Communication

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Up!

Synopsis of Up
This movie is about the adventure of an old man who sells balloons for a living, Mr. Carl Fredricksen and that of a little kid Russell, who is a junior wilderness explorer. One day, Russell knocked on the door of Mr. Fredricksen and asks if he requires any form of assistance. However, Mr. Fredricksen turns him down by asking Russell to find a snipe, a bird that doesn’t exist. Mr. Fredricksen then pursued his lifelong dream, which is to fly away and live in the wilds off South America near Paradise Falls, by tying thousands of helium balloons to his house. But he soon discovers that he was not alone on that journey as 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer Russell accidentally took off with him. The adventure of the grouchy old man and the optimistic child unfolds as they fly away to South America and discovers the wonders and dangers that they are in for.
This movie was released on the 7th Aug in Singapore. Below is the official website for the movie Up.
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/up/


The director of the movie is Pete Docter, who is also the director of  Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. This uses the theory of ethos, the appeal of one’s character, to attract the mass public to watch the movie. In the movie, it was clear to the audience that the dream of Mr. Fredricksen and his wife was to live in South America near Paradise Falls, and this, according to one of the canon of rhetoric, the arrangement, the subject was set forth clearly.


In the scene which shows how he met his wife, to the day that his wife died, uses one of the arts of persuasion, pathos to appeal to one’s emotions. Even without words, the sad background music was enough to tug at our heartstrings.
 
Carl Fredricksen: [seeing all the animal eyes from the shadows] You got a "run away in terror" badge?
Russell: No.
Carl Fredricksen: [grabing his hand to run] Time to earn it!

This is taken from a scene in the movie. The speaker (Carl) presents his speech in a natural, varied and appropriate way and his voice conveys his interest and emotion. His gesture towards the end of his speech matches the main idea in the speech that is, to run. Hence, delivery of speech is achieved.

Charles Muntz: Any last words? Come on, spit it out!
[Carl spits out his dentures]

Here, the speaker Charles instructed Carl to say his last words. However, he spits out his dentures. The scriptwriter uses one of the five canons of rhetoric, style, to increase the response from the audience as Carl did the literal thing; spits out his dentures and it creates humour for the audience.

Russell: But I want to help!
Carl Fredricksen: I don't want your help, I want you safe.

At the beginning of the movie, Russell and Mr. Fredricksen were strangers. However, from the pragmatic perspective, as they interact with one another, they learn to avoid unproductive moves such as arguing with each other and worked out patterns of interaction that satisfies them both. This is evident when Russell offered to help Carl but he has already developed a liking to Russell and wants to keep him safe.

However, we tend to dismiss the reason to which why Mr. Fredricksen appears to be grouchy. This was due to the traumatic incident of his wife’s death that made him reluctant to communicate to the world. This is one of the main problems from the pragmatic perspective.


From the social constructionist perspective, we can see that Mr. Fredricksen and Russell lives in two completely different worlds. Grouchy Mr. Fredricksen lives in his own world and refuses any help from anyone. Russell, however, leads a happy life from his optimistic character to his helpfulness. Russell who has been communicating with fellow explorers and been told about the wonders of helping people and exploring the wilderness, he looks forward to his own adventure and expects it to be great. Hence this proves that most of what we know and believe about the world comes to us through communication rather than through direct experience. But after experiencing it with Carl, he realised that it is not as great as he had expected.

This perspective emphasizes that we never experience the world directly. However, what Russell heard was just an illusion, not the truth. It is only when he experienced it did he realised what he had believed was an illusion not the truth. This is one of the troublesome aspects of this perspective.

 

Lastly, this great movie used a kaleidoscope of colours and is both entertaining and educational. I would not hesitate to recommend this to friends for a fun-filled experience!





Courtesy of   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/quotes  for the memorable quotes from Up and the official website for the pictues.

posted by Communications @ 5:10 PM  

17 Comments:

  • At September 14, 2009 at 10:17 AM , Anonymous KJ said...

