The Beginnings of Inquiry 4

As I began compiling my chosen excerpts from all of the writing that I completed throughout the semester, my growth as a writer wasn’t so black and white as I hoped.  However, when looking back to myself as a high school writer, I realized that we were never taught to include ourselves in our writing.  The use of “I” allowed only in very informal essays, and if found in any “formal” paper (which was almost all), our grade dropped by an entire letter by senior year.  It wasn’t until halfway through this semester that I finally felt safe and sound putting myself in an analysis, and maybe even throwing an “I” or two in there.  The opportunity to step outside the norms I had set for myself tested my comfort level and challenges me as a writer.  I grew as a writer by finally being able to explore my opinions without being punished.

I plan on organizing my digital portfolio chronologically so that I can see major changes from piece to piece and then also from the very beginning and the very end for more obvious changes.  Therefore, I’m including my first blog post, where we had to write about our aspirations for the semester in English 112.  I remember really struggling to get to the word count, and looking back, I blame my lack of experience of writing about myself.  One of my sole aspirations was to better understand why my opinions are the way that they are.

An early assignment that I was forced to do so was Inquiry one.  In my paper, I wrote about why I found myself so frustrated with Ben’s character and why as a result I did not like The Graduate much at all.  I will include a portion of the “Personal Response” to Inquiry One because I had to talk about myself and use my personality traits and life experiences to draw conclusions about my opinion. The excerpt I chose from this piece shows a turning point in my ability to recognize and pinpoint what makes my opinion different from everyone else’s.

I used similar skills while writing the extra credit assignment on American Psycho. Although my opinion on the main character changed throughout my viewing, I was openly able to admit that I had changed my mind. With this freedom, I felt comfortable admitting that I was wrong and explained why in my paper.

Even when writing Inquiry 2, a paper I chose to focus on the context of The Shining, I used research to also formulate my own opinions and interpretations of the film, while using solid research only as support for those interpretations. Again, my skills as a writer further developed during that assignment because I was given the freedom to explore an ambiguous film and then write an entire argument that contained interpretations along with historical facts.

Inquiry three was by far my favorite Inquiry, probably because we had lax directions and ample opportunity to make the remixed trailer our own. I immediately threw out the idea to remix my favorite movie, Beauty and the Beast. By the end of the semester, I felt so comfortable going out on a limb and trying something new that I offered to be the group member to chose clips and put them in order for the rough draft. The final draft of our trailer is the Inquiry that I am most proud of, and I think I owe part of that to what I did with the creative freedom I was given.

Remixing Post

I chose to explore Kanye West’s song “Blood on the Leaves” and attempt to decode it.  When listening to the song, the main ideas that I pulled out was that one of Kanye’s past relationship failed because his girl was more focused on his fortune and fame over who Kanye is as a person.  Therefore, the blood on the leaves that he is talking about is a metaphor for all of the sacrifices someone makes when they chase materialistic and superficial things rather than love.  In the song, he raps about having an expensive purse to cover up that there is no money inside, which could have the underlying meaning of having a glamorous marriage or relationship where the two people share no real love.

After some research, I found out that Kanye West references Billie Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit” recorded in 1939 in the title of this song.  In fact, the Kanye’s song opens with a clear mention to Strange fruit by including a female singing “Strange fruit hang in’ from the poplar trees/ Blood on the leaves.”  The original song, “Strange Fruit” contains the lyrics, “Southern trees bear a strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves and blood at the root/ Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze/ Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees.” The meaning behind these lyrics acknowledge the African American race being mistreated (more specifically hanged) by whites in the South.  Although slavery had ended in America on paper, blacks throughout the South were still strongly hated.  In place were Jim Crow laws, segregation laws and an overall attitude of superiority of the whites.  Billie Holliday, a black woman, points out how beautiful the South is, but how ugly the people act.  The theme of superficial appearance is present in both songs.

After examining both sets of lyrics, I think that both point of the importance of covering up corrupt actions with synthetic appearances.  Billie Holliday describes the South as “gallant”   with “sweet magnolias” but also with African American bodies hanging from the poplar trees after being hanged.  The two images contradict one another and create an overall feeling of deceit.  Kanye’s song shares the same feeling as many did during the 1930s, but instead the feeling is caused by the limelight of the present.  Kanye shares his experience of losing a relationship to his rising fame and the limelight.  The blood on the trees that Kanye references isn’t the blood of African Americans, but anyone who choses the superficial lifestyle over a genuine one.  He raps “Remember we were so young/ When I would hold you/ Before the blood on the leaves.”  Here Kanye references his past with the girl and reminisces on the times when they were happy before the limelight blinded the girl and destroyed their relationship.  The use of the strong and influential song written by Billie Holliday enhances the meaning behind Kanye’s message because he compares the death of a relationship to the death of the African American race.  By doing so, he shows that both deaths are often misconstrued by spectators with superficial fame or beauty.

