MovieChat Forums > The Mothman Prophecies (2002) Discussion > Only Thing I Didn't Understand - Purpose...

Only Thing I Didn't Understand - Purpose of John's Choice ** Spoilers **


What was the purpose of the phone calls from Mary and the choice for John either to take them or continue to solve the Mothman mystery and help the witnesses and such? And ultimately to return and experience the bridge failure?

What was the premise Mothman was working on there? What was John to Mothman that he would require such a choice be presented and made? It was a test, I know, and I also know what would have happened had he chosen differently. But what does John become or not become if he had chosen differently?

And was that really Mary on the phone? Because it is never revealed positively and the way the camera faded back from Mary's eyes in the picture it was as if she were really there and relieved he was finally letting her go. I could hear her exhale.

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I can only say that I'm fairly certain that that was NOT Mary on the phone. If the dead could call us on the phone, my grandmother and I would be chatting every morning over coffee. Also, it would be an incredibly cruel thing to do to someone who was still mourning you...have some creature call and tell them that you would be calling them the next day. What would Mary's reasoning for such an act be?
The impression I got from the shot of Mary's eye, pulling back to the sound of "her" exhaling was that the Mothman was giving up on using her as a weapon against John, and we were seeing her memory fade a bit as John moved forward in life. JMHO

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[deleted]

I don't know who the lady at the police station was, but if it was Mary, wouldn't she reach out to JOHN, instead of going to police station and asking all those cryptic questions? Doesn't make sense. And what would Mary's reason be in reaching out to John? To make him sadder, grieve longer, think he was crazy?? Who would do something like that to someone they love? Seems incredibly cruel. If I died, and was given the chance to interact with my still-grieving husband/children/parents, I hope that I would have the compassion and the strength to realize that that would only make their pain worse. Kind of like being diabetic and working at a candy store. You can look and smell at the things you'd love to eat, but you can't have them.

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When I was a kid...no, wait. I still do that.

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[deleted]

Wow...Rude AND stupid! A double threat!
If Mary was able to
1) Locate the town that John was in, which, by the way he wasn't SUPPOSED to be in
2) Travel between the worlds of the living and the dead
3) Know what time he was supposed to be at the police station
4) Chat with the police while she waited for him
Don't you think she would have been able to wait for him? What's a few minutes here or there when you're DEAD? Was there a shoe sale somewhere that she just couldn't miss??
Any intelligent, mature person would have the insight to know that by communicating with John, calling him, meeting him, she would be hurting him by not allowing him to let her go. There is a natural order to life and death. We live, we die, and leave behind those who love us, and hopefully they are eventually able to deal with their grief and move on with their lives. By not allowing him to move on, she would be causing him pain. Do you continue to date someone who left you at the altar? Of course not. It would be PAINFUL.
I believe in a lot of supernatural things that some people would disagree with. But I do NOT believe that one can come back after death and have coffee with their still-living spouse. If I'm wrong, I hope my grandmother comes back and tells me where she put the key to her cedar chest; there's a great quilt in there that I'd like to get out without damaging the lock.

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When I was a kid...no, wait. I still do that.

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[deleted]

whippet, can you take out the screws on the hinges on the back of the chest? this way you wont ruin the lock, or get a locksmith to do it carefully if you are afraid youll break the lock.

 we all go a little mad sometimes  

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If John were to answer the phone he would never save the police lady. It was a choice: what was to him more important? to keep on feeding his sorrow, knowing that he couldn't do anything to save her back then, or to start again by saving the lady.

Just like Gordon said: "when was the last time you were happy?"

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[deleted]

I don't think that the movie really had a point. It was a story, a slice of the life and happenings in a town. Saving the police woman just happened to be a part of that story. If anything, the point of the movie was to say, "This (or close to it) happened in this town. What do YOU think the Mothman really is?" It raised more questions than answers for me.


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<i>When I was a kid...no, wait. I still do that.</I>

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What would have happened had he chosen differently?

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