I’ve always been a big Dr. Seuss fan, so this past weekend I
took my little brother to see The Lorax. This was always one of my favorite
books of his, so I was very excited when I heard they were making it into a
movie. In my opinion, the movie does an awesome job of bringing the book to
life. The Lorax is about a boy named Ted, who decides that he is going to plant
a tree in order to impress the girl he likes and to change his town, which does
not currently have any trees. The usage if chiaroscuro is important in this
movie because when Ted goes to see the Once-ler to hear his story about trees,
the Once-ler’s face is always kept in the shadows of his window and it’s not
until the end of the movie that you finally see his face in the light. By
hiding his identity, there is an extra element of mystery and suspense
surrounding the Once-ler. Throughout the movie, Ted rides around on his motor
scooter and the camera tracks him as he goes from place to place, adding humor
to the movie, particularly when he has his grandma riding with him and they do
some funny stunts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I also saw The Lorax last weekend and the movie was okay in my opinion. The film as a whole centers around Dr. Seuss's idea "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not". Mis en scene is used to reinforce this idea through the rock carved with the word "Unless" placed in front of the Once-ler's house. Mis en scene is also used through the huge wall surrounding Thneedville. This wall represents the isolation and the naive people that live in Thneedville. The people there have never seen trees and believe that their bottled-air-buying plastic-tree way of life is normal and healthy. At the end of the film Ted breaks down the wall and the people of Thneedville realize that something is very wrong. This is symbolic that the people are no longer naive about the pollution they've caused. Chiaroscuro is also used heavily throughout the film. The Once-ler, the man responsible for Sneedville's pollution, lives on the outskirts of town in a dark house covered by shadows. The audience does not see the Once-ler's whole face until the very end of the film, adding mystery to the man whose story is told through most of the movie. Sound is also heavily used in the form of songs. The lyrics of the various songs sung throughout the film explain what is happening onscreen.
ReplyDeleteDr. Seuss is a master of story telling. All of his stories contain some hidden messages in them besides being cute bedtime stories for kids. (i.e. the story about Sneetches is about overcoming prejudice) The Lorax is a bit more straight forward in terms of its message. But it is in how the show portrays that message that matters most. What message is shown is how industry and economics conflict with the need to protect our environment. As the Lorax demonstrates, concerns about our planet become trivialized when there is profit to be made. A particularly important scene comes from an internal dialogue from the Onceler. It provides the kind of excuses that come about in the name of progress and industry at the expense of the environment. The Lorax effectively conveys its message not just through song and story, but also visually. When we first see the Truffula trees, they are vibrantly colored against the backdrop of a blue sky. But as the Onceler builds his Thneed business not only are the Truffula trees decimated, but as the industrial pollutants infect the land, the colors change from vibrant to grey and brown.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, the lesson is for the industrial and economically inclined. Without taking precautions for protecting the environment, industry will consume everything and eventually destroy itself. Ultimately, what makes the Lorax a perfect story for our times is its final message of hope. At the end of the film, with a wasteland surrounding the Onceler, he talks about the word unless. The Onceler offers Ted a single seed which he plants in the middle of town to show the whole town what trees can really do for them.
The main idea in this movie is about going green and saving the environment as much as possible. There are quite a lot of film techniques used to display this, like lighting and editing and camerawork. For instance when the Once-ler chopped down the first tree, the camera zooms in to the tree as the ax strikes it. Then immediately after the animals of the forest scatter and run in circles and their emotions change because they are horrified. This act of camerawork adds to the dramatic event that just happened and send the forest into a downward spiral from there. The editing and reactions of the charecters also are apparent when the Lorax comes down from the sky. The surroundings change as he is floating down from the clouds. First of all the clouds change to a very dark color and the spot at which he levitates down from is completely lit up as he is seen as a godly figure with a lot of power. But the problem is he is very tiny and barely has any power. All he can do is try to coax the Once-ler to not cut down any trees. This is also true for the mayor of the town Thneedville. He is very tiny and short and seems powerless, but he has complete control over the entire city through his body guards and workers. There is a play on power in this movie and its quite interesting how it all plays out in the end. The powerful lose and the small child wins out.
ReplyDeleteBesides being a huge fan of doctor Seuss i think that the movie the Lorax sends a very strong message out to kids and even adults. This message is very powerful and eye opening, To save the trees. all you hear about lately is the loss of forest we have throughout the world. this loss can easily be compared to the movie because the trees were all cut down until their was nothing left. Without trees there are no wild life or fresh air just as shown in the movie by the animals leaving their home, the lake drying up and the sky becoming polluted. Causing a company to have to produce pure air to provide to the people from it being so far gone in pollution and the peoples lack of careing. Thankfully one came forward and showed the care the town need to restore what they really needed, a trufala tree! so he took out to find the onceler to share his wisdom of how to achieve one. this wisdom lead to him reciving a single seed with the encouragement of a brilliant phrase "UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing will get better. It's not." though that phrase was used in the past comments it still has the same strong meaning it had before. With the empasis on uless the message that is given is to make a change in the world and you don't need a crowd or a microphone or banner or to even be seen by millions to make a change. you just need to show the care that it deseves and an action that stands out. Such as rhe young boy showed by growing that last truffala seed in the middle of town to make the message of the lorax loud and clear. For actions speak louder than words.
ReplyDelete