16th October 2017

Significant Connections

Introduction

The texts “The boy in the Striped Pyjamas,” directed by Mark Herman, “Touching the void,” written by Joe Simpson, “Titanic,” Directed by James Cameron, and “The Rabbit Proof Fence,” directed by Phillip Noyce, all show somebody’s capability to redeem friendship, make quick decisions, show strength/courage and positivity through survival.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas directed by Mark Herman is a significant film to the nature of survival theme because in this film Shmuel shows that whether you are hurting you can still redeem a friendship.

In one specific scene we see Bruno walking around his home and stops when he sees that one of his friends from the jewish concentration camp is at his home with a tea towel in one hand and a wine glass in another. Bruno asks what he is doing here and Shmuel says he is the only one to do this job as he has small hands and is able to clean the wine glasses properly. Bruno kindly offers shmuel some food and he accepts not knowing that Kurt Kotler was about to walk in on them talking and eating together. Kotler walks in and straight away starts yelling “How dare you talk to people in the house. How dare you! Are you eating? Have you been stealing food?” Shmuel replies saying that no he did not steal the food, Bruno gave it to him. However when Kurt Kotler asks Bruno if he gave Shmuel the food he denies and says that he walked in and saw Shmuel helping himself. Shmuel was sent back to the jewish concentration camp and Bruno sneaked out the back to visit Shmuel on the opposite side of the fence everyday but Shmuel never came to see him. One day Bruno went to the fence and Shmuel was sitting by himself with his head hanging low looking at the ground. Bruno says he is sorry and repeatedly asked if they could be friends again and Shmuel slowly looks up at him and we see that Shmuel has been beaten up for his actions as he has a black and blue swollen eye. He eventually nods agreeing that they could move past what had happened and become friends again.

The viewer learns that sometimes you have to makeup what has been hurt to succeed in your friendship and overcome the past and what has been done to move forward into the future. Bruno shows this strongly throughout the whole movie by overcoming problems with Shmuel and moving forward with their relationship.

Titanic

I have studied the film Titanic directed by James Cameron this term. A main character Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) shows that sometimes you should put others before yourself even if you know you may not survive yourself.

This aspect of survival is shown in this movie by an over the shoulder shot. We are looking over Rose’s shoulder when she is standing in the lifeboat as it’s being lowered into the ocean. The viewers can see Jack and Caledon (Rose’s fiance) standing on the deck of the titanic looking down at Rose. The lighting of the scene is dark from the night sky which resembles the sadness of losing someone you love. Rose has tears streaming down the side of her face because she doesn’t want to be on the lifeboat unless Jack is with her. Rose knows that she is sitting on the last lifeboat and Jack will not be able to survive if he doesn’t catch one. Rose won’t be happy without the love of her life so she has to make a quick decision whether she saves herself or jumps out of the last lifeboat back to the sinking ship to be happy and spend her last few moments with the love of her life (Jack). In the scene we see her leap out to the ship’s side, hanging off the railing and using all her might to pull herself up onto the ship’s deck.

This connects to the film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas because in some way Shmuel is like Jack and Rose is like Bruno and they have each others backs and overcome being beaten in the face or jumping out of a boat. These characters prove that you put others before yourself whether it might be in a negative or positive way.

Touching the Void

Touching The Void is a non-fiction novel by Joe Simpson, Joe simpson and Simon yates are faced with a lot of mental and physical difficulty as they climb up the west face of the Siula Grande in the Andes. He is a terrible descent down the mountain as he broke his leg and has to climb down to survive in negative temperatures. Joe keeps a positive voice in his head which gives him the self encouragement he needs to carry on.

This aspect of survival is shown when Simon cuts the rope leaving Joe with previous injuries to fall down into a crevasse where he was lucky enough to survive by landing on an ice shelf. Joe knows that Simon will think he is dead so he needs to get off the mountain by himself. Joe always kept positive thoughts in his mind but he needs to keep the strongest positive mindset he can for his survival within these stages of climbing down the mountain all alone. He sets little goals for him to get off the mountain and without this voice he would not have been capable of getting off the mountain.

Joe sets quick little decision in his head that could be deadly to get off the mountain and Rose makes the decision to jump out of a boat and risk death to be with Jack. These link together because both main characters have to make quick decisions on their feet for their own survival whether it’s for your own safety or for your own happiness.

Rabbit Proof Fence

Rabbit Proof Fence, directed by Phillip Noyce is a film about three aboriginal girls who run away from Moore River Settlement to go back to jigalong to live with their families. They get stuck in many situations where they are forced to make quick decisions on their feet to survive without leaving a trace for Moodoo (the tracker) to catch the girls.

In one scene we see Molly, the eldest daughter tell her two younger sisters they are going to be leaving Moore River Settlement to go home to Jigalong, they have to leave now so the rain will cover their tracks as they run away. Molly does this because what A.O.Neville (Chief Protector of Aborigines) wants to do “makes me sick” Molly says as he wants to indoctrinate the aborigines and make them learn skills that would only be useful in a “white world”. At Moore River the half-caste children are not even allowed to speak their own language. A.O.Neville’s main goal is to eliminate the whole Aboriginal race by outbreeding the half-castes and quarter-castes because he thinks he is helping them and their future children as they will supposedly be smarter because of their fairer skin.

Another aspect of this film shows that you need to have a positive state of mind to survive. Gracie Kadibil is negative throughout this whole movie by not believing in herself or Molly that they will ever make it home and because of this she says for herself and Daisy “we like it here”. However Molly ignores this and stays positive throughout the whole movie and says they can make it and they will get home. Gracie unfortunately doesn’t make it home because she decides her feet were too sore to walk and she believed an aboriginal man who told her she could catch a train to Wiluna which will take her to her mother. She followed these instructions on her own and left molly and daisy to go back home on their own path. Molly would not leave Gracie behind so she turned up at the train station to get her back but Gracie was recaptured by Constable Riggs. Little did the girls know the aboriginal man turned against his own race and would get paid a shilling for his help.

Molly and Joe throughout their whole survival story keep a strong decisive positive mindset to keep them going so they wouldn’t stop and doubt themselves even for a second because that could lose their courage and they wouldn’t be able to go home to their families or loved ones. They link together because both stories show that if you keep a positive mindset you will make it to where you’re going.

Conclusion
In conclusion all of these stories show their determination to be where they want to be, get what they want to get and live where they want to live. They have positive mindsets and the ability to overcome their fear and weaknesses. All four texts fight for their own survival in their own way whether it’s social, physical or mental they make it. They may lose someone on their path but they make it from their own limited skills. This shows that all you need is your mind and the people around you to survive.

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