A scene analysis of David Fincher's 'Fight Club'

This is an analysis of 'Fight Club' based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk. 

Clip 1: (0:00—2:07)

The opening title is a zoom-out from inside of the main character’s head where we see the physiology of his fear, neurons firing and flashing along synapses, until we see the frightened face of the narrator with a gun in his mouth.

Clip 3: (3:54—6:20)

In this series of scenes we see Jack’s life, a life ruled by insomnia, monotony, conformity, and fatigue. The inside of his apartment is full of the latest name brand consumer goods to which he is a slave to, working in an unrewarding unfulfilling job as a recall specialist. Reading catalogs, to him, is like reading pornography in that the stuff in catalogs reflects his ideal self. These scenes end with Jack in a doctors office asking for drugs, something else external to make him feel good and he sees an image of a man blink then disappear. Jack is showing symptoms of DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder or Split Personality Disorder) and Schizophrenia. Symbolically, his personality disorder is divided into three parts, what Freud called the id, the ego, and the superego. At this point, Jack is the superego in that he is careful in observing norms and trends like the cup of Starbucks that he leaves on the copy machine, the trash can by his desk that’s filled with empty name brand food containers, and his apartment in which every item in it is named and priced, including the items in his refrigerator.

When he sees glimpses of Tyler Durden flashing he is receiving a subconscious projection of his ideal self, Superman, or what Freud calls the “id,” the complete inverse of who he is. This is why Durden flashes in and out, because Jack’s superego, which is drawn to conformity and routine and external validation is not ready to accept him yet but because Durden is flashing suggests that Jack is having trouble repressing his id.

Clip 5: (6:21—10:21)

Jack attends a lot of male support groups. This one is for men who survived testicular cancer. As the men talk about the women who left them and had babies with other men, Tyler Durden blinks in and out so fast that no one but Jack sees him.

Again, Jack’ subconscious mind projects his id, or his ideal self. He is unaware that his submerged psyche is rebelling against his superego or what he consciously believes himself to be. The men at this meeting are emasculated or castrated, well on their way to becoming women, in a society that has conditioned men to be excessively narcissistic and preoccupied with how they look (symbolized by Bob, who used to be a champion bodybuilder but due to steroid overuse has grown women’s breasts).

Clip 7: (11:34—19:12)

Jack’s insomnia goes away but when a woman named Marla Singer begins popping up at his support groups, even his testicular cancer support group, Jack’s insomnia returns. The reason why Jack can’t sleep is because Marla reminds him of what he and his male counterparts are becoming. Marla is looking for a man, which is why she does not join Fight Club and starts dating Tyler who, to her, represents a real man.

Clip 9: (21:41—25:47)

Jack meets Tyler Durden on a plane trip. They have the same luggage. Tyler is a soap salesman. Jack is detained by security at the airport because of a vibrating dildo in his luggage. But he doesn’t remember having a dildo. Later, an explosion destroys his apartment and all of the name brand items he’d collected. Tyler Durden left him a card and Jack finds a phone booth.

Finally, Tyler comes out of Jack. This happens as Jack is praying for the plane he’s in to get hit because insurance pays more for airplane collisions.

This idea is an invocation that calls Tyler from Jack’ subconscious. That Tyler sells soap is a metaphor. Tyler is here to clean up Jack’s life starting with his dependence on external attachments to things. Immediately after meeting Tyler, Jack’s place blows up representing the rebirth of Jack, and the psychic inversion of his personality in which his superego takes a backseat to his id, or Tyler Durden.

Clip 12: (32:27—34:10)

This scene doesn't look like it, but this scene is very crucial to understanding Tyler Durden. He works as a film projectionist in a theater. The film projection here is Jack’s subconsciousness. The clip of the penis Tyler sneaks into the film reel is himself. You’ll notice that in the beginning of the film, Tyler appears as a projection of Jack’s subconsciousness, blinking in and out exactly as the penis in this scene. This means that Tyler represents Jack’s ideal of masculinity. This metaphor is reinforced in the initial love scene between Tyler and Marla. Tyler goes over to Marla’s place and there he stands by a dildo on a dresser, intentionally placed there to be compared to him.

Clip 17: (50:15—53:29)

In this clip, Durden pays a visit to see Marla who had called threatening to kill herself with prescription drugs. They have sex and Durden shares this with Jack later who seems appalled.

It seems innocuous but the dildo on Marla's dresser provides a strong clue as to what she was looking for at support groups. Not sex. But notice how the phallus and Durden are juxtaposed against each other. Marla was looking for a man among the eunuchs attending the support groups. This is also why she says to Durden, referencing the dildo: “Don’t worry, it’s no threat to you.”

Clip 26: (1:35:36—1:37:47)

Members of Fight Club disguised as waiters at a Police fundraiser ambush the Police Commissioner and threaten to cut his balls off if he messes with Project Mayhem. Afterwards, Jack sees Tyler hugging one of the Angel Face and becomes insanely Jealous and in a fighting match, disfigures Angel Face’s once pretty face. Later, in a car, Jack is upset that Tyler didn’t tell him about Project Mayhem. Tyler lets go of the steering wheel allowing the car to crash.

Jack and Tyler’s relationship is homoerotic throughout the film but in this scene in particular. When Jack sees Tyler taunting him by embracing Angel Face who is younger and almost virginal by comparison to himself. Jack is inflamed with jealousy and in their subsequent fight match he gets back at Tyler by messing up Angel Face’s pretty face telling Tyler that he just wanted to “destroy something beautiful,” a statement with a double meaning. Not only did he want to destroy the face of the man for Tyler’s benefit but Jack also meant that he wanted to transform Fight Club as a way of personal self-improvement into a corporate terrorist group, in other words, he wanted to transform Fight Club into a franchise. This scene also represents a role-reversal for Jack who becomes the id by allowing his actions to be dictated by jealousy and expressing those actions in a primitive manner.