    This movie seems simplistic, but seems to have many underlying messages and themes.I especially agree with the observation that the movie's creators have used style in order to create humor. There were many incidences of slapstick comedy to engage younger viewers as well as deeper humor to appeal to adults.

    Also, the statement that 'what we know and believe about the world comes to us through communication rather than through direct experience' is something that kept me thinking after reading it. Our perception of the world changes when our outside influences change and a communication seems to be a major influence. And this might make a difference in whether we see the glass as half empty or half full.

     

  • At September 14, 2009 at 9:37 PM , Anonymous charmaine said...

    How could the thousands of helium-filled balloons be intact in a heavy storm? How did Carl managed to move his whole house, just by using his own weight? In the movie, Carl did all types of unbelievable actions, just to fulfill his and his wife's dream - to live in South America near Paradise Falls. Even though these may seem like the movie's discrepancies, they actually signify the importance of preserverance to achieve something, which I believe it's one of the underlying meanings that the director/producer is trying to portray to the audiences.

     

  • At September 14, 2009 at 10:16 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    i agree with ur sentence "This uses the theory of ethos, the appeal of one’s character, to attract the mass public to watch the movie" as the interaction between the old man Mr. Fredriksen and Russell did create joy and humour for us, which in turn attracts people to watch the movie.
    I feel that it is successful in gaining attention from the people especially the adults since we tend to stereotype cartoons as movies for kids. This is no longer happening in our society due to the rise of the animation industry.

     

  • At September 17, 2009 at 11:22 PM , Anonymous Sy said...

    I agree with what you said about using ethos to appeal to our emotion. It is actually difficult to evoke our emotions through a cartoon especially when the target audience are mostly children. However, the scenes showing how Carl and Ellie fell in love with one another, their shared dreams about exploring and living near paradise falls till Ellie's death, was brought to the audience through the non-verbal form of communication. All that scene requires was some sad background music to set the audience in the perfect situation and hence the purpose of ethos was achieved.

     

  • At September 17, 2009 at 11:46 PM , Anonymous HuiQin said...

    When I watched the movie, I did not notice as much as u have analysed. I just thought that it's a simple touching movie. But after reading what u've analysed, I realised that I did not really think that much. i started to see the main motive of this movie, and the importance of the music and how russell and carl can communicate with each other despite the huge age gap. I wonder what's the reason that they can communicate so well despite the generation and personality gap.

     

  • At September 18, 2009 at 8:45 PM , Anonymous En said...

    I believe that the reason to which why Russell and Carl can communicate so well despite their age gap is due to the interest that they have in common, and that is exploring. For Russell, a young wilderness explorer, he had always been participating in events that allows him to explore the world. And for Carl, it was his lifelong dream to travel to paradise falls and hence this was the reason why there was no barricade between the two in their communication despite their age.

     

  • At September 20, 2009 at 4:50 PM , Anonymous C said...

    "UP", it may seem childish, but it actually 'leaks out' some of the scenes we see in reality. For example, there is this scene where Charles orders his dogs like his slaves. Well, because dogs are pets, hence we usually have the impression that they will definitely obey their owners. However, in the movie, Dug is the only dog who can tell which is the bad/good side, and eventually helps Russell and Carl. In reality, dogs actually can comprehend man's actions, and this is something we always tend to neglect, sadly.

     

  • At September 20, 2009 at 5:22 PM , Anonymous Rachel said...

    The pragmatic perspective also dismisses the reason why Russell was so keen to extend his help to people in order to earn his badges. The main motivation for Russell to complete his collection of badges is his hope to see his father attend his badge-pinning ceremony. Outwardly Russell appears carefree and seems to be a happy-go-lucky person, but internally he has his own problems dealing with loneliness caused by the separation of his parents.

     

  • At September 22, 2009 at 8:51 PM , Anonymous Mo Ze long said...

