Our lives can never be sure, and they can change in an instant. Mistakes are made and circumstances can be altered. Some people can bounce back emotionally, while some people will be completely consumed by guilt. Seven Pounds is a film that portrays this guilt and the way it can affect someone’s mind set using cinematographic . Ben Thomas crashes his car years before the majority of the movie is set and inadvertently kills seven people, including his newly proposed fiancee. He emotionally dies the day he kills his wife, and since then he is just a dead man walking. We can see this connection through the parallel editing and mise en scene of the car crash and the suicide scene. In the crash scene, there is broken glass all over the ground surrounding Sarah, she is wearing a purple dress, and we can see the frame of the car as it rolls. In Ben’s suicide scene, there is ice around him from the water, his shirt is purple after getting wet from the bath, and the poles from the shower curtain are near him (Seven Pounds). This shows that he died on that same day he killed Sarah. His physical death is presented in the same way as Sarah’s, teaching us that he died in spirit as Sarah died. He is confined in his bathtub the same as the car, and the ice around him is placed in the mise en scene just like the broken window glass surrounding Sarah. For years following the accident, he cannot escape his grief. He spends his time planning and carrying out plans to redeem himself through organ donations, but he cannot escape what he did. He is shown in his beach house with all the shutters closed and very little light, and he is also shown later on, after meeting Emily, in the motel with just one lamp and all the walls and shelves are bare (Seven Pounds). Both of these decors are important. The one in the beach house shows that no amount of material wealth will help him get better, and he will remain in the seemingly endless abyss. The abyss is shown by closed shutters, like he is in a hole. Also, no relationship can fix it because even after he meets Emily, he still is empty. The motel he stays in is barren, with no decorations or extra features. Like his feelings, the motel room is empty and will never be full of life. Another way it consumes him is the way he calculates the time down to a science. Even when he is with Emily and his friend, he is on his watch timing every aspect of how long things take. The editing leading up to the suicide scene shows this by switching back and forth between him doing it and how he is on his watch looking at how much time he has. His mind has been reduced to intelligence, which he has a lot of. Being a NASA engineer he can easily plan out the extravagant death to preserve his organs. This is all he has left because his emotions are scraped out. It is true that what Ben goes through is particularly tough, but he cannot overcome it. His guilt destroys him and this is common with very traumatic mistakes.
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Visual Literacy
Since the development of film and video as a form of entertainment, methods of using this have been created. Cinematography is a way for filmmakers to use subtle hints to convey messages that might be uncomfortable if shared outright. It leads to greater depth and meaning that just moving pictures that tell a simple story. In Rise Against’s music video for Hero of War, they employ these methods to describe the PTSD that many soldiers return from war with. One recurring image in the video is a infrared shot of the soldier, taking place after his return from battle. It is edited in throughout the video and in one scene it shows him applying shaving cream becoming disturbed (Hero of War). The editing is important because it shows the distress the soldier is in. It shows it throughout the video to say that the soldier was having a hard time throughout the entirety of his service and it got worse as time goes on. The diegesis of using the shaving cream is that it triggers a memory of putting on warpaint. This makes him remember what he did after putting on the warpaint. There is also an important sequence towards the end of the video that shows it flashing between war and home. It shows him fighting, then him with his girl, then back to fighting, then him emotionless after having sex with his girlfriend back home after the war (Hero of War). It shows them intertwined like this to stress that it is because of what happened at war that is preventing him from a full life afterwards. He is with his girlfriend who he was so happy with before, and he can’t connect with her emotionally because of his guilt and pain for what he did when he was away. The video also employs a flash forward to give a hint as to what he will go through after the war. It is in the middle of a scene of him at war, in a gunfight. It shows the soldier fighting, then it flashes forward to what is presumably a welcome home party. All of his family and his girlfriend are happy and interacting with him, but his face is showing pain and he is not in on the fun (Hero of War). The meaning of the flash forward is just as it seems, it is showing what will happen in the future. The lyrics describe the camaraderie between the soldiers and how good of an experience it was, but it reveals that it will soon be bad for him because the joy will not last. The use of these visual tools is important in depicting the message, because the lyrics suggest otherwise. They talk about the honor and good things of war, but they are sarcastic. Using the video techniques the artist can tell the audience their opposition to war but more artistically and discreetly.