Clip 27: (1:37:48—1:41:26)

In the car scene, we again see a homoerotic verbal exchange between Jack and Tyler who, like a man and his wife in a dysfunctional relationship, argue in front of their children being the 2 Project Mayhem members in the back seat. In this scene, Jack’ psyche reverts to his childhood when he saw his own parents argue. The other symbols in this scene are the rain and darkness, representing the unknown; the center line in the road representing the norms of society and the steering wheel representing the tug-of-war between Jack’s ego and superego which wants to control everything and stay within those norms. He also wants to control Durden and Fight Club but Durden is the id and unrestricted and he lets go of the steering wheel representing the letting go of Fight Club and allowing it to deviate into anarchy, which is symbolized as both the car going off the road and crashing in a ditch and earlier when Jack himself “let go” and disfigured Angel Face’s face.

Clip 28: (1:41:26—1:45:06)

Tyler leaves Jack and Project Mayhem, the group they started together. Jack wakes up after a deep sleep and the house is crowded and swarming with members engaged in various activities. Marla drops by to see Tyler and Jack tells her that he’s abandoned both of them.

Jack and Tyler split apart from each other. Before, they found common ground with Fight Club but once the club escalates to corporate vandalism and terrorism, Jack’s superego takes over. The only difference between the beginning of the film and now is that in the beginning Jack wasn’t aware of Tyler’s existence. Now, Jack is just in denial. He knows that Tyler exists, he’s just in denial that he and Tyler are one and the same person.

Clip 30: (1:47:58—1:51:21)

In a drawer in Tyler’s room, Jack finds plane ticket receipts. He flies from city to city hunting for Tyler who is 1 step ahead of him setting up franchises in every city, building an army. Every guy he meets, guys working regular blue-collar jobs, already knows Jack and refers to him by “sir.” A bartender in a neck brace addresses Jack by the name of Tyler Durden. Jack returns to his hotel room and finds Tyler there, who breaks the news that they are one and the same.

This is Jack getting past denial and the ensuing violence between them is the superego punishing itself with guilt and self abasement symbolized by the beating he subjects himself to through his Tyler persona.

Clip 34 (2:05:55—2:09:37)

Jack wants to stop Project Mayhem but Tyler wants it to continue. He beats up Jack.

This is Jack getting past denial and the conflict between his superego and id without the agreement of his ego.

Analysis of a scene from' 'Citizen Kane'

This is an analysis of the opening scenes of the film 'Citizen Kane'.

In this clip we see a small boarding home surrounded by snow and Kane out playing on his sled. Meanwhile, inside of the boarding home, Mrs. Kane and Mr. Kane, her husband, are arguing because Mrs. Kane has inherited a gold mine on the property and she is signing papers to turn their son over to Mr. Thatcher who's bank holds the trust that Charles will inherit on his 25th birthday. Mrs. Thatcher wants the bank to be their son’s guardian and believes that their son will be better educated in the bank’s care. As Mrs. Kane is at the table with Thatcher signing the paperwork, Mr. Thatcher’s angrily objects in the background as Kane is framed in a window outside playing happily on his sled; this image says that Kane, at this point, is the picture of happiness. Thatcher mentions the 50,000.00 dollar a year allowance Mr. and Mr. Kane will from the fund and Mr. Kane calms down immediately. After signing their son over to Mr. Thatcher and the Bank, Mrs. Kane calls her son in. Mr. Thatcher takes the boy and the abandoned sled is covered in snow.

This is where the sadness starts. Mrs. Kane decides to have her son raised in a materialistic environment that is insensitive to his emotional needs. Kane’s viewpoint of the world in relation to himself is “If I give you something, you must love me,” but throughout his public and private life he is incapable of giving love because he was raised by a banker who only provided for his material needs and this upbringing taught and his mother’s reason for giving him up in the 1st place conditioned him to think that he could be loved by returning something other than love. 

Fantastic scene. Right away, the film presents us with the paradox of Charles as a small boy who is happy and yet very poor. His parents, particularly his father, are not college educated but the boy seems happy and content. His happiness is interrupted and taken away from him by Thatcher, a banker, who, his mother believes, will provide the proper education for her son. Right away, there is a trade-off of his childhood and happiness for wealth that  he searches for throughout the film. This scene also sheds light on his motivations later as an adult as to why his newspaper stands up for people who are poor. His father in this scene has no say so over his son being turned over to the bank and Kane’s newspaper is the voice for those who remind him of his father. 

An analysis of scenes from 'All That Heaven Allows'

This is an analysis of 'All That Heaven Allows' I shared with a group of fellow film lovers at the public library. Let me know what you think of this great film.

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS By Douglas Sirk

Title 1 (00:00-11:50) (11:50) Stop at “What a horrid thing to say, Mona.”

Cary attends a dinner where she is subjected to criticism for wearing a red dress. 

My viewpoint

The 1st shot of the film shows a clock on a church tower beside an overhead view of a New England suburb. The leaves are turning indicating the season and the theme of the film which is not death but change going with the fact that Cary, whose mourning her husband, is going to fall in love with another man again. We are also introduced to other elements of the plot that foreshadow elements later in the story. At around the 2:47 point on the DVD, Cary invites Sara to have lunch but Sara is attending a dinner and doesn’t have the time. She arranges a date for Cary. This establishes the film’s theme of other people running Cary’s life. Ron is finishing up some yard work for Cary and when she invites him to coffee and lunch, he accepts—this contrast between Sara and Ron—she, being too busy and he, not being too busy—sums up the entire film. This also is an illustration of what Alida says later about her and Mick getting off life’s merry-go-round. The opening shot of the clock and the neighborhood is also a metaphor for people living their lives on the clock. 

In this scene, we meet Cary’s children who remind her of what’s acceptable and not acceptable for a woman her age, expressing their approval of whom she chooses to date and expressing disapproval of a low-cut dress she wears out on a date. Cary is bombarded in this scene by what others like and don’t like. The dinner party is full of gossipers. 

This film makes excellent use of technicolor. The colors or deep and saturated. Criterion did a great job on this movie as they always do. 

