The movie Nell focuses mainly on the character Nell, played by Jodie Foster. As the movie has shown, her life becomes the center of others’ lives and focuses when she’s discovered by the press and a couple of doctors, Dr. Jerome “Jerry” Lovell and Dr. Paula Olsen. It was after this discovery that all the events we know of transpired and Nell had to go through what she did.
In this paper, I’ll be discussing how absurd it was that Nell was treated so well, how the other psychologist, Alexander Paley, was right, and finally how it doesn’t matter what Nell felt when she realized she was different and how Nell could have had a much more useful life in the end. Nell was treated different ways throughout the movie, sometimes well due to Dr. Jerome, sometimes worse due to the press and other things or people. However, I find that how well she was treated honestly doesn’t matter when you think about the bigger picture. Take into account how she was treated in the hospital.
Sure, she wasn’t near as comfortable as she was in her house in the woods, but she had a bed, food, and everything she needed. The hospital was the place she should have stayed and gotten used to, for a bigger purpose she might serve in science and society. The person who was right in this movie was Dr. Alexander Paley, who insisted on that Nell should come and stay in the hospital, not just for her own sake or safety, but also for further study of how feral children develop, at least to an extent. This man had his eye on the prize the whole time and knew what should be done with Nell, unlike the emotionally biased Dr.
Jerome and Dr. Paula. Nell’s own emotions are irrelevant in her situation. The possibilities are endless when you consider how much research could be done on the way Nell developed, and such knowledge could be used to such a large extent that one girl’s emotions are dwarfed by the potential of this. Nell did not have the best life she could have in the end, but this is simply because the best life she could have is not the best life for her. As I have elaborated on some before, the ways society and science and the world itself could benefit just from studying this feral child makes her own gains seem miniscule.
When you really try to look at this whole situation from an unbiased perspective unlike Dr. Jerome and Dr. Paula did, the point that Nell would be better used for research and experimentation cannot be refuted. In conclusion, there are many things one might inquire of as to what is or was the best for Nell and what should have become of her. The answer to this situation, however, tends to not be the best for her personally, but instead for the world and our society. Research on her, though sacrificing her own individual rights, is something that would be extremely benevolent, no matter how happy she would be with it.
