Analysis Of ' The Tree Of Life, Philosopher And Director Terrence Malick

to acquire intelligence as well, since he has been futile, intellectually. He undergoes an operation that is semi-auspicious. Both wonderful masterpieces have similarities as well as differences.

In “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon illustrates the paradox within the notion of wilderness, describing that if wilderness is that which lies beyond civilization -- beyond humankind, then so is the notion of nature outside the realm of the human... that humans are therefore, unnatural. Further, he explains that if our concept of nature (and ultimately our concept of God) is outside of humanity, then our existence is synonymous with the downfall of nature. That wilderness is purely a construct of civilization is central to this argument.  For example, Cronon asserts that “the removal of Indians to create an ‘uninhabited wilderness’---uninhabited as never before in human history of the place---reminds us just how invented, just how constructed, the American wilderness really is” (pg.79). Instead of in isolation from civilization, Cronon finds that his most spiritual experiences with nature have always been closer to home… a sense of wildness (versus wilderness) can be found in one’s backyard, gazing from a front porch, and in the melding of the human experience with mother nature. One of Into the Wild’s final scenes drives home this idea by altering the literal point of view that main character, Chris McCandless, has had of both himself and of the world since the beginning of his two year journey.  Into the Wild attempts to dramatizes Cronon’s argument to rethink wilderness; we will examine how the film succeeds, and where it fails, to support its premise.

The movie that I choose to watch is “The Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. In class we learned that primates have different categories. The categories include; movement, reproduction, intelligence and behavior patterns. In the movie, the main ape, Caesar, as well as the other primates in the movie shows examples of these categories. Although, like most modern day movies, some behaviors and characteristics are not true and do not relate to the material that we studied in class.

Thesis: Chris McCandless has found the meaning of his life with inspiration of Emerson's quote, “The foregoing generations beheld God and the nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe (“Nature” ). He has found this by trusting his decisions, living alone in Alaska, and seeing life through his own eyes rather than the eyes of others.

Throughout history, humans have had a strong reliance on nature and their environment. As far back as historians can look, people have depended on elements of nature for their survival. In the past few decades, the increased advancement of technology has led to an unfortunate division between humans and nature, and this lack of respect is becoming a flaw in current day society. In Last Child in the Woods, Louv criticizes modern culture by arguing that humans increasing reliance on technology has led to their decreasing connection with nature through the use of relevant anecdotes, rhetorical questions and powerful imagery to appeal to ethos.

Every character that travels down a path, that encounters obstacles on their journey, that makes sacrificial decisions faces each of these components as they undertake a life-altering quest. Often times the hero ventures out to save someone or solve a problem, but in fact, their true journey is a search for self-knowledge. Through every obstacle and road-block along the way, the character discovers more about themselves and their true identity. Though they may have journeyed across great lands to accomplish their mission, the thing they were searching for was inside of them all along; the journey and challenges only helped to reveal their real character. As explained in Thomas C. Foster’s literary criticism, How to Read Literature Like a Professor,

Humans are born from and return to earth at death; human beings and nature are bound up each other. Yet, the technological modern world has shaped humans to be oblivious of nature and the ethnocentrism has positioned human beings above all other things. Nature has become resources for people and nothing more than that. David Abram, the author of the Ecology of magic, travels into the wild, traditional land in search of the relation between magic and nature; the meaning nature holds in the traditional cultures. Abram intends to communicate his realization of the magical awareness of the countless nonhuman entities and the necessity of the balance between the human communities and the nature to the readers, hoping the Western technologized

    One of the most common ways that O'Connor's characters came to a moment of grace was through tragedy. By putting her characters through an intense gauntlet of fear or sadness, O’Connor made the sudden moment of grace much more believable and hard hitting. In “ A Good Man Is Hard To Find” O'Connor devotes a moment of grace to both the Grandmother and the Misfit. During the story the Grandmother is constantly picking apart the world around her. She believes that she is holier than everyone else, however she finally see reality upon meeting the Misfit. After making an unsuccessful attempt at convincing the Misfit that he is a good person, the convict holds a gun towards the old lady. In that moment she realizes that she has been living a false life. She was a hollow woman who did not practice what she preached, a fact that even the misfit noticed. “She would have been a good woman,” the Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” ( O'Connor 6). The old lady was bad person, and the only way she was going to change was through her moment of grace, which in this case resulted in