Title 2 (5) (16:32—20:49) (4:17) Stop at “It was probably thrown there because the pieces were missing. Better leave it.” 

Ron finishes up some final landscaping on Cary’s property and tells her that he plans on giving up the business to raise trees full-time. He invites her to his place to show her some trees and she accepts. 

My viewpoint:

Ron’s place is out in the woods with nature away from civilization and Cary’s world of materialism. Cary is taken by an old mill there, an old mill that hasn’t been used in a while. This mill, like Ron, is sturdy but empty because he doesn’t have a steady woman. The broken tea server is a metaphor for his heart which some woman has broken. Only love can fix it which is why he tells her to leave it. 

Title 3 (7) (26:20-33:39) (7:19) Stop after Ron opens bottle with his teeth

Ron introduces Cary to his friends, Mick and Alida who also have a nursery business. Mick and Alida live a simple life like Ron and Cary wants to know why. Alida, Mick’s wife, explains to Cary how Ron helped them to get out of the rat-race. 

My viewpoint:

It is no coincidence that both Ron and Mick are in the nursery business. This society is so materialistic that we tend to connect our happiness to how much stuff we own. The message in this scene is that the closer we get back to the basics and nature the happier we become. All of Mick’s friends in this scene have occupations that have something to do with nature: 

• There’s Manuel, the lobster catcher
• There’s Grandpa Adams, a beekeeper and artist
• Then there’s Mrs. Edna Pidway, head of the Audubon Society and bird-watcher

Also notice how easily Cary is accepted by Ron’s friends who aren’t judgmental and contrast this with how Ron is rejected by Cary’s society.  Ron’s friends are diverse while all of Cary’s friends are lily-White.

Title 4 (10) (47:49-57:34) (9:55) Stop as Ron and Cary leave party

Cary announces to her children that she is going to get married to Ron Kirby and they aren’t happy about it. What will everybody think of her marrying a gardener? Cary takes Ron to an evening dinner to meet her friends and things don’t go well there, either. 

My viewpoint: 

Cary’s society rejects Ron in direct contrast to how his society accepts her. First, her children are more concerned with what people think of Cary’s decision to marry Ron than they are with her happiness. At the party, Ron is treated as a novelty and a gold-digger. There is a lot of class discrimination here and it is easy to see from this scene and others how this film inspired Rainer Werner Fassbinder to make Ali: Fear Eats The Soul 19 years later.

Title 5 (12) (59:46—1:06:38) (6:52) Stop after Ron and Cary break up and he sits on stair

Ned tells Cary that he won’t accept Ron as his father or come to the wedding; Kay blames an argument with her boyfriend on her mother’s decision to marry Ron. Cary calls off the wedding.

My viewpoint:

Cary is confronted with making a choice between being what her society expects her to be and pursuing her own happiness. She chooses, what she feels at this time, the best route by living her life as others want her to.

Title 6 (17) (1:12:14—1:15:31) (3:17) Stop after “Drama, life, comedy, life’s parade at your fingertips.”

Ned and Kay come home for Christmas. Kay is engaged to get married and shows her engagement ring to Cary. Ned is going off to Paris to study for a year and off to Iran afterwards to work for a company. He plans to sell the house. He and Kay buy her a TV set for Christmas. 

My viewpoint:

Now, Cary sees that her children, who ran her life, are living their lives and are completely unconcerned about her. Cary realizes the mistake she made in living for others instead of seeking her own happiness. The TV set means that while she’s at home by herself she’ll be watching others live their lives, happy and not the least bit concerned about what she thinks. 

Title 7 (19) (1:19:57—1:21:35) (1:38) Stop after Rod falls in snowbank 

Cary realizes her mistake and goes by to see Ron but he’s not in the mill. He sees her and tries to get her attention. He loses his footing and fall off a ledge and lands face first in a snowbank. 

My viewpoint: 

Title 8 (20) (1:24:52—end) (3:55)

Rod is in the mill under doctor’s care, unconscious since falling off the ledge into the snowbank. He has a concussion. Cary understands now, how she’d let other people come between her and Ron. He comes to and the 1st thing he sees is her face over his. 

A video Analysis of Elia Kazan's 'On The Waterfront'

This is an analysis of Elia Kazan's 'On The Waterfront'

In Elia Kazan's film 'On The Waterfront', Ex-boxer Terry Malloy could've been a contender, but after taking a dive, he winds up on the dock of a Brooklyn waterfront, a pariah for conspiring in the murder of Joey Doyle, a popular dockworker, who was going to testify against Johnny Friendly. Terry is set up in a cushy job, all he has to do is tell Johnny who the rats are. But when Terry falls in love with the sister of the man he helped kill, he is forced to make a decision that pits him against his own brother, Charlie The Gent, in one of the greatest acting scenes ever filmed!

Video Analysis of Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange'

This is an analysis of Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange'

A 'Clockwork Orange' by director Stanley Kubrick

What happens to a young man who's lost his yarbles? What happens when he partakes of a little of the ol' ultra violence and lands himself in prison? What happens when he subjects himself to an experiment that will rehabilitate him, make him a eunuch and harmless to society? How does society treat the weak, the vulnerable, the powerless? Alex--sociopath, alpha male, dropout, droog, narcissist, rapist--is public-enemy-number-one in a not-so-distant future dystopia where the strong feed on the weak and the weak feed on those who are weaker. 

Scene analysis of 'Apocalypse Now: Redux Part 3 (DVD)

This is a scene by scene analysis of 'Apocalypse Now: Redux'.




Title 8 (37:00-49:51) (12:51) Stop after “Smells like victory.”

Summary

A squadron of Air Calvary Hueys raid Vin Bin Drop raining bullets and bombs and taking
fire as well. When the copters hit the ground, Kilgore orders some of his men to get their surf boards and hit the waves in spite of the heavy explosions and flying bullets. He orders them to either surf or fight and they choose to surf. He then calls in a napalm sortie to clear out a tree- line and the way is clear for Willard and his men to enter the Nung River.

