Life of Pi Film Analysis
Introduction
Life of Pi was introduced to movie goers November 23rd, 2012 with the bold claim that once one hears protagonist Pi Patel’s story that one would believe in God. Audiences around the world were captivated by the visual eye-candy and an unbelievable story, directed by Oscar winning director Ang Lee. Dazzling the senses, Life of Pi won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Best Achievement in Music and Best Achievement in Visual Effects. The film adaptation of Yann Martel’s 2001 novel went on to win 46 awards and collect 73 nominations in the film industry. Grossing nearly $23 Million dollars opening weekend, Life of Pi went on to gross nearly $125 Million in the United States alone as of late April 2013
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Essentially the film is killing two birds with one stone. So categorize this analysis under cultural context verses theological analysis is difficult to do. The very question “which story do you prefer,” is not only directed towards the writer but the audience as well, and thus hits the message home. Writer for the New York Magazine David Edlestein remarked that “the movie has a sting in its tail that puts what you’ve seen in a startlingly harsh context.” (qtd. in Kushigemachi par. 8).
Many viewers mistook Pi’s alternative story as a plot twist which was not the intention of either Martel or Lee. There is no “correct” answer as to which story is true (Kendrick par. 1). “The question is intended to serve as a moment of theological reflection” (Kendrick par. 3). At the end of the film the audience must now wrestle with this new disturbing story. “But one is also forced to grapple with the equally stunning revelation that beauty, hope, and love have the capacity to rise up and conquer the most horrific realities” (Scheller
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Audiences are left to ponder the final question left by Martel, “which story do you prefer?” Through powerful uses of imagery, audiences are drawn to the first “better” story and thus realize the beauty and power of faith. Due to Pi Patel’s pluralistic view on religions, the debate over the “one true religion” is set aside, allowing Martel’s message to impress on all audiences. Life of Pi as left many in a sea of their own thoughts. Each viewer finds their own conclusion as to which story they prefer, and it’s that impact that makes Life of Pi a successful
“It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names.” This mighty quote, plummets out of the novel Life of Pi. Its idea of the story that Yann Martel tells in this novel is of a journey that makes the story sound realistic. It’s undoubtful that only a master storyteller, like Yann Martel himself, could write such dominant and lifting quotes. Martel gives us the novel Life of Pi, which is a coming of age story about a young boy who reaches maturity through tragic, but uplifting loss and miraculous survival. The story, Life of Pi, is reflected apron on a wild journey that comes with many adventures, tragics, some laughs, and also survival.
Yann Martel (born 1963) is an author best known for the Man Booker Prize winning novel Life Of Pi, a# 1 international bestseller published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spent more than a year on the New York Times Bestseller list. It was adapted to the screen by Ang Lee.
Yann Martel`s Life of Pi follows A journey of a young man and a Bengal tiger as they travel across the ocean in a lifeboat.Director Ang lee made many consider the book to be beautiful,but virually unflimable.Being needed to told on screen Ang lee discerned very adeptly,about Life of Pi ‘’if there is will there is a way’’.
Survival is an instinct. Often times, in order to survive, people must shed a part of their innocence. For some, it may be subtle, taken in tiny bites along the way, and for others it could be in one traumatizing moment. Ang Lee, director of “The Life of Pi,” explores this theme throughout his film. Lee shows the viewer this loss in the use of imagery, lighting, and color. He takes the viewer on a journey through the eyes of Piscine Patel as his innocence and humanity slowly get chipped away and he is forced to do what is necessary to survive and the lengths he goes to to regain that lost innocence.
What happens when an Individual seeks union with divinity Where the protagonist Piscine Molitor Patel “Pi” is visited by the most extraordinary dreams, trances, visions, thoughts, sensations, and remembrances. In this 2012 American survival drama film Life Of Pi written by David Magee and directed by Ang Lee, Pi is
“The Real Story in Life of Pi The difference between fiction and reality is not always evident to those who are unable or unwilling to recognize the difference.”
