Question: How do composers explore and represent concepts that provide us insight into the human experience?
The producer Steven Spielberg in “Empire of the Sun” and author Luong Ung in “First they killed my father” explore and represent concepts of the loss of innocence, resilience and exploitation through specific camera shots and direct dialogue. These factors combine to provide the audience/ reader significant insight into the human experience particularly related to children in war.
Loss of innocence is when someone is exposed to experience that is deemed inappropriate for their developmental age. This can have significantly traumatic and lifelong impact on the individual.
In Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun” and Luong Ung’s “First they killed my father” both protagonists (Jim and Luong) experience a tremendous loss of innocence. This is especially evident in first they killed my father as Luong’s training to be a child solider is the epitome of loss of innocence. This is highlighted as Luong Ung recalls “The …show more content…
Her recall of her sixth birthday “I am six years old and instead of celebrating with birthday cakes, I chew on a piece of charcoal” shows an extreme loss of innocence as even childhood birthday celebrations no longer exist. Every child looks forward to their birthday with intense anticipation. This marks our childhood. Luong has no childhood to mark. Similarly, in “Empire of the Sun” Jim experiences loss of Innocence through an extreme close up as he watches the Japanese soldiers beat up Basie, it is wrong! He is an adolescent who has been faced directly with human beating. The loss of innocence in the lives of the protagonists reinforces the brutality of life for the audience. Such extreme alteration to the normal sequence of growing up leaves us feeling empathy as well as personal
The producer Steven Spielberg in “Empire of the Sun” and author Luong Ung in “First they killed my father” explore and represent concepts of the loss of innocence, resilience and exploitation through specific camera shots and direct dialogue. These factors combine to provide the audience/ reader significant insight into the human experience particularly related to children in war.
Loss of innocence is when someone is exposed to experience that is deemed inappropriate for their developmental age. This can have significantly traumatic and lifelong impact on the individual.
In Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun” and Luong Ung’s “First they killed my father” both protagonists (Jim and Luong) experience a tremendous loss of innocence. This is especially evident in first they killed my father as Luong’s training to be a child solider is the epitome of loss of innocence. This is highlighted as Luong Ung recalls “The …show more content…
Her recall of her sixth birthday “I am six years old and instead of celebrating with birthday cakes, I chew on a piece of charcoal” shows an extreme loss of innocence as even childhood birthday celebrations no longer exist. Every child looks forward to their birthday with intense anticipation. This marks our childhood. Luong has no childhood to mark. Similarly, in “Empire of the Sun” Jim experiences loss of Innocence through an extreme close up as he watches the Japanese soldiers beat up Basie, it is wrong! He is an adolescent who has been faced directly with human beating. The loss of innocence in the lives of the protagonists reinforces the brutality of life for the audience. Such extreme alteration to the normal sequence of growing up leaves us feeling empathy as well as personal