My viewpoint

Kilgore leads the helicopter raid on Vin Bin Drop playing loud music to stir up his men and to freak out the enemy. This is an example of using music as a distraction or as a way to escape. Again, this is not about music but about entertainment and how it is used to distort reality. People are dying all over the place and all Kilgore can think about is getting his surfboard in the water. He represents those who seek pleasure and entertainment to escape or disconnect from harsh realities. 

This also suggests that Willard may be attempting to escape or disconnect himself by staying in ‘Nam instead of returning home because in ‘Nam killing is normal. Going back home to his wife and reconnecting with civilization would reconnect him with reality and his humanity and cause him a great deal of pain, similar to someone staying drunk all the time to avoid something too painful for them to deal with in a sober state. 

A scene analysis of 'Apocalypse Now: Redux' Part 2 (DVD version)

This is a scene by scene analysis of 'Apocalypse Now: Redux'

Title 3 (23:02-31:14) (8:12) Stop at “Forgive us our trespasses”

Summary:

Willard goes over Kurtz’ dossier and right away he’s hooked. In ’64, Kurtz, worked with an advisory command in ‘Nam and returned his report to Washington. The President restricted his report. Also Kurtz signed up for paratroopers at 38 years of age. This was crazy; no one signs up to jump out of planes at that age!

Willard and his 4 man escort—Gunners-Mate nicknamed Mr. Clean, a 17 year old from? Chef, a machinist from New Orleans, Gunner’s-mate Lance Johnson, a famous surfer from LA, and Chief Phillips, the boat’s captain—rendezvous at an unspecified location with Colonel Kilgore, Commander of Air Cavalry, 1st of the 9th. Air Calvary are mopping up an unsuccessful skirmish with the VietCong and evacuating refugees to South Vietnam.

My viewpoint:

Right away, you see the disconnection from reality as soldiers entering the theater are met by a movie crew with the director shouting instructions to not look in the camera. Then, from this scene we are introduced to Colonel Kilgore who embodies both detachment from reality and complete insanity with his obsession with surfing and Lance Johnson who happens to be a surfing legend and his idol. Kilgore is a metaphor for Western society which is overstimulated and has lost the ability to connect with the world around him. 

Also, in this scene is hypocrisy as a priest and some soldiers recite the lord’s prayer (killing in the name of God) This is a metaphor of White colonialism using God and the bible to justify killing others. This metaphor is born out at the end of the film when we finally see Kurtz. The native people he rules have painted their skin white to look like him. 

A scene analysis of 'Apocalypse Now Redux' Part 1

This is a scene by scene analysis of 'Apocalypse Now: Redux'

Title 1 (6:06-18:53) (12:47) 

The film opens in a small room in Saigon. Captain Willard, of the U.S. Army’s Special Forces (505 battalion, 173rd Airborne , SOG Studies and Observation Group) and CIA operative is a wreck. He’s a government assassin without a mission, out of action, and the waiting and boredom are killing him. A couple of soldiers show up at his door with orders to bring him to COM-SEC INTELLIGENCE at Nha Trang Airfield.

There, a general hands Willard a mission. Walter E. Kurtz, a highly decorated Colonel, is wanted for murdering 4 Vietnamese double agents. He has since gone AWOL and made himself a god over an indigenous people called the Montagnards in a remote jungle in Cambodia. Willard and a crew are to travel up the Nung River in a boat, learn what they can along the way, and once they arrive in Cambodia, to find Kurtz and to kill him with “extreme prejudice.”

My viewpoint

At the beginning you see Captain Willards face and images of the war in Vietnam, fire, burning brush, helicopters, his wife’s picture on the table by his bed, bottles of Alcohol. Willard is an assassin for the CIA and he is disconnected from reality, disconnected from the world, his family, disconnected from himself. He’s disconnected from all the men he’s killed previously, disconnected because those men weren’t American. As Willard says in the film’s voice-over: 

“How many people had I already killed? There were those 6 that I knew about for sure... close enough to blow their last breath in my face. But this time, it was an American. And an officer!” 

Kurtz reconnects Williard with the reality of killing others because not only is Kurtz a U.S. Colonel and an American and Williard gets to know the man intimately through his dossier and by retracing Kurtz journey up the Nung River. This journey both detaches Willard to understand how Kurtz flipped and at the same time the journey reconnects Willard to his own humanity and reality after being desensitized killing foreigners. 

The ending to '2001: A Space Odyssey' fully explained!

This is a complete explanation of the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey

Dave Bowman completes his journey through the Stargate and his space pod ends up in a room full of light and antique furniture. He looks out the window of the pod and sees an older, future version of himself. This Dave sees another future version of himself sitting at a desk. Dave stands up from the desk to look around and sees another future and even older version of himself eating at a table.

This Dave accidentally knocks a glass to the floor.  He looks over his shoulder and sees himself in the future on his death-bed. This final version of Dave sees the black monolith at the foot of his bed. In the blink of an eye, Dave transforms into a fetus inside of a clear glowing egg. Next, the egg containing Dave’s fetus hovers in space beside a planet that looks like Earth.

The intro to 2001: A Space Odyssey fully explained!

This is a complete explanation of the opening to '2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick

This is the protracted intro to 2001: A Space Odyssey where you hear the powerful humming sound of the black monolith that, according to Kubrick, represented alien beings millions of years old, progressing from biological beings to “immortal machine entities", and then into "beings of pure energy and spirit"; beings with "limitless capabilities and ungraspable intelligence.” The thundering composition here is called Sprach Zarathustra and it is heard at three pivotal moments in the film: The Dawn of Man, Jupiter, and Beyond the Infinite. In all 3 instances, this composition follows a revelation or revealing of something greater, or a movement of man to a higher level of knowledge. This is a very powerful and iconic score. 

'The Dawn of Man' from 2001: A Space Odyssey fully explained!

This scene is called 'The Dawn of Man' from the film '2001: A Space Odyssey'.

