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The Village: A Beacon of Innocence
By His Lordship on 09/03/2008
M. Night Shyamalan's movie The Village is one of those rare movies that brings to surface a vast and unyielding psychological and moral battlefield. There have been mixed reactions to this film, which is sure to go down in the echelons of history. Some skeptics see it on it's surface level... merely a story of a blind village girl climbing over a fence to get medicine from "the real world". Of course, the real beauty of the movie lies not within this simple story, but in the myriad of other elements as well as its central themes. Through this compelling film-making, Shyamalan has produced what happens to be one of the greatest stories ever presented to audiences on the big screen.
As many will validate, music is paramount in the success of any film. After all, what is a film other than sight and sound? The sound component was masterfully crafted by one James Newton Howard, one of the greatest living composers of our day. His extraordinary use of the violin particularly reaches out to us. Hilary Hahn, the other featured master musician, is of the same age as the protagonist, Ive Walker. Through her virtuoso performance of the immortal score, she captures the central idea of innocence. One only needs to listen to the score.
http://www.wildernessguardians.com/music/mp3-14.mp3
No doubt one of the finest film scores ever created (this opinion belongs also to Dr Nicholas Bannan, who has a doctorate in musical education) one cannot help but feel overwhelmed by the power of innocence. These theme is echoed throughout the entire movie.
Ivy's blindness is a particularly striking feature of the film. Not only does it heighten one's sense of fear in the climactic moments of the film, but it also contributes to the innocent persona of Ivy, who judges people not by their appearances, bu by the depth of their emotions. It is no surprise then that she falls in love with the quiet and gentle Lucius Hunt.
Consider also, the colours involved. The "bad colour" in stark contrast with the equally strong colour of yellow. It is apparent from the beginning that these two colours will clash, bringing into sharp clarity, the conflict between innocence and fear.
It takes only a little thought, then, to realise that innocence is much more complicated than meets the eye, for it goes hand in hand with ignorance. At what point must man make a trade off between knowledge and innocence? This is but one of many questions Shyamalan's film poses.
Moreover, when one takes a step back they may consider the entire premise of the Village? Why would modern men and woman leave modern society in favour of a more provincial life. Here Shyamalan evokes thoughts associated with the fair of suffering, a natural human instinct. In addition, this premise has a strong tension with another theme in the movie... the power of love. The conflict between love and fear is one that has been brought into focus many times in the film industry, but Shyamalan, in the use of his twist, brings it to an elevated level.
The modern film audience has acclimatised themselves toward acceptance of popular films. The recent movie 300, while eipc in nature, is somewhat shallow and is simply a glorification of war and bloodiness. True art, such as Shyamalan's The Village is often shunned by the modern film audience, and in particular, the youth. But when one scratches a little below the surface, they will find that the movie has intense symbolism, and a riveting story.
There are many questions that Shyamalan asks of his audience. How far can one go to protect innocence? Is there a trade-off between innocence, ignorance, and fear? What has become of modern society to produce such a radical retaliation against itself? There is no doubt in the mind that through Shyamalan's masterful film language, The Village proves to be one of the greatest celebrations of the human spirit that film has seen in a long time.
As many will validate, music is paramount in the success of any film. After all, what is a film other than sight and sound? The sound component was masterfully crafted by one James Newton Howard, one of the greatest living composers of our day. His extraordinary use of the violin particularly reaches out to us. Hilary Hahn, the other featured master musician, is of the same age as the protagonist, Ive Walker. Through her virtuoso performance of the immortal score, she captures the central idea of innocence. One only needs to listen to the score.
http://www.wildernessguardians.com/music/mp3-14.mp3
No doubt one of the finest film scores ever created (this opinion belongs also to Dr Nicholas Bannan, who has a doctorate in musical education) one cannot help but feel overwhelmed by the power of innocence. These theme is echoed throughout the entire movie.
Ivy's blindness is a particularly striking feature of the film. Not only does it heighten one's sense of fear in the climactic moments of the film, but it also contributes to the innocent persona of Ivy, who judges people not by their appearances, bu by the depth of their emotions. It is no surprise then that she falls in love with the quiet and gentle Lucius Hunt.