11/5/13; Revising the Intro

Before:

Viewers of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, are left with much to consider when analyzing the film. After watching one time through, the first metaphor that I saw clarity in was the fact that The Overlook hotel represented America. With my fascination for American history, I concluded that Kubrick created a pastiche of America’s past. With some further thought, I decided to explore the reasoning behind Kubrick’s choice of décor for the setting of the film. Why does the hotel décor reflect Native American culture if there are no Native American characters? More importantly, why are Indians only mentioned once throughout the entire film, but referenced indirectly several times? The evidence is everywhere – Kubrick comments on the widespread white man’s perspective of Native American’s that has existed since the early years of their interaction.

After:

After closely watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, I struggled to dissect the many different themes that the film portrays.  The first clear metaphor that I picked out was that the Overlook Hotel represents America.  I couldn’t help but think that the film creates a pastiche of America’s past, and that the events that happen on the grounds of the hotel also happened on American soil on a larger scale.  I began to question the many references to Native American culture, and why the film did not feature any Native American characters.  Why honor Native Americans in a passive way through setting rather than actively as an actual person?  As I delved deeper into the meaning behind Kubrick’s mis-en-scene choices, I discovered that Kubrick was not trying to honor the Native Americans.  Instead, he comments on the widespread white man’s perspective of Native Americans that has existed since the early stages of their interaction.  In doing so, he criticizes America’s ignorant outlook on the minority race, and through several murders, he exposes America’s destructive past with natives that we have customarily tiptoed around for our own comfort.

11/3/14

Before:

Overall, The Shining opposes most representations of our history with Native Americans. Stanley Kubrick consciously points out America’s outlook of Native American’s but shines a negative light on this outlook. Through the use of subtle hints, he leaves most viewers unaware that this film is, in fact, about themselves. The entire film comments on the choice of Americans to blindly continue to perceive Native Americans in the same way for centuries and ignore our horrific past with them. As movie-goers watch the final credits, they are unaware that people like them have done what the Overlook Hotel has done to its occupants throughout history.

After:

The Shining opposes most representations of our history with Native Americans.  Stanley Kubrick shines a negative light on America’s overall outlook of Native Americans.  Through the use of subtle hints, he leaves most viewers unaware that this film is, in fact, about themselves.  The entire film comments on the predominant choice of Americans to blindly perceive Native Americans, and our past with them, in the same way for centuries.  As movie-goers watch the final credits, they are unaware that people like them have treated minorities as Overlook Hotel has treated its occupants.

In Class Writing 10/24/14

Beck, David. “Myth of a Vanishing Race.” Library of Congress: American Memory (2001). Web. 22 October 2014.

David Beck’s article “Myth of a Vanishing Race” intrigued me simply from the title.  As another naive member of society who ignores the past and centers my world almost always around myself, I can honestly admit that I viewed the Native Americans as a vanishing race.  In my lifetime, I have not come encounter with a Native American person.  Like Beck’s article brings up, Native Americans were only part of my life as pieces of the past who are represented through sports team mascots or my little brothers participation in the Indian Guide program.  We see Native American culture sprinkled throughout our daily lives, but we fail to realize that these people are still active members of America.  This very idea can be seen in The Shining because there are no Native American characters.  However, the hotel decor reflects Native American patterns and culture.  Additionally, the film reminds viewers that the Overlook hotel was built on Indian burial grounds, thus indicating that the Native Americas are only part of the hotel’s distant past.

The belief that Native American’s are a vanishing race is the belief of our country’s majority – white people.  This attitude developed as a result of the settlers belief that the land they explored was destined to be America’s.  Driving the Indians off “their land” through war and exposure to disease sparked the idea that they no longer exist today.  If they were out of sight, they were out of mind.  The other option for Native Americans was to assimilate, and at one point in history, it was actually required by federal law.  Native Americans have always been controlled by the hand of the white man, especially when it comes to their portrayal to society.

