Is she real?
I thought so until I read some of the comments here. But it confused me a little bit. From the beginning starlite may be imaginary or she may be real until she talks to ben in the train (asking if he was allright.) What do you think?
I initially thought that everything after he got off the train was false. That she didn't save him. That she wasn't with him to stage the suicide. That the suicide wasn't even staged because he was already dead!
But now I am thinking that maybe she was never real. Only in the game. Only his healer in the game. That he made real so she could 'heal' him in real life...?
I started to think this because I saw some resemblance between her and the one girl in the class that doesn't pick on him? I wonder if there was supposed to be a link to the two female characters? Although Ben seems unaware of the classmate's sorrow for him.
"I started to think this because I saw some resemblance between her and the one girl in the class that doesn't pick on him? I wonder if there was supposed to be a link to the two female characters? Although Ben seems unaware of the classmate's sorrow for him. "
I noticed that connection too. I almost thought the classmate was going to turn out to be Scarlite. Buut...I guess...not.
I also thought it was slightly odd on the train, when 'scarlite' notices the bandage on his hand and smiles. I wondered for a second (assuming that was the real online girl) that she maybe did know that was BenX from online? If she allegedly knew he was having troubles. But for some reason she didn't say anything; maybe she was kind of unimpressed by him. I don't know though, could be reading too much into it. Maybe she just felt bad for the dude and was sympathetic which was just a part of her character. *shrugs*
She's real up until the point when he gets off the train. The two bullies saw her message on his cell, didn't they? And his mother asked him about her when he was chatting with her, didn't she?
When she supposedly saves him, that's his imagination.
Because nobody else addresses her (kinda like Bruce Willis in "The Sixth Sense") and of course at the end we see he's the only one seeing her.
By the way, even if she had been real after that, no way could she get back to him when the train already left, even if she got off at the next station and took the first train back; not with the NMBS.
"There's a difference between simply being, and knowing you are."
I thought so too, that she was real (the 2 bullies saw the message on his cell phone), and that the whole part after the train scene was his imagination, starting from when her train left, while he was looking at her.
But didn't those bullies say that they were going to be there also when she arrived? And they weren't there.. So now I'm not sure anymore..
Was she real, when he sat next to her on the train? Or was it all his imagination? (including the message on his phone?)
Them not being there, that doesn't really matter. It's the threat, the possibility of them showing up that's important, which motivates Ben to do something which he would never do otherwise. If they had really shown up and intercepted the girl, it would have complicated the plot, and any explanation for their absence would have been too fabricated.
"There's a difference between simply being, and knowing you are."
True, they just threatened to be there to mess with the kid I think. You can clearly see she's real as she askes him how he is and he can't answer, now if it would be imaginary that wouldn't happen, but in his mind he needed her to save him. I believe it's often seen in autistic people that they also develop schizophrenia.
You've got to dance like nobody's looking, and love like it's never going to hurt.
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