    The movie used pathos to appeal to the public as in the movie, it shows how Carl is devoted to his wife but however, was unable to help her fulfill her wish before she died. All along, the husband thought that the wife's wish was to go to paradis falls and to live there. But over the years, she realised that her wish might not come true afterall so she wrote in her memory
    book that her true wish is that she wants Carl to have his own meaningful life. This is the sad part about the movie and thus achieved the theory of pathos.

     

  • At September 24, 2009 at 10:32 PM , Anonymous Jolyn said...

    I support the view that Russell and Mr. Fredricksen are two individuals who seem unlikely to interact with each other if without this adventure. It is the curiosity and determination in Russell that brought him nearer to Mr. Fredricksen’s inner world.

    At the beginning of the flim, Mr. Fredricksen is being portrayed as a grouchy man who is against the world due to his loss of his wife. However, from continuous communication and interaction with Russell, he has showed his humane and warm side to the audience. His grouchy outer appearance is just a façade to hide from the outer world. Once again, first impressions based on appearance are not reflective of an individual’s character but should be based on communication and interaction instead.

    True enough, the social constructionist perspective offers a valid point on emphasizing how we never experience the world directly. However, this is not going to deter an individual’s determination and perspectives. It is shown by Russell’s actions in the film who continue to be optimistic and helpful and lastly, uphold his adventurous spirit. In addition, communication is crucial in offering different perspectives. On the whole, a balance between experience and communication is vital.

     

  • At September 24, 2009 at 11:15 PM , Anonymous stan said...

    This movie not only takes the audience on an adventure, but it also teaches children valuable life lessons such as never be bitter about losing someone you love. It also emphasizes on cherishing the memories you had with them. The usage of pathos in the movie portrayed heart-wrenching moments and it really shows how far someone would go in life for someone they loved.

     

  • At September 25, 2009 at 10:20 AM , Anonymous JD said...

    There has been some talk in the comments about the age barrier between Russell and Mr. Fredricksen. And I feel that even though it seemed like a valid reason as to why they should not be able to get along, towards the later part of the movie, it comes to our realization that judging a person by social categories such as age, gender or race might not be the most sensible way to do things.

     

  • At October 3, 2009 at 9:35 PM , Anonymous Emily said...

    In the beginning of the movie, the director uses scenes of carl and ellie to portray the strong relationship between them. This is a form of nonverbal communication between carl and ellie. Without using any words, different scenes of carl and ellie show how they rely onto each other in different stages of their life till they were old.The scene where carl actually cried while reminiscing the happy times he had with ellie communicated his emotions through his nonverbal cue. With a sad and touching background music, it touches the audiences' hearts and makes them sympathize with carl by showing the vulnerable side of him.

     

  • At October 3, 2009 at 11:40 PM , Anonymous en said...

    Yes indeed. The scene where they showed Carl and Ellie's relationship was a form of non-verbal communication. I feel that it is not just that being the non-verbal portion but also, the non-verbal cues that the producers were trying to send to the audience, that is, how endearing the both of them were and the well-established relation that the both of them had.

     

  • At October 6, 2009 at 11:06 AM , Anonymous Ben said...

    When carl met kevin the bird, he also communicated non verbally through his body language. He was shocked that russell actually managed to find the bird that doesn't exist and was shocked to see it appearing right in front of him. He jumped up uncontrollably and expressed his amazement through that non verbal cue.

     

  • At October 20, 2009 at 11:14 PM , Anonymous may said...

    Nonverbal communication can indeed communicate what we sometimes cannot express through verbal communication. For instance, the bird kevin communicated almost nonverbally throughout the whole movie. There were only a few moments where it made noise to warn carl and russell of the pending danger or to communicate with its child.

     

  • At November 8, 2009 at 10:26 PM , Anonymous Jeremy said...

    Well, this movie simply strengthens an underlying point, that is, things are better off being expressed through actions than words.

     

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