Flags of Our Fathers Essay Example for Free

Flags of Our Fathers Essay Context: Flags of our Fathers was a bit of change for Eastwood. The movie is about the famous photograph of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima by soldiers. Eastwood wanted to show war at its most brutal and that is what he created. Audience: People who like war or action movies and who are interested in war. Mostly for young adults and above. Purpose: The purpose of this film is to entertain the audience. Brief synopsis of text: Flags of our Fathers is about 3 soldiers who raised the U. S. flag on Iwo Jima along with 3 other soldiers who recently died in battle. So the 3 soldiers were taken out of battle and sent back to the U.S. and were classed as heroes because of the most famous image of the raising of the U.S. flag in Iwo Jima and the government made them as heroes to the public to promote selling war bonds. But the 3 soldiers didnt believe they were heroes at all. Ideas relevant to Journeys: In Flags of our Fathers, the 3 men who were taken out of battle and were known as heroes by the public and the government used them to promote war bonds did not regard themselves as heroes. They didnt believe to be heroes but the public did. This shows from the publics imaginative journeys is that they are thinking of how these men, who are known as heroes to survive such a brutal battle and to be in the most famous photograph in U.S. history. The photograph that they show isnt them in the image, they were the soldiers who placed the replacement flag on top of the mountain. But no one knows that. In the first scene or at the beginning of the film, we see a soldier running through a battlefield that has been torn to pieces and keeps hearing a voice. He looks around everywhere to see where this voice is coming from. Then the camera zooms in on the soldiers face and suddenly it was just a dream. The effect of the close-up shot of his face creates a feeling of being involved and the man was afraid of something. We are then taken to a scene where a old age person has woken up to his dream and is sweating and shaking just like if you had a nightmare. This is related to imaginative journeys because the man is having a dream of the past where he was at war. He is remembering and reflecting on the time he was at war and gets woken up by it. In his dream he was afraid, when he woke up from his dream he was sweating and shaking. A dream is a journey through the mind. The lighting of this scene creates a wiry and dark feeling to the viewers who see a lone soldier looking through a torned battlefield hearing a voice in the distance. This is creating suspense through the use of colours and shadows and gets the viewer imagining what is going to happen next. Suddenly we hear a loud sound which was probably a gun been fired and then we are taken to a scene where an old man is woken up. We now notice it was a dream. The man still thinks about upon this day. So the viewers are now imagining what had happened on that day. Was the man wounded or did a person who we couldnt see got shot. We never know until we see what happens in the film. This creates suspense in the audience. Techniques used to present relevant ideas: 1. Use of suspense to keep the audience entertain throughout the film. From the first scene the viewers had no idea it was a dream until they see the old man waking up from that particular dream, sweating and shaking. The scene creates suspense to get the viewers thinking and imagining what is going to happen next which is based on imaginative journeys because the audience is thinking beyond what has happened to the man at that particular time of that dream we saw. 2. The use of lighting in the first scene was very dull and dark. It created a wiry looking scene of a torn battlefield with a lone soldier walking around. We hear voices in the distance which creates more suspense. Dark lighting from this scene can represent an old memory which should have been forgotten at the time the man had the dream. 3. Use of dramatic irony is also used in this film which is something that the audience knows but the characters dont know of. But in this film, its the other way round, the lone soldier in the beginning scene knows what is happening and is afraid but the audience doesnt know whats happening. All we know of is that it was a dream from his past memories. As I said, it creates suspense to keep the audience entertain throughout the film and this is based on imaginative journeys because we have witnessed a scene where is was a dream and a journey through the mind of past memories. Links to set text in terms of ideas and techniques: Flags of our Fathers can be linked with Othello by the use of some of the techniques used in the film such as dramatic irony. In Othello we know that Iago has planned to get Othello thinking that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. The audience knows already what is happening but Othello doesnt know that Iago is planning something. From the film, it is the other way round where the lone soldier in the scene knows what is having but the audience is kept in suspense and have to find out later what happens to him from that particular scene which was a journey through the mind or a dream. In Othello the audience is kept in suspense when Iago keeps his plan going well by telling Othello that Desdemona is with Cassio. The audience doesnt know what is going to happen next same as in the scene of the dream in Flags of our Fathers. In the film the audience is kept in suspense from the very first scene where the lone soldier is walking through a torned battlefield and we see he is afraid. Then we are taken to a scene where an old man has woken from this dream. We are then kept in suspense by this scene because the audience wants to know what happens next and they stay and watch the film to see what has happened after he had woken up from his memory of the war. Both Othello and Flags of our Fathers display both suspense and irony to keep their audience entertained and kept in suspense through the use of lighting, irony and imaginative journeys. The audience imagine in their minds what is going to happen next. In mostly all plays and films, everyone in the audience wants to know what will happen next and will stay to watch to see what happens. If there was no suspense or irony, it would be pointless to stay and watch because the audience would know what has happened. Without imagining, we dont know anything. So both of these texts display imaginative journeys.