![]() The other two aspects of death are learned a bit later, usually between age 5 and 7. In one typical study, researchers found that 10 percent of 3-year-olds understand irreversibility, compared with 58 percent of 4-year-olds. Children begin to grasp death’s finality around age 4. ![]() Kids under 3 don’t understand this idea they’ll talk about dead people as if they went on a trip or took a nap, or will hold open the possibility that dead things can come back to life with the help of water, food, medicine, or magic. Once your body is dead, it cannot ever be alive again. But for the purposes of research, scientists define a child’s understanding of death by looking at three specific aspects of the concept. No matter what your age, death is not easily defined. Some, like Nagy’s, asked open-ended questions, whereas others were more specific, asking things like, Can a dead person come back to life? Can you think of someone who might not die? Will you die? Almost all of these studies, according to a fascinating review published in 1984, relied on interviews with children. Just one study looked at this topic in the 1950s, followed by eight in the 60s and two dozen in the 70s. She simply asked them to answer, either in words or pictures, “What is death?” She interviewed nearly 400 children living in Budapest just after World War II, a time when death was everywhere. One of the most famous early studies was done by Hungarian psychologist Maria Nagy. As part of the interview, they recorded the boys’ responses after a doll fell to the ground with a loud noise. In the first, published in 1934, doctors interviewed boys living in Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital in New York. When judged through a modern lens, some of these early studies seem a bit wacky. Turns out that psychologists have been investigating children’s ideas of death since the 1930s. When does a child learn the concept of death? And how do scientists even figure that out? I kept thinking about it throughout the day, as I saw Emily laughing and climbing and running around an apartment full of grievers. It was one of the morning’s many bittersweet moments, a reminder that even amidst death, life goes on. “Saying good-bye to Opa,” her mom whispered. My niece Emily, who’s almost 3, was on her mom’s hip, snacking on Cheerios and watching the burial intently. And now his big body was somehow fixed in a wooden box, descending into a dirt hole just a few feet from his tearful widow, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild. Just a few days earlier, there was, there existed, a physically robust, smiling, warm, breathing man. As a couple of dozen family members circled around his grave site, I couldn’t help but think of how bizarre and disorienting death is. This is an odd film that's often a bit queasy, but it's ultimately quite powerful.Wednesday morning I went to the funeral of my husband’s grandfather, who had lived 93 years. But the real key to Come True is Stone (of The Killing) as Sarah: Her wispy, punk-rock hair and wide-set, haunted eyes make her feel vulnerable - and deeply sympathetic. And a long, striking sequence with a monitor hooked up to a sleepwalker becomes ever more breathless as it progresses into the darkness. The flickering, twitching, black-and-white nightmare images are real beauties, meant to provide a slow, eerie quality rather than spine tingles. The screenplay (based on a story by Daniel Weissenberger) has plenty of brain-bending twists that keep burrowing deeper, rather than providing a single shock. ![]() Yet director/co-writer Anthony Scott Burns - who also provided the cinematography and co-composed the music - isn't just copying his predecessors: He has clearly learned from them. The humming, sinister electronic music recalls John Carpenter, and the clinical, gray-green visual tone (and strange costumes) brings to mind David Cronenberg. ![]() Romero in Come True, including a clip of Night of the Living Dead, a character wearing Romero's trademark big black glasses, and a "Romero" T-shirt. There are several references to the late George A. This sci-fi/horror tale pays homage to horror masters of the 1980s and earlier, while also boasting enough confidence and command to advance into something fresh, startling, and surprising.
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