Accepting the past and moving forward is one of the most difficult tasks that must be faced following a tragedy. The disconnect felt between the present and the past can cause one to avoid reminders of the previous events in an attempt to escape further pain. In Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Chas Tenenbaum (Ben Stiller) struggles with the tragic death of his wife, Rachael, and his broken relationship with his father, Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman). Chas avoids confronting these aspects of his past by distancing himself from them. During the sequence in which Chas says Goodnight to Royal and confronts Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson), Wes Anderson illustrates Chas’s refusal to face the past through Chas’s behavior and the contrast …show more content…
Chas’ dissociative actions during his interactions with Royal and Richie indicate his hesitation to confront the past. Royal is staying in Richie’s childhood bedroom, while Richie is sleeping in the tent that he has set up in the house. Both locations are decorated with items from childhood in the Tenenbaum household, such as Richie’s tennis trophies, space patterned curtains and various toys. During his interactions with his father and brother, Chas positions himself in the doorway of both the bedroom and the tent. Through his refusal to enter spaces that contain reminders of his childhood, Chas has created a separation between himself and his past. This separation indicates Chas is attempting to escape from his memories, as opposed to confronting them. Furthermore, Chas’ wish to disassociate himself from the past is evident in his behavior when his father and brother remind him of it. When Royal refers to Chas as “my boy”, Chas responds by closing the door to the bedroom. Later, when Chas …show more content…
In the sequence, Royal and Richie are shown in bright, warmly lit spaces, whereas Chas is located in the darker locations within the scene. This contrast of light is representative of each character’s acceptance of past events. The bright areas are those that are reminiscent of the past, such as Royal’s room and Richie’s tent. Royal and Richie are located in these spaces because they have come to terms with their pasts and are attempting to move forward with their lives. Chas resides in the darker locations within the scene due to his avoidance of confronting the past. By providing this clear distinction between the areas present within the sequence, the lighting is accentuating Chas’ reclusiveness. Furthermore, it can be interpreted that Chas is both literally and figuratively refusing to step out of the darkness he finds himself in. He is literally remaining in dimly lit areas while also continuing to be consumed by darkness as a result of his repressed feelings. The contrast of lighting presents the audience with further evidence of Chas’ inability to reconcile the past with the present.
Chas’ behavior and contrast of light are employed by Wes Anderson to give viewers a visual representation of the Chas’ attempts to distance himself from memories of the past. This illustration of Chas’ internal struggle sets the stage for a journey of acceptance that his character must complete throughout the
In the Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria both display straightforward, hardworking, and stubborn character traits. Firstly, Homer and Mother Maria both display a straightforward personality by being brutally honest about their opinions. For example, when Mother Maria asks Homer to build a chapel, Homer speaks his mind by telling her he does not want to build it. Mother Maria shows her straightforward behavior during Homer’s stay at the convent. One morning, when Homer sleeps in late, Mother to becomes extremely upset and is not afraid to show how she feels about him. Secondly, both Homer and Mother Maria display a hardworking spirit. Homer is a hardworking man because after finally agreeing to build the chapel,
Quests do not need to be started by the most likely people, as long as they put all that they have into it they can still succeed. In the book Into The Beautiful North, Nayeli is inspired by the movie “The Magnificent Seven” to bring back men from the United States to liberate Tres Camarones. She wants to bring back the men and her father who had left for jobs, to defend their village from the banditos. There are many circumstance in which Nayeli has to face before she can even get to “Los Yunaites”. She will need assistance from what is most unlikely source. She will face trials that she was never prepared for. Before all of this she has to be called to save her village from outsiders. Nayeli’s perseverance after many trials and her desire
Literary villains are all around us. For instance, Voldemort from Harry Potter and Darth Vader from Star Wars. What makes a villain? They will go through anyone or damage anything to reach their goal. No matter how small or how tall they are, anyone can be a villain. One of the worst literary villains is Erik Fisher from Tangerine, written by Edward Bloor. He is a liar and a thief. Those traits are what makes the best villains. Throughout the book, Erik shows that he is a villain through his vile and offensive behavior, his need for power, and his insanity.
[2] Missing is a rather confusing film to follow at first. Admittedly, I had to view it a few times to understand what was happening. Perhaps the initial feeling after seeing this film is confusion. However, after having watched it a second, fourth, eighth time, what I really felt was anger. Each time I watched the film, the anger and disgust would grow, so much so that it pained me to watch it again. However, in identifying the cause of my anger, I began to realize many things.
His past catches up to him one day in the perfect Camelot. Thomas Coleman, the son of the young couple that was killed in the Dickinson’s home many years before, finds Sam. Thomas wants a sincere apology from Sam but Sam repeatedly says “it was an accident “(Clarke 28). Thomas does not believe him and tells Sam that he will pay for the crimes. Thomas tries to break up Sam and Ann Marie’s marriage because Thomas wants what Sam has, his wife, family, home and his life. Thomas tells Ann Marie that Sam is having an...
