The film ‘Cast Away’ directed by Robert Zemeckis, is set around FedEx worker Chuck Noland, who crash lands a plane in the ocean on a business flight. Chuck wakes up on a stranded island, to find that he is alone, and trapped. An important scene within the film is when Chuck opens the FedEx packages he collected when he first arrived on the island, and proceeds to open them to use the contents of the packages to help him create a fire, which is significant to the theme of survival. A variety of aspects such as camera techniques, lighting, symbolism, and sound usage all have an effect on how this scene shows important to the theme of ‘loneliness’ + ‘survival’.
Zemeckis uses various camera techniques to show the importance of how Chuck believes
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Silence played a big part in displaying the sheer isolation that chuck experienced. The use of silence emphasises the sound of his surroundings, reinforcing the fact that there is nobody else around for him to talk to. The silence Zemeckis uses helps us as an audience focus more on Chuck’s actions, for example, when he opens the parcels, or is creating the fire. Another important use of sound was the dialogue. Within the same package that he finds Wilson in, there is a birthday card which Chuck reads out loud. The card’s message reads “The most beautiful thing in the world is the world itself” which is almost ironic because Chuck is on a very beautiful tropical island, however to Chuck the island is a prison that he wishes to escape from. From this the audience can start to see from Chuck’s perspective, and you can imagine what it would be like to be Chuck, and how these words on the card appear to Chuck. To us as an audience they appear cheerful, or inspiring, but when Chuck reads them it feels dull, almost woeful. This shows how Chuck disagrees with this quote on the card, as if the words he is reading are nonsensical, or he doesn't believe that these words are true. Up until he gets stranded on the island, Chuck was so absorbed in life and his job that he never took the time to realise his surroundings, as he believed time was scarce, and …show more content…
When Chuck begins to open the parcels he collected, he notices a pair of ‘angel wings’ on the side of a package. Although the wings are supposed to be a logo, Chuck sees them as a symbol of hope or freedom. This use of symbolism shows Chuck is thinking creatively, and he believes that he is being watched over – like there is a guardian-like being that he thinks will guide him off the island alive. Examples of symbolism like this get the audience to join Chuck’s belief, as if there is still hope in survival. Before Chuck leaves for his plane flight earlier on in the film, he was gifted a pocket watch by his girlfriend Kelly for Christmas. He keeps this pocket watch on him, and it symbolises time. In this scene there is a close up that shows Chuck staring at the pocket watch, wasting time. He is thinking about Kelly, as there is a small picture of her within the pocket watch which he often turns to when he is feeling lonely. Chuck has never been used to this sort of environment, and he has ‘all the time in the world’ when he is stuck on the island. As a FedEx worker Chuck has never had a lot of time to spare, so being on time was a very crucial part of Chuck’s life. The picture of Kelly represents ‘hope’, as Chuck tends to turn to this picture when he feels like he has given up, or can't so something anymore. The mid shot that shows Chuck’s emotions as
"Cast Away" is a fantastic film that has many hidden meanings beneath the surface. Before being analysed, it seems like it's simply about a man who experiences an adventurous journey after his plane crashes into the Pacific. After more thought was put into it, many symbolic meanings that demonstrated his human nature, mainly consisting his drive of survival, faith, hope, and morals, was revealed. I am able to arrive at the conclusion that yes, I do agree with the quote, "Cast Away delivers a strong message of fear, survival, faith and hope."
To start off, Nicholas Ray makes the sense of abandonment in his film very evident,
The movie castaway is about a main character called Chuck Noland who gets stuck in an island after a plane crash. At the start of the film, Chunk who was working for the Federal Express was living a paced life, obsessed with time and observed in his job. He also had a fiancé called Kelly and was soon to be married. While Chunk was
Cast Away was a movie about a man, Chuck Noland, who gets trapped in an island after the plane he was on crashed. He was on an assignment to go to malaysia for Fedex when the plane goes down during a storm. He started with nothing when he first got to the island except a raft and a couple fedex boxes. Throughout the movie he goes through a series of challenges and changes that demonstrate all five tiers of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs pyramid.
Bart Layton built this doc not from one perspective, but from a collection of them. Some stories, like “The Imposter” need a panoptic approach to connect the audience to the film. The themes of manipulation, identity and love are the main themes conveyed by Layton. These themes are communicated through sounds and visual imagery.
