Life review

The terms life review and flashback before death refer to a phenomenon widely reported as occurring during near-death experiences,[1] in which a person rapidly sees much or the totality of their life history. Life review is often described by people claiming to have experienced this phenomenon as "having their life flash before their eyes".

The phenomenon also refers to a widely-used trope in fiction, film, and television where a recap montage of a character's life is shown in a sequence before that character's death.[2]

Research and phenomenology

Commentators[3][4] note that near-death experiencers undergo a life review in which the meaning of their life is presented to them, but also how their life affected other people, as well as an awareness of the thoughts and feelings of these people. Bruce Greyson [5] described the life review as a "rapid revival of memories that sometimes extends over the person’s entire life". The memories are described as being "many". The review might also include a panoramic quality. According to Jeffrey Long[4] the experience of a life review is often described from a third-person perspective.

In fiction

Life review, or My Life Flashed Before My Eyes, also refers to a widely-used trope in fiction, film, and television where a recap montage of a character's life is shown in a sequence before that character's death.[2]

In films
  • In Armageddon when Harry detonates the bomb, images of his daughter and wife briefly flash on the screen.
  • In Vanilla Sky, David experiences this when jumping off a building.
  • In Train to Busan, after being infected with the zombie virus, Seok-woo has a flashback of himself holding his daughter as a baby and he smiles then jumps off the train seconds before fully transforming into the undead.
  • In American Beauty, after Lester Burnham is shot, he narrates through a series of important life events.
  • In Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, when Puss encounters Death, his previous lives flash in front of his eyes.
  • In Defending Your Life, in an afterlife way-station resembling a major city, the lives of the recently deceased are examined in a court-like setting.

In TV
  • In "The 12 Days of Christine", an episode of Inside No. 9, it is revealed that the entire plot is Christine's life events replaying as she dies of a car accident.
  • In the season finale of Stranger Things (season 4), Max's memories from the previous seasons replay during a near death experience.
  • In "Oshi no Ko" Episode 1 "Mother and Children", protagonist Ai Hoshino has a flashback of the life she experienced with her children and found family before getting murdered.

See also

References
  1. Donnelly, Laura (2017-01-29). "Your life really does flash before your eyes before you die, study suggests". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
  2. "My Life Flashed Before My Eyes". TV Tropes.
  3. Hagan, John C. "Near-Death Experiences. I Hope You Are Comfortable With Them By Now!" Missouri Medicine, 112:2 March/April 2015
  4. Long, Jeffrey. "Near-Death Experiences. Evidence for Their Reality". Missouri Medicine, 111:5, September/October 2014
  5. Greyson, Bruce. "Implications of Near-Death Experiences for a Postmaterialist Psychology." Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2010, Vol. 2, No. 1, 37–45
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.