Throughout literature, characters who live transcendentally share similarities. Their descriptions evoke clarity and purity, and their names often symbolize their beliefs. Mindful characters tend to stand out from the crowd, stepping away from the boundaries of society and choosing their own paths. As transcendentalism is difficult to develop alone, most of these characters have some sort of role model, someone to gain a message from. They then go on to spread that message to the people they meet. A transcendental character’s mission is to impact some un-transcendental character by bringing them clarity, and this can be seen in the characters studied this semester. The similar descriptions, messages, and impacts of conscious characters prove

"All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless and brutal."—Flannery O'Connor.

In the case of “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” the characters are limited spiritually initially but reach spiritual enlightenment throughout the progression of the villagers’ journey. This is demonstrated by the women’s realization that the body is beautiful in a way they have never seen before, that body’s physical abilities, the body’s name and personality, and finally enlightenment.

When I first heard of the word ‘Romanticism”, I automatically assumed it was more of an intricate way to say romance but romanticism is much more than pursuing someone. Romanticism is a movement of art and literature that formulated around the late 18th century that is characterized by strong emotions, individualism and the glorification of all past and nature. “The Tree of Life” directed by Terrence Malick is a perfect example of romanticism and conforms well with Hugo’s manifesto on Romanticism. It is about the story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1950’s that loses one of their sons. Growing up, the eldest son and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings. Later in life he looks back on his childhood and through his memories, tries to find the meaning of life. Terrence’s film complies with Hugo’s preface on romanticism by featuring moments from the past, incorporation of nature and containing organized religion.

Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life focuses on Jack, played by Sean Penn as a man and Hunter McCracken as a boy, adrift in his life and reflecting on his childhood in 1950s Texas in a nearly two-and-a-half hour drama. Though the film is difficult to follow because of its highly experimental nature, the audience is left with impressions of the film’s spectacular visual and aural presence, both of which show evidence of the influence of Christianity, which is omnipresent in the American South. The theme is introduced at the beginning of the film by Mrs. O’Brien, played by Jessica Chastain, as she speaks in a gentle voice-over about the way of nature and the way of grace. In his book How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, famous American theologian Francis Schaeffer concluded that nature is as “the lower” while grace is “the higher” (Schaeffer 55). In the religious context of the film, this means that as nature is self-serving and representative of humans on earth while grace is other-serving and representative of God in heaven. This divide between the way of nature and the way of grace finds itself present in various aspects of the film. While Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life does not offer conventional evidence of the theme because of its experimental nature, the visuals, music, and underscoring of the film support the audience’s interpretation of the main theme of nature versus grace.

To me, his life manifests the qualities that are at risk in this antagonistic and polarized world, such as tolerance, respect, altruism, a sense of community, and solidarity. Although our religions are worlds apart, his wisdom

The way Hayao Miyazaki entices his viewers to accept his idea about a new relationship between nature and humanity was never really talked about or discussed in the past couple of years. The film ‘My Neighbor Totoro,’ with all the religious elements and the social impact it had established the director Miyazaki as one of the best animators not just in Japan, but around the world. What really gives this film power and fame is not just the mysterious and magical world it has or the cute character that Miyazaki created, but also the film’s way of influencing the audience by conveying an unfamiliar message about this three-layered relationship between nature and humans. Comparing both Miyazaki’s childhood memories and the story depicted helps him connect the audience’s feelings with the characters and making this realistic representation of human emotion in the film believable and realistic not only to children, but even to adults. What also makes the world more familiar to the spectators is the director’s use of a common fear from many people’s early years in this unknown and magical world. This common fear is clearly illustrated when the girls meet Susuwatari, a black spirit in the old empty house that stays in dark spaces and prefers to be left alone, and only children can see it. The introduction of this spirit is a good transition between the world of magic and reality. It confirms and insists about the existence of the unknown, and introduces a world of illusion and