Julius Caesar is mentioned throughout the book, A Long Way Gone, many times. In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael would be reading Julius Caesar or a soldier would be reciting some of the speeches in the play. In Chapter 12 of A Long Way Gone, Ishmael is called over to talk with Lieutenant Jabati. Then, Lieutenant Jabati showed Ishmael the book he was reading, which was Julius Caesar, and asked Ishmael if he had ever heard of the book. Ishmael had read the book in school, and began to recite a speech from the book. After this happened, Lieutenant Jabati and Corporal Gadafi used emotional arguments to motivate the people in the village to stay there and support the military. Also, Lieutenant showed all the people in the village dead bodies to help
In The Big Field, author Mike Lupica explores the theme, "Success uses motivation as fuel." Lupica portrays this theme through the main character, Hutch. Throughout the entire book, Hutch, a young boy that has just recently joined a highly talented baseball team, displays moments that exemplify this main theme. Hutch and his team have a chance to play in the stadium of the Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball team, as long as they can keep winning games and advancing through a challenging tournament; however, Hutch's favorite position on the field, shortstop, the position located between 2nd and 3rd base, has already been filled on the team. Unfortunately, Hutch gets a demotion from shortstop, to second base, the position located between 1st base and 2nd base. Although Hutch was disappointed and melancholy about the switch in position, he was even more upset about the downgrading of leadership, since the
I have discussed how Francis F. Coppola exploits a wide array of audio and editing techniques to create suspense, tense, and anxiety in the sequence to affect the audience’s feelings. Despite the simple fabula, this multifaceted film requires certain intellectual involvement and efforts of the audience to grasp fully its underlying meanings and subtle nuances.
A true representation of history in film is almost impossible to achieve, this is due to the limitations of source materials the filmmakers who create the films have. In the modern day, photographs and video footage of historical events are available but these resources don’t depict everything which has happened. Emotion and what happens in historical events are two of the main things that these resources do not depict, what happens in event and human emotion can only be experienced by either people who are involved in the historical event or by the person who is being portrayed. Even then the event experienced can be falsely accounted for due to time in terms of memory or quite simply human error. Another main problem with historical depiction in film is that many films, especially Hollywood films, have one main goal, to create profits. This is achieved by the entertainment value of a film, if a film is entertaining an audience will follow, which leads to the film creating revenue. One of the main arguments raised about historical films is that they distort the past. Many Hollywood films have to use certain techniques and convention to ensure that it makes revenue, these conventions lead to filmmakers adding more to history via film such as love interests, more appealing action sequences and changing the look of the events to make them more aesthetically pleasing. Hollywood, Historical war films which depict rivalries between nations have been affected by this method with has led to the films not being an honest representation of history. This essay will discuss how historical representation in the films Braveheart, Pearl Harbor and Lincoln has been falsely and honestly depicted to create a more narratively and visually entertai...
The first few lines describe how his cousin started out in the glow of the gas station where he was, and him driving off to an open area in a town with the stars above him. The light here represented safety. Colum has started off in a situation where he was very close to this light: where there was, most likely, a store and other people. After he is done at the gas station he then drives away. Heaney gives us the image of the lampposts passing by as he drove. This shows how the light was now outside of where he was but it was still with him. Finally he drives up to Netownhamilton, passing some forests on the way and place where the only light that he is exposed to is the stars that are shining down at him from the sky. This now represents how the imminent safety that he had at the public gas station was now gone and he was isolated, in these hills only lit by stars. The safety in the light is now, far way: leaving him exposed to anything "outside". The image of the first few lines is of Colum now isolated, surrounded...
Anthony Doerr’s novel All the Light We Cannot See shows the reader how children would deal with war and how it shaped who they are today. Doerr’s purpose for writing this novel is to highlight how mentally taxing the war was and that there was no permanent escape from the war. Both Marie-Laure and Werner believed they could escape the war both physically and mentally, yet their involvement in it makes it more difficult. Marie-Laure’s fear of her father going to jail shows how she becomes involved in the war. Werner struggled with trying to escape the war through his fascination with radios when it just brought him further into the war. After understanding the effect on certain individuals; the story zooms out showing how the majority
Who was once a hero, was now the villain in many regards; he was the protagonist at first, and after, became the antagonist after his fortune took over his morality. Henry Ford had well-meaning intentions at first. Truly wanting to connect the world, he wanted to create a car that everyone can afford and be able to enjoy. Although he achieved his goal of creating this car, the model T, several unintentional controversial ideologies were established along with it.
Firstly, one’s identity is largely influenced by the dynamics of one’s relationship with their father throughout their childhood. These dynamics are often established through the various experiences that one shares with a father while growing up. In The Glass Castle and The Kite Runner, Jeannette and Amir have very different relationships with their fathers as children. However the experiences they share with these men undou...
It is no secret that with the nickname “The Master of Suspense” that the trademark technique of Alfred Hitchcock’s films would be his ability to elicit excruciating emotions of tension out of his audiences. It is by far his most prominent and most effective stylistic choice and is displayed in all three films that I have selected for this essay. Hitchcock best described his fascination...
Nothing hurts more than being betrayed by a loved one, Christopher’s father has no trust in Christopher and tells him that his “Mother died 2 years ago”(22) and Christopher thinks his mother died of a heart attack. When Christopher finds out his father lied, he runs away to live with his mother and his father despritally looks for him and while looking for him realizes the importance of telling the truth. When someone betrays one’s trust, they can feel morally violated. Once Christopher finds his mother, she begins to realize how unfit her living conditions are for Christopher and brings him back to his father, bring him “[..] home in Swindon”(207) Christopher feels incredibly hurt and distressed he does not want to see his father. Whether a relationship can be repaired depends entirely on whether trust can or cannot be restored. Christopher’s father works very hard to regain his trust, he tells his son “[..] I don’t know about you, but this...this just hurts too much”, Christopher’s father is dealing with the result of being dishonest with his son and himself.