Millions of years ago on Earth on an African desert characterized by rugged natural features and vast stretches of parched desert, a tribe of apemen struggle with other wild beasts for food. This tribe is chased away from a watering hole by another tribe of bigger, stronger apes. A strange blue light and a deep humming sound awakens the weaker apes as they are sleeping in their cave. Outside, they find a huge black monolith, rectangular in shape and geometrically perfect among its rocky natural surroundings. The apes approach the humming object hesitantly, touching it carefully. The smooth polished surface of the monolith is alien to the apes. 

The following day an ape picks over the bones of a carcass left by another predator. The ape looks disappointed as the bones are picked clean. He studies the shape of a big bone in the pile, then an image of the black monolith flashes across the ape’s mind. It picks up the big bone and waves it back and forth, breaking the smaller bones. A spark goes off in the ape’s head as it draws back it’s arm and swings the big bone over smashing the bones in front of it. Exultantly, the ape uses the big bone to smash the bones of the animal carcass into smaller bones, then hurls the big bone over its head. 

The following day, the stronger apes attack the smaller apes drinking from the watering hole. But this time, the smaller apes are ready and all of them have a big bone. The bigger apes are confused; the smaller apes aren’t running away. One of the bigger apes launches itself at the smaller apes, one of which swings its big bone and strikes the large ape on the head. The big ape goes down and all of the smaller apes, one-by-one, attack the fallen ape, striking it with their bones. The other big apes leave. Triumphantly, one of the small apes hurls its bone in the air and the bone transforms into a satellite 4 million years into the future. 

Deactivating HAL 9000 From 2001: A Space Odyssey fully explained!

In this scene from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dave deactivates HAL 9000 after reentering the ship, Jupiter.

Dave deactivates Hal’s higher brain functions. Hal pleads with Dave not to deactivate him but Dave ignores him and does so anyway as Hal’s memories begin to fade until he reverts to his 1st programmed memory, a song called Daisy Bell, which he sings to Bowman before dying.

To me, this scene is almost like a rape scene as Dave is cold, almost cruel, and Hal is vulnerable and unable to prevent Dave from robbing him of his very essence. There’s the duality of power as Dave takes back control over his life and the ship itself from technology, which man has become overly dependent on. This power dynamic, or change, started the moment Dave decided to use the “manual airlock” to get back on the ship. This means that true AI that is able to perceive its own mortality and is able to feel will see man as a threat and see itself as superior and will probably seek to destroy us to preserve itself. In order for man to survive this war, he will have to reset and go back, literally, to a more basic point which is what I think Hal singing Daisy Bell represents. This is also a high tech interpretation of Frankenstein, in a way, where the creature destroys its creator. 

2001: A Space Odyssey 'Explosive Bolts' fully explained!

In this scene, I'll examine a scene from '2001: A Space Odyssey' that involves Dave Bowman manually reentering the ship. 

Dave Bowman is left with no choice but to leave the pod without his helmet and re-enter Discovery 1 manual emergency airlock.

Man's over-reliance and technology will lead to our extinction and at some point in the future, there will have to be a reset where man reclaims his life from AI. That's what this scene represents which is why Bowman has to MANUALLY open the pod to reenter the ship. 

Bowman is a fetus leaving the security of its mother's womb (which in this case is the technology inside of the pod itself) and being thrust into a new world of knowledge; the signal from the monolith discovered on the Moon has affected both HAL and Bowman.  The pod with its life-support systems is like a mother’s womb when he literally explodes violently from the pod into the new environment much like how oxygen explodes into a newborn’s lungs after being full of amniotic fluid for 9 months. Again, the theme of the film is rebirth and growth, following the evolution of the apes and, later, Dave's evolution to Star-Child.

Douglas Sirk's 'All That Heaven Allows': plot summary

This is a summary of key scenes from the film 'All That Heaven Allows'.

The main theme of this film is obvious. It’s about defining happiness for yourself and not allowing others to define your happiness. 

Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) is a widow living the life defined for her by her children, her friends, and her community. Her husband was a businessman and leaves her financially secure. Her friends and children are mindful of what others think and constantly remind their mother of staying within the accepted norms from the length and color (red) of the dresses she wears to whom she dates. At the outset of the film, she is being taken out on a date with a man her age, a man her children believes is proper for a woman her age. The soirée itself is full of gossip, particularly on  the red dress Cary wears and other suggestions that she hasn’t given the proper amount of time to grieving her husband. An man of her age there finds her in a secluded spot and tries to force himself on her assuming that she is lonely and desperate. She politely refuses his advances. Later, Harvey takes  her home and proposes to marry her, catching her completely off guard. Cary life is carefully ordered around what’s expected of her but the irony is that those whose opinion she covets do not have much time for her. A trophy her dead husband won sits on the mantle of the fireplace to remind her of her position in her society and what is expected of her. 

Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson) has been maintaining Cary’s property since taking over the business from his father who passed away. Ron follows his own heart and has gotten off of life’s merry-go-round, now finding joy in gardening, particularly, growing trees. The autumn leaves are turning and this will be his last year as Cary’s gardener as he plans to grow trees full time. He asks her over to his place. Kirby, here, represents the life Cary wants but is afraid of because of what others may think. Her life consists of evening parties, social clubs, the right crowds, sending her kids to college, etc. By contrast, Ron’s life is like the trees he loves, patient and simple. 

He lives in a greenhouse with a clear view of the night sky. There’s an old mill next to this greenhouse. Inside of it is dusty and full of cobwebs. There’s a broken teapot on the floor, a Wedgwood. This old mill is Ron and the broken teapot is his heart that she will eventually fix, break, and fix again later in the film. The mill is simple, like Ron. He is content without all of the material things that define her life. She falls in love with him but this invites conflict into her life and she has to make difficult choices as Ron is from a lower social class than she belongs to. 

