Arika J. Hawk
Professor Bomboy
Modern Culture and the Arts
26 June 2016
Critique
of “The Giver”
I
have chosen to critique the movie The
Giver, a movie inspired by the novel written by Lois Lowry in 1993. The
movie was written by Michael Mitnick and Robert B. Weide, directed by Phillip
Noyce, and has a release date of 2014. (IMDb)
I chose to critique the way music and color portray the story in the movie.
The
story of The Giver was written to
remind people to appreciate love and emotions. After tremendous war and
destruction, a civilization is created where humans are expected to follow all
rules, avoid physical contact with others outside of the “family unit,” never
lie, and never ask questions beyond their need to complete their jobs/tasks.
This civilization is built on an exiled mountain top where the “elders” control
every aspect of life from climate, transportation, educations, language, clothing,
job assignments, nutrition and exercise, and even vision in each person. (All members
of the community see in black and white, none see color.) These rules are
created to keep human emotion at bay so that war may be avoided at all costs;
to keep peace within this small community. With all things controlled and all
emotions avoided, war is no longer an issue, but in addition, humans lose the
ability to feel all joyous, thrilling, and wonderful emotions such as love and
compassion.
The Giver is about a young man, Jonas,
who is selected to learn about all things past, so that he may give wisdom to “the
elders” when a problem arises. As he discovers more about the past and all
things he has lived without, he discovers that no one should live the way his
community has be forced to live, even though they are all ignorant to all they
are missing in life. This story is a reminder that with emotions, bad things
may occur, but without them, we as humans lose the very thing that makes us
human.
Typically,
directors and writers attempt to change the feel of the films with music and
eye catching graphics. The Giver
relies greatly on the graphics to portray the story, and also uses music to
convey emotions. The music and color graphics go hand in hand in assisting in
the story telling throughout the entire film. Due to the entire community seeing
in only black and white, the film begins in black and white. The main character,
Jonas, see things differently than the rest, but keeps this to himself. He is recognized
as being different and is selected to become “The Receiver.” He is chosen for
this because of his ability to “see beyond.” This seeing beyond allows him to
see glimpses of color throughout his world. The opening scene is Jonas riding
his bike down a path in a park. Everything is in black and white, but when
Jonas looks up into the trees, it shows him seeing blurs of green from the
leaves. This gives a hint of what is to come with the rest of the film.
As
Jonas begins his training as the receiver, his teacher, “The Giver” shows him a
memory. In this memory, Jonas experiences everything in the first person. He is
the sole keeper of this memory, so he experiences all the emotions that come
with the memory. His first memory received is out in the woods as it is
snowing, but still seeing everything in black and white. He instinctively sits on
the sled and beings to push himself down-hill. As his speed accelerates, the
music also increases. The soft piano and violins play and as Jonas beings feel
the excitement, thrills, and fun, the music matches so the watcher may experience
what Jonas feels as he fly’s down the hill. By the time he reaches the bottom, Jonas
sees everything in color. The white snow, brown trees, green leaves on the evergreens,
and the blue in the sky. Between the beginning of the sled ride and the end,
Jonas sees more colors, thus experiencing more emotions. Once this memory is
finished, he returns to seeing black and white.
Within
a few more training days, The Giver tries to expose more color to Jonas. As they
are discussing items, Jonas mentions the color of his friend’s hair, which is
red. The Giver then gives Jonas the memory of sailing in the sea as the sun is
setting, and the screen lights up with vibrant shades of reds, oranges, and
yellows. The director intentionally makes the memories as bright and colorful
as possible in order to show the difference between feeling emotions and not
feeling very little. As more memories are transferred to Jonas, the more color
he is able to see throughout his daily life.
Towards
the end of Jonas’ training, he realizes that their way of life is wrong. Jonas
says, “Because if you can’t feel, what’s the point?” (Noyce) This is the point
that both the author of the book, and the director of the movie are trying to
convey, and were able to conquer completely. Without emotions, there is not
point to living. Without color and music, so much of life is lost. We as humans
take for granted what we see, hear and feel. With this film, we are reminded to
embrace all emotions and fight to keep them. Emotions matter, and things that
encourage emotions (such as music, color, and art) are just as important as
feelings themselves.
Works
Cited
IMDb. The Giver (2014). 2016.
Print. 26 06 2016.
The Giver. Dir. Phillip Noyce. Perf. Brenton Thwaites. 2014.
Film.
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