1. The search for the other ends up being a search for the self. Discuss in Death and the Compass.
In Death and the Compass, Erik Lonnrot investigates a series of murders that he believes are related to cult killings. As he looks for the mastermind, he finds a maze of clues and more mysteries, and yet he is confident that he can determine the true identity of the killer. In the end, he realizes that he has discovered a hopelessness that he has not yet encountered, instead of the resolution of the crime. It seems that he is going around in circles and that he cannot uncover the truth. Erik cannot solve the crime as easy as he initially believed, and the killer takes this to his advantage.
This film shows that Erik Lonnrot also needs to know more about himself and the underlying causes of his own despair. The process of the crime detection brings him to an analysis of himself. He realizes that hubris is his sin and that as a human being, he is also not infallible. The media has vainly glamorized his reputation, and for this, he has glamorized himself also. He has come to believe that he can make perfect deductions, a belief that shaded his ability to think more logically. He is going around in circles on this investigation, because, ultimately, he does not know himself. If only he knew who he really is, including his weaknesses, then he would identify many alternatives to his crime hypotheses, and earlier detection of the criminal. This film teaches viewers that in many ways, analyzing the other can also lead to a revelation about one self.
2. Clay neither kills Georges wife (nor incapacitates her), nor throws George out of the plan, after the wife spies on him (on Clay). What is the importance, beyond plot, of this fact for the film The Killing
The Killing is all about an elaborate planning of a heist, masterminded by an ex-convict Johnny Clay. He discovers that Sherry has been spying on them, but he does not kill her or take George out of the plan, because Clay is a master strategist. Instead, he sends them both away so that he can think about the implications of this development on his crime planning. He believes that Sherry is in it for money and possibly even cheating on George, for why else would she spy on them, when George is already part of the plan Sherry must be doing the spying for someone else. Clay must have forecasted that if everything goes according to plan, Sherrys treachery can lead to the demise of other crime members and Clay would have all the 2 million for himself. This shows the creativity of the criminal mind. Criminals may be unthinking in other areas of their life, but they also have the gift for understanding fellow criminals. Money rules in their game and this is the same source of their greed. Money, however, is still not everything, and it will also be the source of the problems, even for criminals. The ending shows that killing other criminals in the plan will not always guarantee success. In the end, crime does not pay and Clay goes back to jail.
The Killing is also a symbol for the killing of human conscience. When everyone practices the belief of every man for himself, society breaks down, for we all need one another in order to survive in this world.
3. In Minority Report, and with the case of Anderton in which 3 monkeys predict that Anderton will commit murder, there is no actual minority report. There are instead three different opinions, two of which coincide in their conclusions (but are otherwise different). Explain how this is the case and why it is of import.
This is important because having different opinions demonstrates that people are still in charge of their lives. Though determinism may exist, as in the case of the precogs being able to forecast the future, people will still make the final decisions in their lives for every moment they have to make it. In the case of Anderton, though the two precogs concur that he will kill Crow, he still decided to not shoot him. He is still the master of his fate and not some predictor of the future. This shows that no one can predict his fate, not even precogs.
At the same time, these differences in opinions among the precogs also showcase that the system of precognition is not perfect. And if it is not perfect, then there is always a reason to doubt its results, including past predictions. This means that the whole system should be abolished and this fact is something that Burgess could not accept, so he kills himself instead.
5. Discuss the character of Paul Auster in City of Glass.
The character of Paul Auster in City of Glass is deceptive, because he is the mystery writer Quinn himself. This deception, however, proves to be a deception of the self only. As Auster works on this case, as he pretends to be Auster, he imbibes a new identity, the identity of a true detective. He is no longer making stories he is the center of the story. He finds himself in a city of glass and he connects more to the other in this glass. This other is his creation, but at the same time, his creation changes him. The environment of detective work changes Quinn into Auster, and soon, he does not know anymore who he really is. As his creation changes him, it sends the message that he does not know himself to begin with, because writing so much about others made him lose his connection to his self identity.
6. Explain the importance of the final French quote in the Purloined Letter for the story as a whole.The importance of the final French quote in the Purloined Letter for the story as a whole is that it tells about the complexity of the problem of the Prefect, which is not complex at all, and that there is no calamitous plan worth doing. When translated, the French quote says that when the design is catastrophic, if it is not worthy of d atree, is worthy of thyeste. In this case, Dupin is telling the Minister that his plans are not worthy to be pursued anymore, if it will destroy the lady he wishes to control. At the same time, he is expressing that if someone cannot solve a simple riddle, then another person can. The Prefect cannot resolve the problem of the purloined letter, but Dupin did. Also, this resolution does not have to be too obvious, but something also to be hidden in a simple manner. If the Minister wanted to make other people stupid, then he too shall eat his own medicine.
8. Analyze the final scene, as the dog upsets the cart, in The Killing.
The final scene of the dog upsetting the cart demonstrates that there is no perfect plan and no perfect criminal. This film noir explores the imperfection of human planning in the context of an irrationally uncontrollable environment. Clay believes himself to be the perfect criminal for his perfect plan. He has everything planned, or so it seems, because he has the people and the money to implement the crime. He cannot plan perfectly, after all, because there are changing and uncertain environmental factors that he cannot possibly prepare for. He also cannot account for the change in peoples feelings and actions. There is also the dog that sets up a sequence of events that will lead to Clays detection. He is also not the perfect criminal because he has not thought of buying a better quality suitcase. In the end, he knows that it will be futile to run from the police, because one mistake cannot erase his greater mistakes - his earnest belief in his perfection, his hubris.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment