Create your own world

On any given day, we come into contact with thousands of things.  We interact with countless people each day and live with a couple more.  We do things that we want to do, things that we have to do, and things that we are not sure why we do.  All of this helps to shape our environment.

Our minds create the worlds we live in.

It is pouring rain, but the environment does not establish my world.  If I am in a great mood, I may put on some boots and go dancing in the rain.  Conversely, if I am depressed, I may just start crying at the prospect of not seeing the sun all day.

The influences in our lives such as the media, school, parents, and community can contribute to creating our individual worlds, but in no way do they possess the final say.  For example, I know that a decent amount of students hate school.  This hatred translates to a way of seeing the world.  The world to someone who hates going to school, is just a cruel place that makes them go to school.  This person, so oppressed by their perception of their environment, is probably not going to go dancing in the rain.

Clarice Starling was in a male dominated environment.  The world she created for herself was one of challenges that she would stop at nothing to overcome.  She could have created a world in which she was complacent with her rank, and stepped aside in the Buffalo Bill case.

There is a difference between our environment and the world we create for ourselves, and it's a lot easier to change the world.

Dying: Some do it more gracefully than others

Two men slouched against the wall. Two men with bullets in their chests.  Why do they look so different?  Walter Neff, sweating profusely, fails to produce a match for his limp cigarette.  Jack Vincennes, meanwhile, shows no signs of pallor.  In fact, a smirk has begun to cross his face.

The primary difference between these two men is their standing when they expire.  Walter goes out a killer.  Keyes knows the whole truth, and chooses to shame Walter rather than get angry.  After a lengthy confession, Walter becomes desperate.  He claims that if Keyes doesn't stop him that he can cross the border.  Rather, Neff doesn't make it to the elevator.  He completes his fall from grace with a fall to the ground.  It is here that the director is able to fully capture Walter in all of his squalor.  Keyes, looking down on him quite literally, a defeated look on his face, even his cigarette looks dirty and damp.

Vincennes, quite the opposite, plans to die a hero.  His smirk can be attributed to his plan to alert Exley that Dudley is the man that can kill and get away with it.  Despite his dire circumstances, the director is able to frame Vincennes as a hero.  His brave eye contact with his murderer and his having the wherewithal to save lives as he's dying make him a hero.  His vivacious face is a stark contrast to Neff's lifeless, sweaty, and gray (I know it's a black and white film but still) skin.

While both men are dying of the same cause, the directors have chosen very different ways for them to go out.  One in shame, one in valor, these men each died in a different light.

A Crossroad?

This shot from the movie Minority Report is able to capture one of the major themes of the movie.  The idea that one can chose their own destiny.  Here, the subjects of the shot are in the middle.  On either side of them is a doorway.  The only thing separating the two paths is a circular booth.  If John chooses to go left around the bench he may still end up going right and vice versa.  This represents one of the views of destiny, that no matter what free will one seems to exercise, they will end up where they are fated to go and do what they were fated to do.

The conflicting argument, as made by Agatha in the movie, is that everyone can choose their own fate. At this point in the movie, though, John -- who is towering above her and even blocking the clerk from view -- is clearly in control.  Agatha is not only slender and pale, but she can't stand and walk without the help of John or sit without leaning.  In this shot, she is blending into the shadow created by the desk and is utterly helpless.  There is pain on her face because she knows that she has a chance to save John from killing.  Spielberg employs a full shot here to highlight the balance of power between her and John at this point.

An interesting thing about the setting is how empty it is.  This was done with purpose.  The lack of physical barriers forcing John to continue in his search for Leo Crowe highlights how barriers in his own head are forcing him to continue.  Just as Oedipus could have discontinued his search for the truth, John can call it quits here too and avoid ever coming into contact with the man he is supposed to kill.

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