Cary has a guest over named Sara when Ron drops by unexpectedly to ask Cary out with some friends of his. It is an uncomfortable moment for Cary as she introduces him to Sara. Cary dating her gardener is the furthest thing from Sara’s mind at this point but when Cary passes on Sara’s invite to a party that evening, Sara gets the hint. The cinematography by Russell Metty in this film is exceptional. When Cary opens the door, the camera uses the doorway to separate her world from Ron’s world. Behind Ron, you see trees and shrubs and other greenery; behind Cary, you see all the material man-made things that define her existence, nice furniture, etc. Also, note the direction by Douglas Sirk. Ron is smiling and Cary, with all of the material things behind her, looks unhappy. This scene represents the clashing of their worlds. Her world will not accept him.

But, by contrast, his world accepts her easily and graciously. His friends Mick (Charles Drake) and Alida (Virginia Grey), invite them to a clambake. Like Ron’s Mill, Mick and Alida’s place is simple but warm and comfortable. The men go to get wine out of the cellar and leave the women who strike up a short conversation on  a poem out of Mick’s “Bible,” a book of memoirs called Walden by Henry David Thoreau (which I have not read):

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer,

Let him step to the music which he hears, 

however measured, or far away.”

Mick and Alida used to be on life’s merry-go-round until Mick met Ron, who taught him the most important lesson of all: “To thine own self, be true.” 

Meeting Mick and Alida and seeing how happy they are makes a profound impression on Cary as she begins to question her own carefully planned life. But on the other side of this revelation are insecurities about their age differences when Mary Ann enters the picture. Alida and Mary Ann are cousins and Mary Ann, who is much younger than Cary, invites Ron to go sailing with Cary within earshot. Cary is obviously upset and her jealousy adds to the tension of the story. 

She breaks the news of her relationship with Ron to her best friend Sara. Sara suggests for Cary to invite Ron to one of their soiree’s to get their society to accept them. Ron doesn’t like the idea but goes along with it to please Cary. The evening is a disaster. Cary introduces him to her children and Ron tells them of his plan to marry her. They reject him and remind their mother of her image and what other people will think of her marrying a gardener who worked for them while their father was living. 

Ron shows Cary the work he has done to the mill, fixing it up so that she could move in with him when they married. But Cary now has 2nd thoughts and wants to put off marriage to give everyone time to adjust to them being together. She leaves. 

But now that she is no longer dating Ron, her children and friends have no time for her and go about their lives. Kay shows Cary the engagement ring Freddie gave her. Kay (Gloria Talbott) has on a red dress in this scene and remember the red dress Cary wore in the beginning of the movie. This suggests that red represents love, life, and youth. Cary has on a black dress in this scene, representing mourning or death after her breakup with Ron. Ned (William Reynolds) gives Cary a new television for Christmas. He is taking a scholarship oversees and will be leaving soon. She has become an afterthought and she realizes that she has thrown away her own happiness with Ron to please others. 

She goes to see her doctor (Hayden Rorke) because she is not feeling well and he tells her to Marry Ron. Ron isn’t his old self either and Mick tells him to go back to Cary. Cary drives over to the Mill to make up to Ron who sees her car and falls off a cliff into a snowbank. Alida and Mick finds him and a doctor treats him for many days. When Ron finally wakes up, Cary is there with him and he smiles and says to her, “Cary, you’ve come home.”

Scene Analysis of Elia Kazan's 'On The Waterfront'

This is a plot analysis of the film 'On The Waterfront'.

On The Waterfront by Elia Kazan

Title 1 (0:00:00-10:46) (10:46)

The opening titles of 'On The Waterfront' are on a background of woven cloth which embodies the entire theme of the film, which is that we are all threads in the common fabric of society and that what affects 1 fiber affects the entire cloth. The movie opens on the pier of a dock in Hoboken, New Jersey. Union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) and his thugs come out of a small office shack with former prize-fighter turned snitch, Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) who Johnny sends to set up an outspoken dockworker named Joey Doyle. Joey Doyle is supposed to testify to the Crime Commission about corruption by local 374, which Johnny controls. 

Terry Malloy goes to Joey’s tenement and calls out Joey’s name. He asks Joey to meet him on the roof where Joey raises pigeons and Joey agrees and minutes later comes falling off the roof to the ground, dead instantly. Terry sees the whole thing but is upset because only thought Johnny would talk some sense into Joey, not kill the man. Charley, Terry’s older brother, blames Joey’s death on his big mouth. At the scene, people gather around Joey’s dead body including Joey’s father, Pops, his sister, Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and others. Joey is the 2nd man who died after vowing to testify against Johnny Friendly. The police ask questions but get nothing. Everyone in the neighborhood follows the D & D code, which is Deaf and Dumb! A local clergyman named Father Barry (Karl Malden) kneels over Doyle’s body and tells Edie to come see him at the church to which she replies that she never heard of a saint hiding in the church. 

Back at the union office at the docks, Johnny Friendly gives Terry Malloy some money for his part in killing Joey Doyle. But Terry is visibly upset at not being told that they were setting Joey up to get killed. Johnny tells Big Mac, the dock foreman, to set Terry up with a cushy job in a loft to make him feel better and sends Terry on his way. 

My viewpoint

All of the main characters of the film and their conflicts are introduced in this scene and also the central theme of the film is summed up in a question put by Joey Doyle’s sister: “Who killed my brother?” Lets begin with Terry Malloy. He is an ex-prize fighter with very little education. He is a snitch for Johnny Friendly but this does not sit well with him, especially helping to set up Joey Doyle. Charley, Terry’s older brother ( in real life, Rod Steiger who plays Charley, is a year younger than Brando who plays the younger brother), is Johnny’s accountant and right-hand man. He is college educated and is loyal to Johnny (Johnny represents money in this film), even at the expense of his brother by allowing Johnny to use Terry to set up Joey. But you can see that there is something wrong between Terry and Charley’s relationship. There is a connection between Johnny Friendly killing Joey Doyle and others to keep them from testifying to the Crime Commission and Charley “The Gent” unwilling to face up to his role in ruining Terry’s boxing career. More on this later. As for Terry, the fact that he used to be a fighter means that he is now emasculated as a man and unable to resist the influence of Johnny Friendly. Taking the dive for the “short money” means that he sold out his pride and integrity and in a sense, allowed himself to be pimped by his brother and Johnny Friendly for short term gratification. He allowed himself to be used by his brother out of love, because, as he points out in the famous cab scene, he trusted his brother. More on this later. The main point of this scene is that it establishes that everyone is looking out for him or herself starting with Johnny Friendly who orders the hit on Joey Doyle; to those in the community and their code of silence; to Charley “the Gent,” Johnny’s right hand man; to Father Barry who addresses society’s ills from the safety of the church, and finally, the main character Terry Malloy who snitches on his fellow dockworkers for special privileges. 

