Tuesday, July 12, 2011

WEEK 6: Film Appreciation – Assumptions and Contributions of Semiotics


"The Thin Red Line"



Based on the story The Thin Red Line that was aired in week 6 Semiotics class is a story about a few men that was brought in as aid soldiers to join the marine unit that was in desperate need of help, they suffered during the process and eventually build essential discoveries about themselves throughout the vicious World War II in the battle of Guadalcanal.

One of the relationship between the characters and the scene that I have observed would definitely relate to the relationship between Colonel Tall, played by Nick Nolte, and Captain Starros, participated by Elias Koteas. This relationship focus on the question of loyalty, a clash between loyalty to the orders of one's superiors and loyalty to the men beneath one's command. This relationship moves towards a catastrophe when Starros declined an order from Tall to direct an attack on the machine gun pointed to the Japanese. Starros claims that he has lived with them for two and a half years, and will not order them to their deaths. He decides that Starros is not harsh enough to conduct his men. Loyalty to the men beneath one's command must be obeyed in the battlefield.

From my point of view, another outstanding relationship between Private Bell (Ben Chaplin) and his wife Marty (Miranda Otto) that is primarily based on love and is dealt with quite theoretically by Malick. Bell is a former army officer who had been a First Lieutenant in the Philippines. He and his wife had an extremely close, strong relationship and after spending four months separated from his wife in the jungle, he was determined that he wanted to get out and resigned his task. Then, after the battle, Bell received a letter from his wife saying that she has left him for an Air Force captain.

The set of the story was mainly in the Australian jungles and the Solomon Islands. In my opinion, the film maker chose this particular background to blend in with the mode and concept of the storyline and to portray the background during that era. It reflects the story mode as viewers are able to connect visuals throughout the story. It relates and connects certain elements that are bold to follow up with the flow of the storyline. The props of this story are picked to blend in with the story mode and are relevant as it gives a certain feel to the story.


- Naomi Yap

4 comments:

  1. It is a 3 hours war movie , but it is a quite meaningful movie for me , the story tell that men are never satisfy with what they have , and they wanna to get more and more , it prove that human begin are a greedy creature all the time.

    in some certain scene , the director use the mother bathing babies,combine with the voice over, to create the feeling and message to let people to understand about how cruel and how danger is the war can bring to us , it may make your family become apart .... or you may never see them again.

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  2. I agree with Kong, human are greedy in all ways, they can't get enough what they already had. For example, you ask " there is RM50 & RM 10, which one will you choose" I think normally people will choose both of them & said " why not choose both?"...War is a very horrifying stuff that could happen, people are dying % homeless, those who created war actually didn't really think trice, they didn't think about the people who are innocent(citizen)

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  3. i agree with Kong and Yeoh statement about this movie. I do even watch this movie and it brings a lot of meaningful stories to me. It reminds me of the days of our parents and even grandparents during their time when there is World War and it effects the whole world. In this movie, the story shows how the citizens of US survive from the attack from the terrorist. It also shows the soldiers fought for their lives in order to protect their country from terrorist invasion. On the other hand, the terrorist have an attitude which is very evil that is they are greedy in everything. They even can do what they want in order to achieve their satisfaction. Therefore during that time happens the war that are cruel and evil. During the war, many people died and homeless due to their house is damaged during the war. Therefore in the end the whole is living in hunger and homeless and it is really a pity for them. In conclusion we should not be greedy in everything we do and be considerate to everyone

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  4. The opening shot of the film crocodile slipping ominously into the water,the crocodile is almost black and slips into the dark green water. The shot keep replaying in my mind until i understand it might be symbolizes the instinct of nature to survive, if necessarily, by killing. It is a metaphor of death, danger, and the hunter. Also, there is a few shots played from the film which are quite significant and prompt the reader to make mental comparisons.

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