Craigslist Joe
In the past century, the way people interact with strangers has been changed completely. It used to be that people would show hospitality and care to people they had never met, and it was expected to do so. Now things have done a one hundred and eighty degree turn. We teach that strangers are dangerous and to be avoided. Although there is unfortunately true for some instances, we can still put faith in humanity and trust strangers to pull through. In the documentary Craigslist Joe, a man puts his faith all in the goodwill of others and lives of craigslist for a month. He analyses the current status of how we view those we don’t know and tries to disprove it. Joe says, “Some say we've lost the sense of community that used to get us through hard times” (Craigslist Joe). Joe looks at society as a whole and realizes that there is considerable pessimism towards the goodwill of others. He acknowledges that most people probably wouldn't trust in the community to get them through, and sheds light on the fact that many people will try to go it alone when the going gets rough. He puts it on himself to go out and change this view, by dedicating himself to help and be helped. He comes across a woman in dire need of organization. He says to her, “I’m here to help...whatever you need” (Craigslist Joe). It is quite obvious that the woman is in need of psychological help, but he puts all judgments on hold. Instead of complaining that people don’t care for each other anymore, he goes out and cares for this woman. He is a shining example of how to act in these situations by doing selfless service. By looking past all the things that people would normally to get out of helping her, he changes a life and inspires others to do the same through his film. He shows compassion that will carry her through, and she will think on that if the opportunity comes for her to help someone else in need. This chain reaction of service and caring is what we need to revert back to a society that relies on caring for others to keep people going through hard times. Despite many people thinking that it is embarrassing to ask for help, or putting a burden to ask for it, he goes and puts his safety on the line. He knows the dangers but realizes one important statement after his trial. “We can take care of each other” (Craigslist Joe). This simple statement just demonstrates everything that Joe went through during his experiment. By putting our trust in others, we will understand that others are putting their trust in us. More often than not, a person will have the means to provide for someone else. If the attitude can change, then it will result in a change in culture that everyone will be taken care of. In times of prosperity, you can help someone who is in a time of need. A symbiotic relationship like this will help bring us back to a community that works on everyone helping and receiving aid, leaving no one behind.
Ceremony
Unless directly attacked by a stronger force, a culture and traditions can withstand great opposition and keep true throughout centuries. This prevents too radical and too quick of evolving in societies, but they still change. This is change is because individuals will always be changing and altering the way they live the culture. As people find themselves, their views change and their culture helps them stay close to where their roots are. In Ceremony, Tayo is faced with great opposition to his culture, and has to find where he belongs personally. With the contrasting views of the traditional native culture and the drinking and war, he is stuck halfway on both sides. He eventually finds the middle ground which is where he belongs. “He had studied those books. The science books explained the causes and effects...everywhere he looked, he saw a world made of stories” (Silko 87,89). Here Tayo accepts the benefits to both cultures that are pulling at him. Unlike his friends, he retains and appreciates the ancient stories and explanations for nature, but also realizes there is value in understanding the way things work. While his grandmother promoted that the only explanation was the ancient stories, and the school said that those were useless, he had to learn about himself before he could have an opinion as to where on the spectrum he stood. The traditional ways will stay the same, but he can gradually change himself through acceptance of all sides. When he goes to a native healer, he is taught of the importance in looking at ourselves before blaming others. As opposed to sitting around, drinking, and complaining about white people, Tayo begins to look at himself as to why he is the way he is. The healers teaches that “That is the trickery...they want us to believe all evil resides with white people...then we will look no further to see what is really happening” (Silko 122). This is wise because if we always look to others as to why we are not happy or progressing, we will continue on that path of going nowhere. Again, this is where we see how it is necessary for a person to examine their own faults and benefits. Humans are complex beings and no aspect of who we are can be explained by a single outside cause. By learning more about himself, Tayo can see what he are doing wrong and how it changes who he is. After going through this examination of self, Tayo realizes that the problem is not in the way his people are oppressed. He comes to the conclusion that the hatred, drinking, and apathy of all the war vets is what is causing them to feel bad about themselves and others. He returns to them and confirms that this is the problem. “Harley and Leroy were his buddies...but now he was feelings something terrible inside” (Silko 223). After realizing the problem within, it is clear to Tayo when he sees his friends. While he was out and discovering himself from within, they stayed and continued in their ways of self medication and talking about other people’s problems. They made no progress, which made it easy for Tayo to see how much progress could be made. Although he personally made progress in helping himself, he kept and learned to love his culture. It hurts him to see his friends in such a bad life like he used to be in, but he understands that only through personal reflection can a person see what is wrong. The same way that the healer left it up to Tayo, Tayo knows that his friends will never get better unless they can learn more about themselves and find out where progress can be made.
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