In Father and Daughter, there are two main characters, a little girl and the father. Firstly, the man is surrounded by an air of ‘mystery’; the viewer may think this because his is shrouded in a dark, knee length coat which obscures most of his figure. He is quite difficult to read. We also have no background, so we can only tell what he is like and his relationship with the girl by the body language he uses in his communication with her. In the beginning, the father and daughter ride their bikes together; the mirroring of body language (the girl following her fathers) suggests a reasonably close bond between the pair. Eventually, they both arrive at a large body of water. The little girls father appears to say goodbye, before going down a hill to the boat. He then quickly changes his mind and goes back for a final hug, actually picking the girl up and spinning her around. This, to me, suggests he isn’t really ready, or he hasn’t said goodbye properly- possibly leaving her involuntarily. If he is dead/dying it could just be a representation that, no matter how much you try and kid yourself that you’re ready for death, that you’re prepared, you never really are. Please see my post below for the River Styx bit- otherwise it keeps telling me my post is too long. Eventually, the man goes and the girl watches him go. The next scene cuts to a cut in of a turning wheel, and when the camera zooms out to a M.S we can see the girl looks a little older. When we next see the girl, she is battling through the elements to try and go to the lake. This could be an indirect reference that she tries to hold on to whatever she has, even though everything is telling her not too. When she turns to go, the wind pushes her away in a way that is almost comical- suggesting to the viewer that it is much easier for her to turn away than it is for her to hold on to the memory of her father and the hope she has of him coming back. I cant work out what significance the two women in black and the people accompanying her. They could be friends who watch over her, try and get her to move on and forget her father already (because, when a man rows to the horizon and eventually disappears, in films it can sometimes mean they’re not coming back). The possible reason for their mysterious disappearance- 2:19, we see an old woman in black, who we never see again. At 2:50, we see a younger woman in black, whom we also never see again, and at 3:14 we see many girls, who eventually desert her like the two latter women had done. At 4:46, the woman comes back with her two children. She too, is in a large coat, just like her father had been. The woman keeps returning to the river bed, only to find it has dried up, leaving a massive crevice where it should be. The woman doesn’t cross just yet, but we can see by her dejected expression, posture and body language that she is feeling world weary. The woman returns, and once again we have the spinning of the wheel to (I personally think) represent time. As she arrives, the props up her bike only to have it fall down several times (adding some comical elements to a serious point) before she gives up and leaves it as it is. This could symbolise that she is ‘giving up’ life, because she cannot be bothered to do something as simple or mundane as prop up her bike one more time. She travels into the dried up river, finds her fathers boat and promptly lays there. She dies, what could possibly be her spirit leaves her body she morphs backwards through the stages of her life. She finds her father, in the end, and rushes to hug him. The daughters return to the same spot even she is grown older signifies a deep love and thinking about this father throughout her life, but now the father and daughter can finally be reunited once more. One think I must note (but I was unsure as where to put it) is the music. I think it sounds more fair-ground-ish. This made me think of a merry-go-round, and could represent the rolling of life as the woman gets older, much like a merry-go-round turns circularly.
The river Styx bit that I had to get rid of because it was too long: The body of water is quite interesting. If the man is dead/dying, it could represent the river Styx. In classical Greek and Roman mythology The River Styx was a river which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld. Souls were escorted across it (by Mercury (Roman) and Hermes (Greek)) to the underworld, which they would then spend the rest of eternity. Looking through Google images, can you see the similarity from this picture of Hades (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&biw=1058&bih=437&tbm=isch&tbnid=wO6o9nMvaAdyMM:&imgrefurl=http://www.hiddenmeanings.com/pluto.html&docid=j70Yx6DCeV9P5M&imgurl=http://www.hiddenmeanings.com/NATOT008compr.JPG&w=446&h=307&ei=rVf3T7vJNYGb1AXWm-2mBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=162&vpy=137&dur=1114&hovh=186&hovw=271&tx=131&ty=154&sig=109495197119239449230&page=1&tbnh=92&tbnw=123&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0,i:115) and 1:20 in Father and Daughter? The animation is less detailed, but they layout is similar- the cliffs, the trees, the waves and so on.
This video gives a very detailed representation of grief and sadness. This is represented by how the young girl returns to the same place where she last saw her father. I do believe that this video shows signs of pathetic fallacy. For example, on one particular occasion, when she visits the site where she last saw her father, it started to rain. Now this visit was a while after the disappearance of her father, depending on how frequently she goes there. This starts to show signs of possible depression and sadness. This pathetic fallacy could apply all throughout the clip. I also find the last scene interesting, when the girl (who has now become an elderly woman) walks down the hill to find that the river has turned into a sort of field. What I find interesting about it is that when the woman finds the boat and falls 'asleep' next to it, when she wakes up she sees this vision of her father from a distance. As she makes her way to the figure,she starts getting younger, a young woman. This could show the transition between life and the after-life, possibly heaven since it gives out a positive atmosphere. But overall, I think this video just shows how much love this girl has for her father, and it gives out the message that we should all treat our family with love and cherish every moment we have with them
In Father and Daughter, there are two main characters, a little girl and the father.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, the man is surrounded by an air of ‘mystery’; the viewer may think this because his is shrouded in a dark, knee length coat which obscures most of his figure. He is quite difficult to read. We also have no background, so we can only tell what he is like and his relationship with the girl by the body language he uses in his communication with her.
