Black Balloon Reflection

726 Words2 Pages

I’m guessing by now most of us would think that we are tolerant, open-minded and accepting of those with special needs, but what if a stranger walked into your house, while you were taking a shower. It’s an extreme act of weirdness and just plain eerie. Will you still be the tolerant, open-minded and accepting person you said you would be? Would you act reasonably towards this human being, though unknown to you, is autistic?
Would you be able to cope? That is the unspoken challenge laid down by “The Black Balloon,” an unsentimental; harrowing portrait of a middle-class Australia family whose oldest son has severe autism compounded by ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Would you find in yourself the seemingly infinite reserves of love and patience possessed by the Mollisons, the movie’s roaming, highly stressed army family who have just moved to the Suburbs of Sydney? “The Black Balloon,” is a coming of age film, directed by Elissa Down. Elissa actually grew up with two autistic brothers and It’s that personal touch that she brings to the film that gives it its vibe. The younger brother of Elissa served as the model for Charlie played by Luke Ford, a mute who communicates in sign language and heaving, wheezing grunts. When calm, Charlie is adorably playful and cuddlesome, but when agitated, which can be trigged by the slightest misunderstanding, which is often, he makes noises that assume an untamed intensity. During his most uncontrollable tantrums, he becomes a desperate wild animal, flailing, spitting and biting. Luke ford makes Charlie a character whose complexity transcends his disability. He gives a performance so convincing both in its physicality and emotional complexion that you do wonder whether he’s actuall...

... middle of paper ...

...ll understand that I’m surprised when “The Black Balloon” proved to be so original and captivating. The key is authenticity. From the interesting title sequence at the start, I was drawn into the challenges of life suffering a developmental disability While, I suppose, as an outsider myself could never fully appreciate just how demanding such a life could be, the film gives us a good idea. It was a learning experience for me; as I had never really acknowledged the disability and really given thought of the struggle the family goes through.
So the question is this does the film look up to the teen film genre? The answer is clearly yes. “The Black Balloon” fearlessly reaches outside the box and opens up new challenges in the way we think about people. “The Black Balloon” revitalises the teen film genre. “The Black Balloon” is a film of which to be proud about.

Show More
Related

  • What Is The Theme Of Redemption In Sling Blade

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the beginning of the movie, people seem to have a fascination over a man with a mental disability. After telling his story another

    Read More

  • Andre Dubus 'Why The Able-Bodied Still Don' T Get It

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most people feel relatively uncomfortable when they meet someone with an obvious physical disability. Usually, the disability seems to stand out in ones mind so much that they often forget the person is still a person. In turn, their discomfort is likely to betray their actions, making the other person uncomfortable too. People with disabilities have goals, dreams, wants and desires similar to people without disabilities. Andre Dubus points out very clearly in his article, "Why the Able-bodied Still Don't Get It," how people's attitudes toward "cripples" effect them. It's is evident that although our society has come a long way with excepting those with physical disabilities, people do not understand that those with physical disabilities are as much human as the next person

    Read More

  • Use of Allusion and Symbolism in Edward Scissorhands

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, by using the production elements of both allusion and symbolism; director Tim Burton has created the film in such a manner by making deliberate choices in order to invite a certain response. The film is constructed and given greater depth through the allusion to elements from other genres and ridicules the suburbia’s materialism and lack of imagination, which in turn enhances the invited response.

    Read More

  • Reflection Of Including Samuel

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dan and Betsy go through their emotions on hearing about Samuel condition of cerebral palsy. The roll coaster of emotion they felt. As a parent I could relate to their emotion of having a child with disabilities. I would love my child regards of condition but the emotion I would feel would be fear. Dan and Betsy both went through fear; asking themselves what about his education, and interaction with others. I would have those same question; as

    Read More

  • The Movie The Hammer

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    The movie starts off by introducing a little boy named Matt. We find out that Matt is completely deaf. His grandfather doesn’t take the new lightly and is slightly in denial on the fact that his grandson is deaf. The baby’s mother talks about deaf schools and teaching the boy sign language. The grandfather doesn’t believe in those kind of institutions and believes his grandson would learn how to communicate through Oral education; teaching him how to read lips. The movie fast-forwards into the little boy’s life in elementary school. He’s put into a special-education class, when he’s clearly fine; his only problem is that’s he’s deaf. After watching this scene in the movie, it had me thinking. Not only was this little boy being singled out for one small difference than others, but he was seen as dumber than others because of it. Although this happened years ago, this reminds me of society today. Often time’s people treat others that don’t blend in, differently. People also believe they’re much better than others who have a form of disability, when in fact this is not true. Throughout his childhood he’s often bullied by other kids for being deaf. His grandfather starts to teach him how to talk by making him feel his vocal cords as he speaks. He also encourages him to join the wrestling team. It was difficult for him to adjust to the team because he would hav...

    Read More

  • Mary and Max: A Dark Tale of Two People Finding the Light

    1639 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mary and Max tells the heart warming tale of a lonely 8 year old girl from Australia and a 44 year old man plagued by Aspergers and anxiety who are able to develop a friendship through writing letters. Mary Daisy Dinkle loves three things: her pet rooster, sweetened condensed milk, and the Noblets, a children’s tv show. With parents absent from her life and the kids at school bullying her for her birthmark, Mary is only able to find solace in someone thousands of miles away. Max Jerry Horowitz also loves Noblets, chooses the same lottery tickets every time and suffers from anxious overeating and not being able to understand others due to his Aspergers. While Mary’s demand for advice is often a heavy burden, Max is still grateful for his only friendship with Mary. After premiering at the Sundance festival in 2009, Mary and Max went on to receive a few small awards within its own genre. Despite its lack of international success, Mary and Max has still been able to grip the hearts of those who have viewed it. With not only holding a unique entertainment factor, but also a gripping message, it is important to analyze what makes Adam Elliot’s Mary and Max such a powerful film.