Stanley Kubrick makes several specific mis-en-scene choices that reflect the idea that society believes that the Native Americans are a part of the past.  Not only does he bring the idea to attention, but he also takes the wide spread idea and challenges it.  In subtle but clear ways – such as not including a Native American character – Kubrick points out that the white men (majority of the characters) are unconcerned about the entire race.  Even the man who shows the Torrance’s around chuckles as he shares that a few Indians had to be fought off during the construction of The Overlook hotel.  His lack of sympathy parallels the attitude that several white American’s possess when considering the topic.

Overall, David Beck’s article supports my topic of the white man’s perspective on the minority because he points out that Native American’s are represented in society merely as something to remember, rather than a culture to embrace in todays society.  The Shining shares similar ideas, as the film shows Calumet baking soda cans with a stereotypical Indian on the label twice in the film.  More obvious to the viewer, the decor possible represents the owner’s guilt of his treatment of the Indians when he stole their sacred ground.  Rather than respecting the Indians, he memorializes them by decorating the hotel with patterns from their culture, just as our society has done with Calumet labels and sports team mascots.

Annotated Bib (Rough Draft)

What comments does The Shining make about the white man’s perspective on Native Americans?

Strand, Ginger.  “The Crying Indian.”  Orion Magazine.  M.G.H. Gilliam, November/December 2008.  Web.  22 October 2014.

Strand’s article about the ad “The Crying Indian”, explores the effect of the public service announcement on America’s action in the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign. The original commercial appeared on Earth Day in 1971, featuring a Native American paddling through the water in his canoe, only to see the litter and trash all around him. The single tear that streams down his face sparked the start of the “Go Green” era for environmentalism. Throughout her article, Ginger Strand points out the several flaws and deceptions surrounding the PSA. She questions the reasoning behind the Advertising Council’s use of the Indian, and what comments thus use has on the actions of young people in the year following the decade of social unrest in America.

The article will help me analyze the themes of the perception of Native American’s through the eyes of a white man. Ginger Strand makes points about the possible guilt that America has on the treatment of Indians in the past. However, rather than choosing to apologize, we make up for the mistreatment passively by using their faces in ad campaigns. In The Shining, we see the obvious décor throughout the hotel to “memorialize” the Indians. Rather than feeling bad about building the hotel on Indian burial grounds, the hotel uses Native American patterns to decorate the interior. Themes in the article and PSA parallel themes in the film. Perhaps this is why Kubrick made a reference toward the campaign in the first place.

Blakemore, Bill. “The Family of Man.” San Francisco Chronicle Syndicate 29 July 1987. Web. 22 October 2014.

Upon the release of The Shining, Blakemore shared his views on the deeper meaning of the film. Overall, he believes that the underlying message deals with the genocide of the Native American race. The murders that take place in the Overlook hotel reflect the murder of Indians who owned land that Americans stole from them. He delves deeper into the presence of the Native American references throughout the movie, focusing on the décor of the hotel, the storage of Calumet baking powder cans, the end shot of the 4^th of July Ball from 1921, and the river of blood that floods out of the elevator shaft.

Blakemore’s analysis will help me write Inquiry Two by pointing out the possible reasons behind several mis-en-scene choices that Kubrick made during filming. These choices leave room for interpretation, and Bill Blakemore lays strong claims that support a clear connection between the Overlook murders and the murders of Native American’s at the hand of the white man. He examines America’s ability to “overlook” their violent and unfair treatment of the Native American’s. Overall, Blakemore’s article places significance on nearly every choice made by Kubrick in regards to Native Americans. With his opinion, I will draw my own conclusions when considering how mis-en-scene choices depict Native American’s from a white man’s perspective.

Beck, David. “Myth of a Vanishing Race.” Library of Congress: American Memory (2001). Web. 22 October 2014.

David Beck’s article explores the Native American race and attempts to prove the myth that they are vanishing. He links the overall belief by Americans comes from two theories. The first that “Manifest Destiny” succeeded in taking all the land into American ownership, and second, that Social Darwinism naturally allows for the more “able” cultures to triumph all and for the others to eventually become extinct. Along with a significant population decline (due to war and exposure to European disease), and the federal policy of assimilation, Americans began to view the Native Americans as a vanishing race, and reinforced this is world fairs, wild west films, art and literature. However, despite America’s clear failure to embrace Native American culture, Beck argues that the Indians are not becoming extinct, just ignored.

