Powqqatsi Symbolism

Disconnect to Reconnect Art allows people to express themselves and their opinion on certain topics. Artists use symbolism to portray their point of view to their audience. In the case of both Powaqqatsi, directed by Godfrey Reggio and The Lorax, a book written by Dr.Seuss, the artists take a similar viewpoint on nature. They both use symbolism and nature to portray their ideas about the downfalls of urbanization and the splintered relationship between humans and nature. Both of these pieces of art have caused me to pose the question: Has urbanization caused humans to become disconnected with nature? In Powaqqatsi, the film starts with beautiful images of nature and birds-eye views of expansive forests filled with thousands of trees. As

The boy is smiling and appears to have a good relationship with the donkey as there is no struggle between them. Later in the film, there is another shot of a young boy whose cart is being pulled by a donkey. Rather than pet the donkey and smile like the boy who rode the donkey was, this boy whipped the donkey in order to get it to move faster. This removal of humanity towards animals in Powaqqatsi compares to the maltreatment of the brown bar-ba-loots in The Lorax. In The Lorax, as most of the trees are being cut down, the fruit that once grew on those trees is going with them. The Lorax tells the man, “NOW... thanks to your hacking my trees to the ground, there's not enough Truffula Fruit to go 'round. And my poor Bar-ba-loots are all getting the crummies because they have gas, and no food, in their tummies!” The Truffula fruit that the brown bar-ba-loots eat is disappearing with the trees. The more Truffula trees that are being cleared out, the less food there is to go around to feed the bar-ba-loots. The bar-ba-loots begin to get sick because of this but rather than stop cutting trees down, the people continue their urban expansion at the cost of the bar-ba-loots. This represents how urbanization can cause people to see animals as things they can use for own gain rather than individual living things. People have begun to disconnect from animals and lose their sense of compassion

The sky is free of clouds which allows the sun to shine without anything blocking it. Later in the film there is a shot of a cloudy sky with the sun barely poking through. The sky is no longer clear and the sun cannot shine brightly anymore through the pollution covering the sky. The pollution covering the sun in Powaqqatsi draws a parallel to a scene in The Lorax where smog from the new factories also covers the sky. In this particular scene, the Lorax tells the man, “Once-ler! You're making such smogulous smoke! My poor Swomee-Swans... why, they can't sing a note! No one can sing who has smog in his throat.” The smog created by these factories is covering the sky and making it hard for the animals to breathe. The ponds that they live in is being polluted by all of the smog coming out of the newly built factories and the air they breathe has been replaced by dirty smoke. It is especially hard on the Swomee-Swans who can no longer sing because the smog is clogging their throats. The scene of the sun and the scene of the swans both represent happiness being taken away. The sun symbolizes happiness because it brightens up the day and brings warmth to people. The swans’ songs symbolize happiness because they are beautiful and bring joy to those who listen to them. Both of these things are being taken away due to industrialization as the smog is covering the sun and clogging the swans’ throats. This