Lynch/Egoyan: Traumatic Event
Living in the Past or Embracing the Future Most people have intense feelings after a traumatic event. Observe the reactions of people following September 11th, the Oklahoma City bombing, wars, and natural disasters such as tornados, floods, and fires. Even, family damages such as death or a loss of a relationship can be mentally disturbing. Such instances dent the natural spin of life for its victims. Directors David Lynch and Atom Egoyan juggle this topic of the traumatic event and its affects in many of their films. Throughout such films as Lynch's The Straight Story and Egoyan's The Sweet Here After, memories of traumatic events linger in the air and drive the present narrative. Their presence and constant references also serve as directorial commentary on traumatic events and ways of coping with their aftermath. Both directors embed the memories of disaster in interesting ways. The traumatic event is not simply initially presented or shown in one sweeping scene. Effectively, pieces of this puzzling event are given throughout the film. Thus, the directors leave the audience in suspense, lingering, wondering exactly what happened-- what is driving these characters to behave the way they beh
By never showing the past, and keeping the narration in the present, Lynch creates characters that move toward the future, away from the traumatic event. For example, the lawyer appears to want to help the families of the victims of the bus crash, but, through Egoyan's narrative splicing, his true motives are revealed, and the audience learns that his efforts are really a result of his struggle with his own past relationship with his daughter. In contrast, Lynch does present examples of characters that deal with trauma by dwelling in the past. And, Lynch writes that it is usually more detectable in a man who drinks himself into a stupor in an attempt to escape that past life. Another example appears when Alvin rolls down a steep hill toward a burning house. The sequence is shot in such a way that it appears that he is going to crash into the flames. The audience is only shown images that allude to the event or given dialogue that describes the event. Once Alvin accepted his past, tried not to escape it, and decided to move toward the future, he became a stronger person. Or if they do find relief, it is a temporary escape from their haunting memories of the past. In addition, Alvin explains that dwelling on the memories of the past, "being young", is the most painful part of growing older. The Straight Story never shows any of the incidents that are driving the plot or characters. A representative from A Straight Story would be the alcoholic World War II veteran that Alvin has witnessed. While similar, the presentations of the traumatic events still differ greatly.
Common topics in this essay:
War II,
Egoyan's Sweet,
Straight Story,
Oklahoma City,
Embracing Future,
Atom Egoyan,
traumatic event,
traumatic events,
straight story,
embracing future,
memories past,
world war ii,
audience shown,
past past,
move future,
tried escape,
past opposed,
World War,
|
Acceptance Essays