To begin with “The life of Pi” is a story on how a boy survived a sunken ship which was caused by a massive storm. After the storm he is placed on a raft with 4 different animals that includes zebra, tiger, orangutan, and hyena. In order to survive he would fish for his food something the Native Americans would do. The Native Americans would let their prisoner John Smith
In Life of Pi, Pi is always searching for the “better story”. While Pi is describing agnostics, he proclaims that they “lack imagination and miss the better story” (Martel 64) in life. He later inquires of the men interviewing him, “‘Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?’” (Martel 317) after recounting two versions of his 227 days at sea. The “better story” is the story which opens up the mind, the story which provides you with a new way of observing the world. Being able to see the better story is an act of interpretation and creation. It is how we view the world and generate meaning from it. In this case, the better story becomes your reality because it is what is real to you.
Life, as they say, is a journey, and that’s never so clear as when watching a life story unfold in the hands of a masterful film director. In Life of Pi, the voyage is both literal and symbolic, as the title character is forced to traverse the high seas under Grimms’ fairy tale-like circumstances that must be seen to be — well, if not believed, then at least experienced at a deep level. At the same time, the young, Indian lead character, a devoted spiritual seeker, undergoes an intense inner journey as well.
On its surface, Martel’s Life of Pi proceeds as a far-fetched yet not completely unbelievable tale about a young Indian boy named Pi who survives after two hundred twenty-seven days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It is an uplifting and entertaining story, with a few themes about companionship and survival sprinkled throughout. The ending, however, reveals a second story – a more realistic and dark account replacing the animals from the beginning with crude human counterparts. Suddenly, Life of Pi becomes more than an inspiring tale and transforms into a point to be made about rationality, faith, and how storytelling correlates the two. The point of the book is not for the reader to decide which
Yann Martel’s theme of truth being relative is again established when Pi experiences a shipwrecked. On the lifeboat, Pi continues to survive living with a bengal tiger, he survives after seeing the other animals on the boat kill each other, and he survives by eating fish even though he is a vegetarian. Inspite of all the suffering Pi is going through he still turns towards God. This is proved when Pi says, “I practised religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances – solitary Masses without priests or consecrated Communion Hosts, darshans without murtis, and pujas with turtle meat for prasad, acts of devotion to Allah not knowing where Mecca was and getting my Arabic wrong. They brought me comfort, that is certain. But it was hard, oh, it was hard. Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love – but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up...The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining light in my heart. I would go on loving” (208-209). Through this quote, Yann Martel is showing how Pi continues to worship God even though he was suffering and struggling with his faith. Pi still believes that God is the most important to him inspite of what his is going through emotionally
Hinduism deeply changes Pi for the good, although people don’t believe his story, Pi is convinced that through his faith, he survives crossing the Pacific Ocean. There is also a great amount of symbolism in Martel’s novel, from the Tiger, to even the travel itself, symbolism plays a great deal in the Book.
Throughout time, humans have written books based on various genres in an effort to tell a story, whether it is fact or fiction. Storytelling is one of the most beautiful ways to express ideas, and creative thoughts, involving characters, settings, to create a plot. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, cleverly incorporates ambiguity from the omission of information, and lack of resolution. These aspects in turn, create the ambiguity, which leaves the reader to interpret the text in anyway. The ambiguity formed develops the significance of Pi’s storytelling, to the author and the readers. The post-modern aspects in Life of Pi, leave many things open to interpretation based on Pi’s storytelling ability.
“The Classical Hollywood Style Combined with the Taoist Philosophy in Ang Lee’s film, Life of Pi (2012) Gained Favorable International Attention” “The Life of Pi” released on November 12th, 2012 has beautifully orchestrated spiritual themes and impressive visual effects of cinematography about a young boys struggle to stay alive while stranded out at sea. This archetypal journey resonated themes that illustrate the power of life’s force, the human desire for companionship, and storytelling as a strategy for self-preservation. Based upon a national best-selling book by Yann Martel in 2001, this novel was considered un-filmable amongst film experts (Ashdown, 2013). However, Ang Lee thought differently.
As he goes through its pages, obviously on the Damascun street to edification, the peruser won't, agnostic or officially dedicated devotee, encounter some real disclosure to the soul, coming to, or restoring, a confidence in God. Nor, in spite of Martel's unequivocal yet beguiling proclamation, is he planned to. Rather, Life of Pi accomplishes something all the more unobtrusively astounding: it makes the peruser need to put stock in