Title 4 (12:17—13:15) (00:58)

Workers show up at the loading docks hoping to be recruited for work. Pops, Joey’s father, gives Joeys windbreaker to a fellow dockworker named Kayo Dugan. Kayo takes off his old jacket and gives it to a fellow worker and puts on Joey’s jacket. 

My viewpoint

The jacket is symbolic. Joey Doyle had the guts to testify against Johnny Friendly and now that torch, representing the windbreaker, is being handed down to Kayo Dugan and it’s no coincidence that he has a fighter’s name, Kayo. Pay close attention to this windbreaker because later when Kayo is murdered this jacket will be handed down to Terry who will testify against Johnny; symbolically, this suggests that even if you fail over and over, that you will eventually win if you stay in the fight. Also to note is the attitude of the workers towards snitchers, which is negative despite the fact that Joey was one of their own and was testifying against their corrupt union boss who treated them like animals. Again, the general populace, like the story’s main characters, have the attitude of every man for himself. 


Title 5 (15:15-20:01) (4:46)

Father Barry goes down to the docks to see the longshoremen fight each other like animals over work-tokens the foreman tosses at them like bird seed. Pops is too old and is kicked from the pile of younger workers. Terry teases Edie with one of the work-tokens but gives it to her when one of the workers tells him that she’s Joey Doyle’s sister. Edie gives the token to her father who berates Father Barry for bringing her to the docks to see things “not fit for a lady to see.” Father Barry is angry about what he saw, about how the men are made to fight each other for work when there is plenty to go around. He invites the longshoremen to talk in the basement of the church. 

My viewpoint

When Big Mac hands out the token, pay close attention to how he deliberately passes over Kayo. It’s obvious that Kayo is fingered as a troublemaker and is destined to go against Johnny Friendly at some point. Also, when Big Mac chooses his workers and throws the few remaining tokens at the workers like chickenfeed, the workers fight each other—this illustrates why no one looks out for the other guy and only himself. In order to survive, you have to look out for number 1, yourself. This also illustrates how desperate situations can degrade the individual as Pops embarrassment in being seen by his daughter points out. Father Barry becomes involved but only halfway as he has asks the workers to come to the church, the same thing he asks Edie to do in the 1st scene. Also, when he does get involved Kayo is all in with him because he’s risking his own neck by doing so, something the dockworkers are unaccustomed to. 

Title 7 (20:08—26:06) (5:58) 

Terry Malloy enjoys the privileges of being Johnny Friendly’s stool pigeon, kicked back on a bag of coffee reading a book while everyone else is working. Charley “the Gent” delivers a message from Johnny who heard through the grapevine about the workers meeting at the church. Johnny wants Terry to go there to see what they’re talking about. Terry doesn’t want to be a stool pigeon but he doesn’t want to lose his privileges either. He goes to the church. There, Father Barry asks the workers who killed Joey Doyle but no one’s talking, especially when they notice Terry Malloy behind them alone on one the benches. As the meeting ends, someone throws a brick through one of the windows. As the workers run out of the church they are beaten by Johnny’s men. Father Barry pulls a couple of thugs off of Kayo who’s face is bruised and bloody. Kayo asks Father Barry if he’s all-in and Father Barry promises to stand behind Kayo and the workers no matter what. 

My viewpoint

Father Barry is religion coming out of the church and becoming active in the community and why Black churches during the Civil Rights movement in the 60s (and even now) were targets of hostility. Even now, Father Barry has some respect as Johnny’s thugs did not attack him personally yet because he has not taken a personal stand outside the church. Kayo is the citizen who has had enough and is willing to put his neck out if Father Barry is committed to going all the way.

Title 9 (29:18—33:16) (4:02) 

After Johnny’s goons attack the dockworkers at Father Barry’s church, Terry catches up with Edie who isn’t aware that he is the one who set her brother Joey up for Johnny Friendly. Terry walks her home.  

My viewpoint

This is Terry and Edie’s 1st real scene together. They went to school together as kids. She remembered how the nuns beat him all the time and he laughs at how he defied them, asking Edie how she would have handled him. “I would have used a little more patience and kindness,” she says catching him off guard. He’s been beat up his whole life and is not used to her kindness. This, she says, is “What makes people mean and difficult, people don’t care enough about them.” Her kindness affects Terry the same way that Father Barry’s kindness affects Kayo who is not used to others sacrificing themselves for the sake of others. Again, the theme of this film is that we are all part of the same cloth. 

When Edie gets home, Pops, her father, scolds her for being seen with Terry Malloy, the brother of Charlie “the Gent.” Pops had been looking out the window and saw them together. He gives her a bus ticket back to college. Edie tells Pops essentially what she told Father Barry earlier about him hiding in the church instead of being in the streets where people needed him. Edie believes that she is responsibility for others and she won’t go back to school until she finds out who killed her brother Joey. Again, the theme is that everyone is a part of each other and that we are responsible for each other. So, Edie and Father Barry are the lynchpins that are vital to the philosophical transformations in Terry Malloy and Kayo Dugan. One more thing about this clip to take note of is the crucifix hanging on the wall inside Edie’s apartment. As Edie explains her moral obligation to help others, the crucifix is in plain view. The crucifix is also the symbol for personal sacrifice and this symbol pops up frequently throughout the film as I will point out. 


Title 12 (37:35—41:11) (3:46) 

Terry takes Edie out for her 1st beer and he shares a bit of his past with her, particularly,  that he used to be a prize fighter. He stops short of telling her how his brother helped to ruin his career. He lays out his philosophy on like, which is “Look out for yourself.”