“Myth of The Vanishing Race” will aid me in Inquiry Two because it provides historical evidence of the poor treatment of Native Americans by the white man. Not only does Beck highlight that several aspects of our culture shut out Native American identity, but it also treats it as a piece of the past, when in fact Native Americans still live today. In The Shining, we see Kubrick represent the Native Americans only as a part of the past. Beck’s article will help support my opinions behind why the Overlook has Native American features, but none are present throughout the film.

Molin, Paulette. American Indian Themes in Young Adult Literature. Lanham: Scarecrow Press Inc., 2005. Print.

Paulette Molin’s novel intends to appeal to an audience of educators of young people, in order to help teachers choose accurate literature on American Indians to fill their classrooms. In her novel, she explores ample novels and criticizes the accuracy of each. In doing so, she points out that most novels only reinforce existing stereotypes. Additionally, many of these novels are written by Euro-American authors intended for Euro-American audiences, leading to several discrepancies, one of which turns the American Indian into an exotic being.

A chapter in the novel that stood out to me talks about the American Indian Renaissance, which occurred during the period of social activism in the late 1960s. She points out that several texts published by Native Americans opened America’s eyes to the fact that they aren’t simply a part of America’s past and are, in fact, able to speak for themselves.   The historical context of The Shining could very well have been influenced by this renaissance which is crucial when evaluating the theme of Native American’s in the film.

I think this novel will be helpful when writing Inquiry two because Paulette Molin dedicates the entire novel to the importance of criticizing inaccurate depiction of Native Americans. In my opinion, Kubrick also tries to hint at the mistreatment and common stereotypes and instead of continuing the trend, he brings to attention America’s ill treatment and shines a bad light on it. Many aspects of the film allude to the stereotyping of Native Americans, but an overarching theme in the film comments on the perception of the Indians through the eyes of the white man.

Slotkin, Richard. Regeneration through Violence. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996. Print.

Richard Slotkin’s novel centers around the mythology of the American west with a focus on the violent interactions between the Native Americans and the white settlers. He shows how the presences of both culture influenced one another and how each was shaped over time. Traditions, stereotypes, attitudes etc. were all shaped as the European settlers struggled to adapt to their new land, then eventually displaced the Native Americans who inhabited it. Through the use of several popular pieces of literature, Slotkin studies the greed of the European immigrants and their strong feelings of white supremacy, along with the very dark side of “Manifest Destiny” that is too often misconstrued.

The novel will support my argument that The Shining makes comments on the white man’s depiction of the Native Americans because of it’s focus on violence. The film, being of the horror genre, features numerous counts of violence and is not timid to show bloodshed. To be specific, the river of blood scene can be linked to the violent abuse of the American Indians, which Slotkin points out as a brutal relationship between two races. The novel’s chronological order of events also helps my overall understanding of this relationship; and by understanding its roots, I can fully develop conclusions about how white man depictions of Indian Americans came to be.

The Shining Research Question

1.  What connection does the Overlook Hotel have with America’s history of oppressing the Native Americans?

2.  How does the idea of the shining represent the various groups of people in the 60s and 70s working towards reform?

3. What comments does The Shining, specifically Jack, make on sexuality and abuse?

Beastly and Beauty and the Beast

Beastly, a film released in March of 2011 intertextually relates to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  The overall premises and message of Beastly clearly parallels the Disney classic, and the film is a pastiche because it imitates yet honors Beauty and the Beast.  

If a viewer of Beastly is familiar with Beauty and the Beast, then the similarities are quite obvious.  Both films begin with an arrogant young man who wrongs an enchanted witch.  In the case of Beauty and the Beast, a prince refuses his castle to an enchantress disguised as a beggar who needs a place to escape from the cold.  In Beastly, Kyle King, a wealthy and handsome high schooler bullies one of his peers who happens to possess magic powers.  As a result, the prince turns into a beast, and Kyle’s good looks are replaced with a bald head and scarred and tattooed skin.  The prince and Kyle both are given deadlines to find true love, which will in turn lift the curse.  The beast has until the last rose petal falls and Kyle has exactly one year.

Belle, a beautiful bookworm, falls into the clutches of the Beast and is forced into living with the Beast in his castle.  In Beastly, Lindy is forced to hide out in Kyle’s apartment after being threatened by angry drug dealers due to her father’s addiction.  In both films, the women make very clear their feelings towards their hosts.  Eventually, they begin to fall in love with the two men.