In the beginning, the father and daughter ride their bikes together; the mirroring of body language (the girl following her fathers) suggests a reasonably close bond between the pair.
Eventually, they both arrive at a large body of water. The little girls father appears to say goodbye, before going down a hill to the boat. He then quickly changes his mind and goes back for a final hug, actually picking the girl up and spinning her around. This, to me, suggests he isn’t really ready, or he hasn’t said goodbye properly- possibly leaving her involuntarily. If he is dead/dying it could just be a representation that, no matter how much you try and kid yourself that you’re ready for death, that you’re prepared, you never really are.
Please see my post below for the River Styx bit- otherwise it keeps telling me my post is too long.
Eventually, the man goes and the girl watches him go. The next scene cuts to a cut in of a turning wheel, and when the camera zooms out to a M.S we can see the girl looks a little older.
When we next see the girl, she is battling through the elements to try and go to the lake. This could be an indirect reference that she tries to hold on to whatever she has, even though everything is telling her not too. When she turns to go, the wind pushes her away in a way that is almost comical- suggesting to the viewer that it is much easier for her to turn away than it is for her to hold on to the memory of her father and the hope she has of him coming back.
I cant work out what significance the two women in black and the people accompanying her. They could be friends who watch over her, try and get her to move on and forget her father already (because, when a man rows to the horizon and eventually disappears, in films it can sometimes mean they’re not coming back). The possible reason for their mysterious disappearance- 2:19, we see an old woman in black, who we never see again. At 2:50, we see a younger woman in black, whom we also never see again, and at 3:14 we see many girls, who eventually desert her like the two latter women had done.
At 4:46, the woman comes back with her two children. She too, is in a large coat, just like her father had been.
The woman keeps returning to the river bed, only to find it has dried up, leaving a massive crevice where it should be. The woman doesn’t cross just yet, but we can see by her dejected expression, posture and body language that she is feeling world weary.
The woman returns, and once again we have the spinning of the wheel to (I personally think) represent time. As she arrives, the props up her bike only to have it fall down several times (adding some comical elements to a serious point) before she gives up and leaves it as it is. This could symbolise that she is ‘giving up’ life, because she cannot be bothered to do something as simple or mundane as prop up her bike one more time.
She travels into the dried up river, finds her fathers boat and promptly lays there. She dies, what could possibly be her spirit leaves her body she morphs backwards through the stages of her life.
She finds her father, in the end, and rushes to hug him. The daughters return to the same spot even she is grown older signifies a deep love and thinking about this father throughout her life, but now the father and daughter can finally be reunited once more.
One think I must note (but I was unsure as where to put it) is the music. I think it sounds more fair-ground-ish. This made me think of a merry-go-round, and could represent the rolling of life as the woman gets older, much like a merry-go-round turns circularly.
The river Styx bit that I had to get rid of because it was too long:
ReplyDeleteThe body of water is quite interesting. If the man is dead/dying, it could represent the river Styx. In classical Greek and Roman mythology The River Styx was a river which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld. Souls were escorted across it (by Mercury (Roman) and Hermes (Greek)) to the underworld, which they would then spend the rest of eternity. Looking through Google images, can you see the similarity from this picture of Hades (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&biw=1058&bih=437&tbm=isch&tbnid=wO6o9nMvaAdyMM:&imgrefurl=http://www.hiddenmeanings.com/pluto.html&docid=j70Yx6DCeV9P5M&imgurl=http://www.hiddenmeanings.com/NATOT008compr.JPG&w=446&h=307&ei=rVf3T7vJNYGb1AXWm-2mBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=162&vpy=137&dur=1114&hovh=186&hovw=271&tx=131&ty=154&sig=109495197119239449230&page=1&tbnh=92&tbnw=123&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0,i:115) and 1:20 in Father and Daughter? The animation is less detailed, but they layout is similar- the cliffs, the trees, the waves and so on.
This video gives a very detailed representation of grief and sadness. This is represented by how the young girl returns to the same place where she last saw her father. I do believe that this video shows signs of pathetic fallacy. For example, on one particular occasion, when she visits the site where she last saw her father, it started to rain. Now this visit was a while after the disappearance of her father, depending on how frequently she goes there. This starts to show signs of possible depression and sadness. This pathetic fallacy could apply all throughout the clip.
ReplyDeleteI also find the last scene interesting, when the girl (who has now become an elderly woman) walks down the hill to find that the river has turned into a sort of field. What I find interesting about it is that when the woman finds the boat and falls 'asleep' next to it, when she wakes up she sees this vision of her father from a distance. As she makes her way to the figure,she starts getting younger, a young woman. This could show the transition between life and the after-life, possibly heaven since it gives out a positive atmosphere.
But overall, I think this video just shows how much love this girl has for her father, and it gives out the message that we should all treat our family with love and cherish every moment we have with them