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Elephant, a Film Analysis Essay examples

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The Tragedy of Columbine was caused by the social injustices inflicted upon two students; Alex Frost and Eric Deulen. This is the message Gus Van Sant portrays in his movie `Elephant.' These two characters are not part of the `in crowd' and are picked upon in school to the point that they come to school with guns. Present day schools are treating this issue incorrectly by not trying to relinquish the social injustices of high school.

Many schools today now completely cut off the school from the outside world in order to stop tragedies like Columbine from occurring. Security sets up controlled entry points on campus allowing only those they approve to enter. In theory this plan will restrict students from bringing guns to school. The …show more content…

Eric and Alex are outcasts. Eric is shown picking spit balls off his clothing in the bathroom. He is obviously the subject of torment from the other kids in school. When most children go through high school they feel unaccepted. It takes them coming together and picking on upon another accepted student to feel like they are themselves accepted by a group. This is typically the bond most students have with each other, the bond of hating another group or type of student. This is a wrong mentality. Yet, it is basically what our country thrives on. America has such a large history of this that high school students have many influences to look upon. Schools need to find a way to break down the social groups that form in high school in an attempt to stop the injustices occurring among students. Sant shows many scenes that depict these injustices.

What Sant decides to emphasize upon in the scenes is interesting. Several scenes lapse over and repeat in different perspectives. The scene where Jordan, Nicole, and Brittany are talking and Nathan walks by is repeated two times. Showing that Nathan thinks himself the higher class person as he walks by the girls. Not only that but the girls talk about Nathan's girlfriend being mean to girls that look at him. In high school students should not be this worried about relationships. This most likely stems from television and drama series that most teenagers watch. The scene where Elias and John meet in the hallway and

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