Martin Scorsese's Hugo: The Search For Individual Identity

The Search for an Identity Identities are rare digs, but ones essential to guiding us throughout life. They emerge anywhere, anytime, and one’s environment does not necessarily have to be ideal for that to happen. In the film Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese, Scorsese develops the idea that individual identity can be found, even in opposing circumstances. There is never a wrong time to discover who you are and never any factors that should prevent that. As such, we note Georges Melies’ character in the film. His case is unusual; he avoids his identity despite having found it. These are hinted to in his actions: pushing Hugo away because of his notebook, which had sketches of Melies’ lost automaton in it. Melies’ automaton is tied to him as he is its creator. Why does he burn the notebook, then, when naturally, a creator should have been happy about the discovery? Upon looking at this in a different light, we notice that Melies is actually rejecting his identity; he is limiting his potential and happiness because he fears the consequences. He himself is the one who opposes his identity.

They spend their days in adventure, never minding what it may cost them: the station inspector and his dog on the lookout for Hugo, the annoyed guard at the theatre who catches them illegally watching a movie, the underlying danger of Papa Georges eventually catching them. Little by little, we see that the two are beginning to discover their own identities through their adventures; they have not allowed the factors that originally opposed these developments to hold them back. Hugo and Isabelle both possess courage and bravery in the form of youth that Melies does not, therefore we can view them as the driving factors that will aid Georges Melies in finding his