Consider also, the colours involved. The "bad colour" in stark contrast with the equally strong colour of yellow. It is apparent from the beginning that these two colours will clash, bringing into sharp clarity, the conflict between innocence and fear.
It takes only a little thought, then, to realise that innocence is much more complicated than meets the eye, for it goes hand in hand with ignorance. At what point must man make a trade off between knowledge and innocence? This is but one of many questions Shyamalan's film poses.
Moreover, when one takes a step back they may consider the entire premise of the Village? Why would modern men and woman leave modern society in favour of a more provincial life. Here Shyamalan evokes thoughts associated with the fair of suffering, a natural human instinct. In addition, this premise has a strong tension with another theme in the movie... the power of love. The conflict between love and fear is one that has been brought into focus many times in the film industry, but Shyamalan, in the use of his twist, brings it to an elevated level.
The modern film audience has acclimatised themselves toward acceptance of popular films. The recent movie 300, while eipc in nature, is somewhat shallow and is simply a glorification of war and bloodiness. True art, such as Shyamalan's The Village is often shunned by the modern film audience, and in particular, the youth. But when one scratches a little below the surface, they will find that the movie has intense symbolism, and a riveting story.
There are many questions that Shyamalan asks of his audience. How far can one go to protect innocence? Is there a trade-off between innocence, ignorance, and fear? What has become of modern society to produce such a radical retaliation against itself? There is no doubt in the mind that through Shyamalan's masterful film language, The Village proves to be one of the greatest celebrations of the human spirit that film has seen in a long time.
By Snowzak on 09/03/2008
Not a clear enough structure, 6/10. 
By His Lordship on 09/03/2008
There's no topic. It is a rhapsodic essay.
It's written to flow, not to be cohesive.
It's written to flow, not to be cohesive.
By Buzzard1985 on 09/03/2008
I still don't like The Village..
By His Lordship on 09/03/2008
Then I still don't like you.
By Kiwi011 on 09/03/2008
Not Found
The requested URL /music/mp3-14.mp3 was not found on this server.
but yea, havent seen it but everyone i know said the movie sucked....is the essay for school and you posted it for comments or did u just write it?.
The requested URL /music/mp3-14.mp3 was not found on this server.
but yea, havent seen it but everyone i know said the movie sucked....is the essay for school and you posted it for comments or did u just write it?.
By rachellove9 on 09/03/2008
I loved the movie and think in history it will have its place The music is sooo good
I am sure Wizard of Oz took hits from the critics as well There is a man who committed sucicide hanging in the background they didn't take it out --- can you imagine that happening now
I am sure Wizard of Oz took hits from the critics as well There is a man who committed sucicide hanging in the background they didn't take it out --- can you imagine that happening now
By Squelchyfish on 15/03/2008
Thanks lordy, that got me an A in an english lit assignment.
>_ <
>_ <
By Gibble00 on 15/03/2008
| QUOTE (Squelchyfish @ March 15, 2008 11:13 am) |
| Thanks lordy, that got me an A in an english lit assignment. >_ < |
Niceness.
I've never seen The Village, but I hate Shyamalan.
Signs was utterly terrible.
Sixth Sense wasn't great, interesting though.
Unbreakable was all right.
Your description of it doesn't make the movie sound at all like what it was marketed to be. I thought it was like a thriller/horror type film.
Your link to the music doesn't work for me, but I believe that it's good.
Since we're recommending movies, The Darjeeling Limited and Into The Wild both came out on DVD recently, I'll throw them out there for yall to think about. I read Into The Wild for a rhetoric course, and the movie goes pretty strictly by the book, so I liked that. Both of those movies have good soundtracks, although for Darjeeling it's just licensed stuff while Eddie Vedder did original songs for Into The Wild, but I like Pearl Jam anyways. Okay, so probably not your type of thing Lordy, no John Williams here, but for the rest of you,
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