The Clash Between Amish Culture and Modern American Culture in the Film Witness

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The Clash Between Amish Culture and Modern American Culture in the Film Witness Witness is a mix of genres; it has romance, action, is part murder/detective story, and is a thriller. The aim of the director, Peter Weir, is to show the clash of cultures between the Amish and the Modern American culture. Peter Weir the director likes to place characters into an unusual situation like in this film he has a Pennsylvanian cop, John Book, having to hide and live in an Amish community. 'Pennsylvania' means brotherly love in Amish. The Amish are a Christian religious group with origins from Europe, in America they are known as 'The Plain People'. The Amish travelled to America for freedom of worship. Many of them settled in the Pennsylvanian area. The Amish people speak a dialect of broken German to each other. They all learn English to communicate with people outside of the community like at certain shops where they need important supplies that they cannot get themselves. Children are taught in small one room schoolhouses, the Amish stress on teaching the '3 R`s', reading, writing and arithmetic. They reject all modern technology, they are self sufficient by growing their own crops, they remain in a farming community separate from the rest of society and they don't use electricity but instead they use a water powered machine to help drive other machinery and windmills to make the grain. The Amish wear distinctive clothes; they stand out because of their plain clothes and use horses and carriages to get into town and other villages for supplies. The Amish make a big effort to be self sufficient; they do this also to protect the Amish ch... ... middle of paper ... ..., and then shot from over the statue looking down on Samuel its like a guardian angel looking down on him. In the film John Book becomes his guardian angel and protects him. Conclusion At the end of the film I feel disappointed that they haven't stayed together, I think she didn't go with him because she had lived in a peaceful community all her life and may have been shocked by the intrusion of violence from the outside world. She loves John, but they are from two different worlds and she also has to think about Samuel on whether or not he would be safe living in another world. The film is very successful in showing the clash of worlds and the differences in community by placing John Book in their society. Variety of techniques used to emphasise the clash. Makes us think of our own lives and violent society.

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