A few days before Christmas, during our annual baking of pies and cookies, my mother and I watched a classic Christmas movie, The Polar Express. (SPOILER ALERT) For those of you who do not know the movie, the main character travels to the North Pole on a magical train and Santa Claus gives him the First Gift of Christmas. He asks for a bell, which symbolizes his belief in Santa Claus and the spirit of Christmas. Yet, due to a hole in his pocket, he loses the bell, which brings him great despair. The movie continues to show him feeling the hole in his pocket long after he loses the bell. In response to this, my mother exclaimed, "Do they think we're that dumb that they have to show us that stupid hole every two seconds?" I responded, "Mom, the repetition of the hole being shown aahhh-bviously is to evoke pathos from the audience." Then I thought to myself, did I really just say that out-loud? That scared me a little bit. What scared me even more is that my mother did not even give me a second glance. She just turned back to the pie crust, humming along to the movie's soundtrack, as though I said nothing out of the ordinary. Although English only lasts two years, this memory of Christmas Analysis will always stick in my mind. It made me realize how second nature analysis has become. Also, I am sure that, in future Christmases, I will analyze Christmas movies just as well as if I were still in the class like today.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Christmas Analysis
A few days before Christmas, during our annual baking of pies and cookies, my mother and I watched a classic Christmas movie, The Polar Express. (SPOILER ALERT) For those of you who do not know the movie, the main character travels to the North Pole on a magical train and Santa Claus gives him the First Gift of Christmas. He asks for a bell, which symbolizes his belief in Santa Claus and the spirit of Christmas. Yet, due to a hole in his pocket, he loses the bell, which brings him great despair. The movie continues to show him feeling the hole in his pocket long after he loses the bell. In response to this, my mother exclaimed, "Do they think we're that dumb that they have to show us that stupid hole every two seconds?" I responded, "Mom, the repetition of the hole being shown aahhh-bviously is to evoke pathos from the audience." Then I thought to myself, did I really just say that out-loud? That scared me a little bit. What scared me even more is that my mother did not even give me a second glance. She just turned back to the pie crust, humming along to the movie's soundtrack, as though I said nothing out of the ordinary. Although English only lasts two years, this memory of Christmas Analysis will always stick in my mind. It made me realize how second nature analysis has become. Also, I am sure that, in future Christmases, I will analyze Christmas movies just as well as if I were still in the class like today.
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I too am a fan of this movie and I agree with your analysis completely. However, I think that we must keep in mind the fact that many young children will view this film and they may have a better chance of forgetting the hole. Not only that, but the hole, does in fact, grow bigger. However, I agree that we have started to analyze more, making the films seem redundant. For example, shows such as Pysch have become very predictable because I have grown so used to the techniques that they use.
ReplyDeleteI agree that our constant analysis of everything is humorous, especially since I find myself saying things like "your attempts at evoking pathos from me won't work." I also agree with Burl that Psych can become repetitive when you analyze it too far, but I still love the show.
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