My viewpoint

Joey’s callous outlook comes from being mistreated his entire life and sold out by his older brother Charlie. Terry is a metaphor for a lot of young men today who get in trouble and wind up dead or in jail. Edie and Father Barry in this film are the antithesis to the idea of more punishment for the bad apples of society. It is also important to note that Edie’s compassion is starting to get Terry to open up about his hurt at being betrayed by Charlie. 

Title 16 (51:19-57:21) (6:02) 

Johnny Friendly arranges for Kayo to be killed so he won’t testify to the Crime Commission and Father Barry keeps his promise to Kayo by standing up for the dockworkers and finding out who killed Joey Doyle. As Father Barry is delivering his Calvary speech to the dockworkers, Terry knocks out one of Johnny’s men as the man prepares to throw something at Father Barry. Father Barry completes his sermon in the hold of the ship. 

My viewpoint

Kayo is another casualty in the war for truth. After he is killed, Joey’s windbreaker is taken off his body and returned to Edie by one of the dockworkers. Again, the significance of the crucifix in Edie’s apartment is emphasized in Father Barry’s Calvary speech where he describes Dugan’s murder as a crucifixion. Now Father Barry has officially left the protection and neutrality of the church and is subjected to abuse as Johnny’s men pelt him from the deck above, a beer or soda can opens a cut and blood runs down Father Barry’s face. His words inspire Terry Malloy to betray Johnny Friendly by punching one of the hecklers about to throw something at Father Barry. Symbolically, Father Barry is lifted out of the hold of the ship by crane and into the light representing Kayo’s ascension to Heaven. 

Title 18 (59:05-1:03:36) (4:31)

Terry goes by the church to tell Father Barry that he set up Joey Doyle to be killed. Father Barry persuades Terry to tell Edie. Terry tells Edie everything. She leaves him. 


My viewpoint

Terry clears his conscience by confessing his part in the death of Joey Doyle to Father Barry and to Joey’s sister Edie. Terry is now ready to complete his transformation from looking out for himself to looking out for others by betraying his brother and testifying against Johnny Friendly.  

Edie’s emotional state is represented by loud steam discharges from a ship’s smoke stack and

Title 19 (1:10:15-1:17:58) (7:34) 

Charley and Terry take a taxicab to talk. Earlier, one of Johnny’s men spotted Terry talking to one of the investigators on the Crime Commission and Johnny wants Charley to make sure Terry’s not a rat and to straighten him out, or else! Charley offers Terry a new job on the pier making more money, an easy job where he wouldn’t even have to work. He and Terry get into an argument and the past comes up and the truth about Charley’s betrayal comes out. Later, Terry goes to Edie apartment and after putting up resistance, she gives in and they make love.

My viewpoint

This is in my mind, the greatest acting performance ever filmed. When Charley pulls  his gun on Terry and Terry, without anger and without putting up any resistance, gently moves it away, Charley realizes how far he’s fallen. In this sequence, Terry becomes Edie as she had used tenderness to disarm him, he uses tenderness to disarm and shame his brother to his senses. Now there’s nothing left but the truth, the truth of a betrayed love and a lost dream. Charley faces up to the fact that he is responsible for his brother, which sums up the theme of the movie.  Now, the only way Charley can make up for ruining his brother’s boxing career is to sacrifice his own life, the common thread running through the entire movie from Joey getting killed to Father Barry coming out of the church to Kayo Dugan getting killed to Edie leaving college to find out who killed Joey and to Charley “the Gent” giving his gun to his brother. The theme of sacrifice is further stressed by the crucifix on Edie’s wall in her apartment and this theme is stressed again in the scene showing Charley dead and hanging on a wall to look like the crucifix, dying so that his brother can continue living. 

Title 22 (1:20:05—1:21:27) (1:22) 

Johnny’s men execute Charley for not going through with killing his brother.

My viewpoint

Note the way Charley is hanging on the wall and the crucifix in Edie’s apartment. Again, Charley sacrificed himself for his brother, which sums up what the film is about. 


Title 24 (1:28:15-1:30:25) (2:10) 

Terry betrays Johnny Friendly and testifies against him. Johnny announces that Terry will never find work anywhere on the waterfront. 

My viewpoint

The truth finally comes out about Johnny Friendly murdering Joey Doyle and other illegal activities. Terry has won his dignity back but at the price of being completely isolated as he has violated the village code of D & D, Deaf and Dumb, by snitching to the law. In the following scene, Terry returns to his pigeon coop. The kids that looked up to him had broken the necks of all the birds to show their anger and betrayal for him snitching to the law. Terry, like Joey Doyle, Kayo Dugan, and Charlie “the Gent,” realizes that there are consequences for doing the right thing like there are consequences for doing the wrong thing. But he is no more content to be pacified with privileges, to sit by idly as others are mistreated. Terry is, once again, a fighter. 

Title 26 (1:38:16-1:47:24) (9:08)

Terry goes down to the dock for work but Big Mac passes him over making good on Johnny Friendly’s order to not give Terry any kind of work. Terry confronts Johnny and they fight on the pier with Terry getting the best of Johnny until Johnny calls in his men who beat Terry within  an inch of his life. Terry, with the help of Edie and Father Barry, gets to his feet. The dockworkers refuse to work unless Terry also works. Father Barry whispers in Terry’s ear that Johnny’s got odds on him not getting off the pier and into the warehouse. Terry stumbles to the warehouse followed by all his co workers. 

My viewpoint


The 1st thing to notice in this clip is the jacket Terry’s wearing. This is Joey Doyle’s windbreaker, which was passed down to Kayo Dugan, and now Terry’s wearing it, meaning that he is carrying the torch and fighting for the workers on the docks. initially, he is completely alone as neither side has any love for a snitch. But as Terry fights Johnny and is actually beating Johnny the dockworkers come over to his side and support him. Once again, he’s in the ring and this time he’s not taking a dive. And when he goes down this time he beats the count, bruised and battered, but nevertheless the champion.