“The Open Boat” is a short story written by Steven Crane about four men stranded on a dinghy after their boat had sunk over night. The men were struggling to stay alive because it seemed as if they had no hope for survival. The four stranded shipmen were a correspondent, an oiler, a cook, and a captain. The theme of the story is that man has no control over his destinies and that nature controls everything. Naturalist themes prevail in Stephen Crane's “The Open Boat” as it demonstrates naturalist literature through the struggle that nature throws at the men. Naturalism arises throughout the men’s constant battle between their surrounding environment and keeping
Throughout the movie, the channels of NVC convey to the watcher how Chuck is adapting, i.e., how much time has passed, his personal journey, and his change in ideals, etc. When he gets on the plane, his clothes are fitted, he is wearing long pants, socks, shoes, an undershirt, a button up dress shirt, and a sweater. His hair is short and facial hair nearly non-existent. After he crashes he is soaked, weighted down, his sweater is stretched, pants are hanging past his feet, he has lost his shoes and only has one sock. Quickly, he adapts to his environment; his pants get shorter, his shirt comes off, he commandeers shoes and alters them for his benefit. His hair begins to get longer, which is very evident in his facial hair, and his skin starts to show sun spots and become tan. As four years pass he is wearing nearly nothing, his hair is savage like, long, untrimmed, and not maintained. His skin is so tanned he appears leathery, and he has lost so much weight his skin hangs off of his bones. His appearance, and artifacts help distinguish time, and how he has adapted and learned to survive over it.
Chuck has finally been untethered from his technological world. In the new world Chuck now faces he must learn primitive survival skills, he must learn to get safe drink and food, he must also learn how to make tools that our primitive ancestors used to bring knowledge to man. Chuck’s transformation into becoming a creator comes when he makes fire, he is now a living representation of Prometheus, the light bringer. This previously alien world to Chuck has now taught him that he is not this idea of a corporate bigshot, he now learns he is just a primate and gets humbled. Up to this transformation Chuck has been living in a world where everything is a ritual, from clothes to food to sports; he has been living in an artificial world.
This movie is about a man (Chuck) who is always kept up on time and how important it is to be and keep track on time. In the movie, Chuck gets stuck on an island and is challenged by nature to survive on the island and later get off the island. Once he finds a way to get the island he is reunited with the real world and has a feeling of gratefulness for everything that he has. He realizes he needs to live every moment like if it was your last. The theme of Cast Away is that there is always a way to survive the difficulties in life whether it may be physical, mental or emotional obstacles. The movie portrays this through symbols, settings and character development.
In this essay, I will be discussing the book The Abandonment written by Peter Rock. This paper will detail the facts and feelings behind the argument and in my conclusion; I will discuss the fascination in regards to Book cover #5. I actually took the time to read the material twice the information provided became more educational the further into the novel. I will say that I had to free myself to immerse in a journey of exploration that I probably did not know existed. The reading of the Abandonment put me face to face with the unfamiliar.
Shutter Island and Insomnia use stylistic features to unpack the theme of appearance versus reality and documents the effects of the psychological effects on the protagonists. Both films portray the common theme of appearance vs reality in different ways. Noticeable similarities and differences can be seen in the portrayal of social issues, cinematic techniques and characterisation.
Wilson, a volleyball who became Chuck’s only companion as he was stranded was who kept him sane during the time they were together. Chuck’s physical needs were being met by Wilson as Chuck was able to maintain his ability to keep up with enough physical activity for him to be able to gather and create tools they would both need to survive, such as starting a fire. As Chuck Argues with Wilson, he fulfills his identity needs by believing that his argument makes him a more logical, smarter person. Chuck is also able to meet his social needs as he uses Wilson’s presence as a listening one he could use to share ideas he had throughout time.
Additionally, this fluctuation of faith can also be seen through Chuck Noland in Cast Away. When Chuck Noland reaches his lowest point of hopelessness, he attempts to commit suicide. As time progresses, his faith in seeing Kelly again slowly diminish because Noland is aware that “she had to let [him] go” (Zemeckis, Cast Away). He realizes that she probably thinks that he is already dead and thus in a sense, Noland knows that he has already lost her. Like Pi, Noland also loses his motivation of surviving, as he believes Kelly has moved on with her life and begins to believe that he is going die alone on this island.
In Castaway, the main conflict that Chuck Nolan faces with another man is his arguments with Wilson. From the time that he makes Wilson, to the time he loses Wilson, he is constantly talking to him. They have arguments about different things that they could do. Wilson will offer one idea, but Chuck wouldn’t like it, so he would offer an idea. They would banter until Chuck made a final decision. Wilson was Chuck’s only friend on the island, without him Chuck would have been even more lonely then what he already was.
‘Castaway ‘, directed by Robert Zemeckis, is a 2001 film starring Tom Hanks. Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a FedEx delivery man whose life is headed in the ‘right direction’, until his plane crashes and he is stranded on an island. He must adapt to his new life on the island; overcoming many obstacles in order to survive. ‘Castaway’ explores three different journeys; physical, inner and imaginative. Chuck Noland is a filmic representation of the philosophy of time equals money equals fulfilment. Zemeckis is deliberate in his obvious manipulation of the responder as he uses a multitude of filmic techniques to create a connection between the audience and Chuck.