Parallels are also found in the supporting characters.  In Beauty in the Beast, the prince’s servants also fall under the curse and become household items.  These character’s support and love the Beast despite his physical appearance.  In Beastly, Kyle must live with his maid Zola and his blind tutor Will, both of whom help Kyle throughout the story despite his ugly appearance as well.  When both curses are lifted, the household items turn back into the servant staff, and Kyle’s maid is rewarded with green cards for her three sons and Will (the tutor) regains his sight.

Belle and Lindy’s fathers also play important roles in both stories.  Both women adore their father.  In each story, the girls are released from hostage to visit their father after they learn about his sickness.  Belle’s father nearly dies in the woods surrounding the castle, and Lindy’s father almost dies from drug overdose.

Beauty and the Beast and Beastly convey the same theme in that both show that beauty comes from the inside.  Both films also put high stress on the fact that true love is blind to appearances.  Belle and Lindy look past the unfortunate exteriors of Beast and Kyle and fall in love with the men they are on the inside.  Additionally, the men in films learn what it means to be truly loved for who they are instead of superficially due to looks, status, money, etc.

The meaning of both films do not change for me, as one simply reinforces the messages communicated to the audience in the other.  Because Beaty and the Beast is animated and superficially about a prince and a princess, the film reaches a younger audience.  Beastly, on the other hand, more easily relates to teenage kids, as the main characters are both high school students.  The important messages of the meaning of true beauty and true love needs to be reinforced at all ages.  The intertextuality of the texts reiterates the everlasting need to teach this important message.  After all, it is a tale as old as time.

American Psycho

American Psycho’s main character, Patrick Bateman, a young, successful businessman living in New York, quickly appears to the audience as a madman.  As he continually murders those around him, he becomes a lunatic on Wall Street.  However, he continues to get away with countless murders, which causes suspicion for many viewers.  I continued to watch the film waiting for Patrick to get caught for his numberous misconducts.  Majority of the film I spent not sympathizing for Patrick, particularly because he does not show any sympathy for those around him either.  He rudely demands that his secretary never wear one of her suits ever again and insists that she only wear dresses and skirts.  Patrick also harasses a hungry homeless man living in an alley before killing him on the spot, for no reason.  Throughout majority of the film, Patrick manipulates those around him with his charming demeanor.  He not only is easy on the eyes, but also has a way of cajoling others to set them at ease.

It was not until the end of the film that I realized that perhaps I should have been sympathizing with Patrick all along.  I chose to ignore his many insecurities and instead focused on his sociopathic behavior.  Starting at the beginning of the film, we learn that Patrick spends a large amount of time getting ready for the day.  He uses a considerable amount of extravagant beauty products during his morning ritual and brags about all of them to the viewers of the film.  Before he leaves for the day, he also completes a morning workout to improve his physique.

Additionally, he torments himself over the look of his business card.  Throughout the film it is evident that Patrick puts a lot of importance on his business card to ensure that his is the best in the company.  It is clear that this small piece of paper causes Patrick a lot of anguish, especially after he lashes out at his friends when they address his behavior after seeing a card that is “better” than his.  He then proceeds to follow the man into the restroom and attempts to strangle him.

Patrick’s obsession with his appearance shows a clear flaw in his own self image.  He feels the need to control every situation.  When he does not have the upper hand, he resorts to killing the person, as was the case for Paul Allen, the man with the better business card, and even the old woman who disapproves of feeding the kitten to the ATM machine.

While Patrick may have imagined all of the murders in his head, the events of the film show the influence the pressure of being a man of the upper class can have on a person.  Especially on Wall Street in the 1980s when the stock market was on the rise.  The men of that world were constantly competing.  There were no friendships, only partnerships.  Life as they knew it was empty.  All of these themes are represented by the “American psycho”, Patrick.  He, like society, showed no emotion for those around him.  Essentially, the nature of his suffering derives from the pressure of being successful in the competitive New York city in the 1980s.

The film makes me want to hate Patrick through majority of the film.  It is not until we find out that he imagined most of the horrific events that we chose to feel pity towards him.  Patrick lives in an empty world where greed and lust consume the people.  Materialism and loveless sex are not means of fulfillment, but society is too caught up in competing to take a step back and realize their unhappiness.  Patrick’s behavior is a result of the stress that his world has caused him.  Therefore, if Patrick is the antihero, the antagonist is the materialistic, competitive society of the “yuppies” living in the 1980s.

