekian or get direction from him--anything to get away from facing the patient with more stark and dreaded news. In that, he was having a very human reaction to a fearful situation.

And further, at a couple different points, he talked about wanting to go into pure research, away from dealing with people: reading between the lines, he was not nor cared to be "a people person." So, he was not investing any more time or energy into people and clinical situations than he was required to--which is, while he was in clinical situation, equivalent to being a jerk, by any definition.

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Christoast, you turned away from an opportunity fror compassion and teaching and instead chose to be cruel.
What, are you fourteen; fifteen?

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Jason was who Vivien used to be. Dramaturgicly speaking, she required him as a mirror in order to learn who she was. In the classroom scene with the boy requesting an extension for his paper, was she no different? Had Jason been compassionate and warm, there'd have been no script. That need for compassion came from Susie (Audra McDonald) and in every play there must be an Iago; a Judge Turpin; a Harry Anslinger. Theatre isn't meant to be utopia. It is meant as a journey for you.

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