Disempowerment of women, abuse from authoritarians, violence, corruption and discrimination; these are the tenacious themes of the 2008 American drama film based on a true story and directed by Clint Eastwood, Changeling. Changeling portrays the story of a working-class, single mother named Christine Collins, losing her child Walter to abduction. Soon after Christine had reported her son missing, the Los Angeles Police Department indeed found a boy who they and the boy both stated was hers, but clearly was not. Christine found the courage to argue her forced custody of the boy and landed herself in hot water for challenging the authority, with the Los Angeles police department discriminating against her for being a woman, labelling her as “unstable and irrational”, and used their power to contain her in a mental institution.
I first viewed Changeling in 2008 after DVD release of the film. I had decided to watch it after I saw my mother had hired the new release out from the video store and had noticed that the director was Clint Eastwood, whose movies I had already had previous experience with and thoroughly enjoyed. This first viewing triggered quite a strong emotional response, so much so that I was even on the brink of tears. I obviously had found it easy to be entirely taken by the film in such a relaxed environment in the privacy of my own home with a person (my mother) whom I had direct relation to, and similar taste in visual texts. I felt that the storyline was easily relatable, even to a broad range of ages, of course, demonstrated by the fact that my mother, a middle-aged, experienced woman, and I, then a young teen, both had an almost identical response.
Although the main theme of the film, a mother losing her chil...
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... are often merged on topics such as those presented in the film.
This analysis of my reading is centred upon my own life experience, values, attitudes and beliefs. These elements effected my interpretation and understanding of the themes presented in Changeling. The way I have construed this text clearly supports Barthes’ theory of the Death of the Author and correlates with Beach’s perspectives. Every individual who reads a text is influenced in their interpretation by their textual, social, experiential, psychological and cultural experiences and therefore each reading is entirely individual; this is my reading and defence.
Works Cited
Barthes, R. The Death of the Author. 1968. London: Collins
Beach, R. A Teachers Introduction to Reader Response Theories. 1993. Pgs 7-10.
Fish, Stanley. Is There A Text in This Class, Harvard U. Press, (1980), 147–174
To conclude, in the poem “Changes” by D. Ginette Clarke, the use of repetition, word choice, and punctuation revealed the persona in a well-thought out and respectable manner. Clarke was very clever in the way that she had used these elements to not only reveal the persona, but also to make the poem as amazing as it is. The persona started off as a curious man, then came off as serious, only to turn out to be a demanding and vehement person; but in the end, the persona’s special characteristics were clear. Therefore, the use of repetition, word choice, and punctuation revealed and represented the persona and his curious, eager, and desperate personality.
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