People like Paul Allen, Detective Donald Kimball, and his three other business friends all contribute to the antagonists of the film.  They are who Patrick try to impress and out do.  All the yuppies are the antagonists to each other.  The men not only compete for money and materialistic items, but also silly things like tans.  Each man is subject to the other’s strengths, and they spend their life attempting to be the best in all aspects.

Patrick’s lack of stability can also be seen through his need to fulfill himself through sex.  He indulges himself in porn, or prostitutes, rather than show any emotion toward his fiancé or another potential woman he seeks a future with.  The life Patrick leads seems too fast pace, so he resorts to one night stands by throwing money at different women.  His actions toward these women also show his need to dominate in all parts of his life.  Patrick knows that he can control the weaker women sexually and also goes to the extreme of killing them (even if it is his imagination).

Men in the film also turn to drugs to help fulfill their emotional needs.  The environment enables drugs as an acceptable means for a distraction.  The “everyone is doing it” mentality is another aspect of the influence that fellow yuppies have on each other.

It is clear that Patrick is subject to greed that seems inevitable in the world that he lives in. His need to rise above drives him insane.  American Psycho makes clear statements on the influence of greed in a world where competing consumes the lives of its members.  Obsessions with tanned, hydrated skin, perfect business cards, domination, and money leads to an extremely superficial lifestyle.  The need to keep up with all this in such a fast paced environment is enough to drive anyone insane, which is why Patrick resorts to making up all of the murders with his imagination.  He represents the suffering that the yuppies are too caught up to notice.  His deranged thoughts are his way of compensating for small losses in the eyes of an outsider, but big deals to those actually living the life of a yuppie.

Chosen scene: The Scuba Suit Scene (The Graduate)

As a viewer of The Graduate, the scuba suit scene from the film best symbolizes both Mr. Braddock’s high expectations of his son and his future and Ben’s reluctance to pursue a future at all. Because the theme of up holding expectations continues throughout the film, this scene makes the theme obvious to the audience early on in the movie.

 Opening with Ben out of the shot, his parents and several family friends anxiously wait for Ben to walk out of the door to reveal his extravagant birthday present. Mr. Braddock speaks excitedly about Ben’s birthday and how he will continue his education as a scholar. Not only does Ben’s father encourage the audience that a round of applause is necessary, he also makes a point to boast about the expensive gift. During the over zealous introduction of Ben and the suit, voiceovers of Ben attempting to talk to his father are heard by the viewer. These voiceovers make the audience feel uncomfortable and sympathize with Ben, since his father either blatantly ignores him, or is too excited to hear him. To make matters worse, Mr. Braddock pushes Ben into complying to his wishes by declaring that he is disappointing his friends and family.

 When the swings door open, Ben stands at the farthest possible place of the room from the door, and the camera uses a full body shot. He takes small, thumping steps to the door, which are made even louder by the flippers of the suit, reinforcing his reluctance to show off his new suit. The camera stays put as Ben walks toward the door where the camera sits. His eyes stare directly into the camera as the full shot becomes a close up. At the last second, his face goes dark and his face is concealed in shadows. Perhaps the cinematographer wanted to place emphasis on the unimportance of Ben’s feelings as he stepped out the door to obey his father. 

The shot then switches to a point of view shot, and the viewers see what Ben sees and hears from inside the scuba suit. Although the noise of the people is blocked out, you can see Mr. Braddock and the crowd animatedly talking at Ben. It is obvious they are talking loudly and forcefully from their body language. . Everyone seems to be excited about the birthday suit, which parallels with their excitement about his future. The symbolism behind the blocked out voices shows how Ben does not care to hear what they have to say.

 He reluctantly walks into the pool and submerges himself in the water. The breathing coming from his mask continues the monotonous tone that shows Ben’s lack of motivation to not only enjoy his birthday present, but also his future. When Ben tries to emerge from the water, his father pushes him back down, again symbolizing unwavering encouragement for the success of the suit and his son’s future.

 The scene comes to a close as Ben sits on the bottom of the pool, at “rock bottom”. At this point, the parallelism between the scuba suit and his future becomes clear to viewers. Ben’s indifference toward the new scuba parallels his outlook toward his future, as well as Mr. Braddock’s enthusiasm for the scuba suit parallels his outlook toward his son’s future.