In 50/50, the director,Jonathan Levine, depicts the experience of dealing with disease or tragedy through the motif of perseverence . 50/50 is a film that  follows the life of a 27 year old, named Adam, diagnosed with spine cancer and his subsequent struggles to get well including the fifty percent chance of dying.  In life we are consumed with thoughts of failure and anguish that we obtain a pessimistic mindset; you are enveloped in a world of animosity and become apathetic towards the ones you love. Therefore, the theme can be articulated as through all of life’s unforeseen acts the only cure is perseverance and endurance.  The anxiety and depression that disease causes and the everlasting thought that you might not be alive the next day is immensely stressful, but Adam maintains mental strength.

Levine conveys these ideas in a humorous way in order for the character to efficiently cope with the  distress  and sorrow. This is best exemplified when Adam is in a brief period of mourning and his best friend suggests they find him a girlfriend; this manifests the idea of life’s encounters can be solved when you are oblivious towards them. I recognize that many of us in society focus on the negatives which reflect our personalities, but once you envision happiness you will mirror it. By doing this, Adam persists through his struggles maintaining the mindset that he can conquer this precarious cancer. The cancer treatments cause Adam to withdraw from his girlfriend, who ultimately cheats on him; Adam could have had chosen to grief over this betrayal, but disregarded it and proceeded with his life. I believe this  demonstrates Adam’s determined character and his set goal to defy the odds and overcome cancer. To my opinion, mental strength is an incomparable attribute to physical strength because to be mentally strong you need to have will, and Adam retains will . The stress that you will either die or live can cause emotional wreckage; this is a constant reminder to Adam and is evident when his friend in the hospital, Mitch, unexpectedly dies of cancer. From this I took that Adam grasps the lesson that anyone can die anywhere and begins to take into account that today could be his last.

When you overlook anguish and grief you can move on with your life and life’s problems can be unravelled this way, believe it or not.  I never focus on negatives because I have already lost, therefore mirroring an upbeat mindset will help you cope with misery. Mental strength is substantial in enduring pain because it allows you to look forward to the future and fight through fatigue. Adams perseverance is an exemplar for people struggling with disease or any other form of emotional distress that through determination you will accomplish your goal. It inspires me that if Adam survived cancer that I can achieve any of my lifelong passions and defy the odds; In order for me to do this I need to envelop an optimistic mindset and the motif presented in 50/50, perseverance.