    Read More

  • Diving Bell And The Butterfly

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hello everyone, I welcome you to “Inside a Directors Mind”. For those unfamiliar with my work, I am Julian Schnabel, director of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. This film follows the tragic struggles Jean-Dominique Bauby faces, a young man who suffers from locked in syndrome; a stroke causing the body and facial muscles to be immobilized while consciousness and eye movement remains. My purpose for tonight is to share three aspects this film employs, allowing it to reach its level of success. These aspects include sound techniques, visual motifs, metaphors and camera angles. Adding to these features, this film also explores the resilience of the human spirit, showing how robust one’s will to survive can be.

    Read More

  • Black Swan Analysis

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even aside from the ambiguity of what is real within the text of the film, Black Swan clearly presents imagery that goes beyond what is seen and experienced in our world. Based on Arnheim’s perspective, Black Swan is art because it experiments with the forms of color, sound, framing, and with editing of time and space. Application of his theories illuminates the ways in which these aspects of film effect viewers’ process of making sense of reality, and how that interpretive process can be intentionally altered. In this respect, any filmmaker who uses film’s formal elements to create and effectively communicate meaning over and above simply conveying what was in front of the camera at the time can be said to be creating art.

    Read More

  • Reflection Of Half The Sky

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    school. All her clever children are good in school. Rebecca is the founder of Umoja. Umoja means united and is a village for artisan women who create beaded traditional headbands, necklaces and bracelets. They sell it to the tourists and in return make living out of it. Umoja foundation’s aim is to empower women through small businesses. The women built a school and are happy in the village because they can live their life freely. The women provide security to each other and have heartbreakingly accepted the condition that men have the right to beat them. Most of these women have been circumcised; have been raped, abused and beaten. They are living in constant danger and fear especially of men. Kabeh, another business owner, started her oil

    Read More

  • Inclusion's Complexity: A Review of 'Including Samuel'

    780 Words  | 2 Pages

    We had a classroom of kids with developmental disabilities, but they would not spend their whole day in that room. They would travel to different classes with their aides and do the same school work as we did for most of the time. One in particular that I remember is a boy named Josh who was friends with everyone in the school. He has a developmental disability but he is the friendliest person I have ever met. He would give hugs, high fives, share jokes, and kid around in the hallways with everyone and he was also the Sadie Hawkins king. He did great with his schoolwork as well and ended up being a part of our graduating class. Although it was not full inclusion and it was not always easy, he still got to be in our classrooms sometimes and still got to make all of the friends he did. So in the film when they show Pembrook Academy and the kids in it, it reminds me of my own experiences that I had in high school with Josh and the other

    Read More

  • Reflective Reflection

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    This reflective essay will lay emphasis on one of the learning needs I have developed during my two week taster placement in hospital. Reflection helps an individual build upon their skills and makes room for self-criticism as he or she can contemplate upon actions and make relevant changes (Taylor, 2000). I will be applying the “What”, “So what” and “Now what” model of reflection by Driscoll (2000) in this piece of work because it is a more coherent and comprehensible approach to follow when writing a reflective account and is also an easier guide to writing reflections. The learning need I chose to reflect on from my learning plan is having a better understanding of diabetes and the 6 basic medications used in treating the condition since it is a common illness on the ward I am have been allocated on for my first placement. The timescale set for achieving this objective was by the end of my two week placement that is from 27th January to 9th February and I achieved it with the help of a host of factors. In this assignment, all the names of the patients and wards have been omitted and indicated with letters and numbers for confidentiality reasons as stated in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) code of conduct (2008). The paper will primarily touch on the type 2 diabetes and furthermore on the achievement on my learning need.

    Read More

  • Autism Informative Paper

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Having worked in an Autism program first hand I can tell you these people are doing everything they can to help these kids into functioning members of society. Though some will need to be assisted their entire lives some can lead semi-normal lives. In these classrooms these programs not only focus on learning the fundamentals like all children in school (english, math, science, etc..) they also teach social skills and activities, they teach the kids things like proper etiquette in public places, safety on the phone, all the things that that isn 't 'common sense ' to them because of their disability. They work hard to help the students who are more high functioning to integrate into normal classrooms and the children who are more so low functioning to be able to do the basics and beyond for themselves. These programs are continually developing and reshaping to best fit the needs of their

    Read More

  • Reflective Reflection

    1950 Words  | 4 Pages

    This lesson is designed to review and reinforce a few important concepts about plants (e.g. Needs, parts, sequence of planting) and to also guide the students through applying a few scientific inquiry (e.g. Making observations, experimentation, discussion, reflection, reporting results etc.). The students have previously planted corn and bean seeds and today’s lesson has provided the students a chance to see the results of the planted corn and bean seeds. Additionally, seeds have been planted under and growing under the following conditions: without water, and without soil. The students see the results of these seeds planted under these conditions for the past week. Two plants in particular have already been grown their growth has been

    Read More

  • Disability Reflection Paper

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    People with disabilities are still people, they are people with hearts and they are actual physical beings; people with disabilities do their best to live every day to their fullest, yet that is still not enough for others. I feel like as a whole, humans are generally uncomfortable with people who have disabilities. Let’s think of it this way, people live their life every day in their normal lives and then they come across a person with a disability and suddenly their life is interrupted, like it is such a barrier in their flow of life to come across someone different from themselves.

    Read More

More about Black Balloon Reflection

Open Document