Simon Birch Film Analysis

Simon Birch is a profound story about 12 year old Simon Birch who is very small for his age due to being born with a condition. All through the movie Simon believed that he was “god’s instrument” due to his size, and wanted to become a hero. His friend Joe Wentworth alongside his mother Rebecca Wentworth were the only true family that Simon Had because his parent did not care about him due to being a ‘disappointment’ at birth. As the movie progressed Joe and Simon try to fight off all the damaging events that came their way. Subsequently Joe was the most affected character because his mother, grandmother, and Simon all died in the end leaving him with his mother’s friend Ben Goodrich.

B.3) All through this film moods were continuously changed through lighting and music creating a symbolic meaning behind every scene. An example

of a scene where the directors of the film used light to create a certain mood was when Joe’s mother (Rebecca) got killed with a baseball. She was shown on the ground with a shadow covering her body but her face, which was shone with light. Rebecca was wearing all white. I think that this scene symbolically represents Rebecca as an angel because angels wear all white and have a bright light surrounding their face. This symbolic meaning lowered the amount of sadness that the audience had by having an appealing scenery of Rebecca due to the use of lighting and shadowing.
Another strategy that the directors of the film used to help the audience sense the mood of the characters is with music. For example, as the Simon was sinking with the bus towards the end of the film, heartbeats were used to describe how Joe was feeling. After a few seconds the music suddenly stopped. Subsequently after Simon ended up in the hospital after the incident he died. The music represented Simon’s heartbeat by showing that the will soon die.

D.1) In the movie Simon Birch, Simon’s main goal was to find his purpose in life and whether or not he was god’s instrument. It was important for Simon to find his purpose because he wanted to know if there was a reason behind his condition. By the end of the movie it was clear that his purpose was to save the school bus that was filled with children, by taking action and becoming a leader. The reason all the children listened to Simon was because of his size. The effect that Simon had on other people was by showing them that nothing is impossible no matter your size as long as you have hope and believe in it.

E.1) Throughout the movie we were first introduced to the armadillo which had a very symbolic impact on the movie. According to what was shown in the movie I believe that the armadillo represents forgiveness because when Simon killed Rebecca Wentworth, he gave Joe the armadillo to forgive him for what he did.
When the deer first appeared when Joe mother (Rebecca) died, the deer was shown in the background to show that he was watching over Joe. The same occurrence happened after the deer jumped in front of the bus and returned to assure that everything was fine. In doing so the deer (god) used Simon to influence everyone around him on the bus to listen to him due to his size and to the reason they were all saved. As the movie ended the deer and Joe shared a connection the meant that everything will be fine.

E.2) As we continued to watch the film, as audience we noticed that water had an important role in the film.

In the lake where Simon often begged Joe to time how long he can hold his breath under water, created foreshadowing that water may be the cause of Simon’s death. If the writers of the film were not to use water as often as they did throughout the movie, the story would not have been as effective to the audience. One of the key that scenes that involved water, was during the sinking of the bus and Simon had to save a boy who was stuck between seats. In doing so, Simon had to hold his breath in order to get the boy out of the bus safely. But Simon did not survive and died in the hospital due to being under the cold water for a long period of time, as well as having many health problems.

In summary, as we watched the profound film “Simon Birch” I broke the story down into questions/categories that would help the audience have a more symbolized and detailed understanding of the film. Which include the use of lighting/music, Simon’s real purpose in life, the symbolic meaning behind the deer, armadillo, as well as

water.