Realizing the Connections Between the Viewer and Characters Sympathy is a confusing emotion felt when one tries to relate with another; when looking at it in a subjective point of view, one may actually begin to rationalize with another by relating to their scenarios. In the movie “The Reader”, directed by Stephen Daldry, the characters help develop the audiences’ mutual similarities with the cast by letting viewers witness the hardships that characters have to go through. When looking at the character that is Hannah Schmitz, one can have a difficult time understanding her throughout the movie. In the novella “The Lives of Animals” by J.M Coetzee, the main character Elizabeth Costello portrays a miniscule amount of emotional feelings that
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However, Hannah Schmitz surprisingly exhibits these very traits that resembles a caring figure that takes care of the weak. Because of this, I feel as if movie viewers connect with Schmitz to a degree that respects her character for all of her good deeds. Howard Sklar, a lecturer at the University of Helsinki, states that with “emotional forms of imagination, we can begin to understand the ways in which the story might affect the reader” (ctd. in Sklar, 10). By evoking emotional connections with the audience, the movie connects the viewer by showing Schmitz feelings through her actions. She saves the ill Michael Berg by taking him home in his time of need and viewers tend to empathize to the thought of helping others in their times of need. When spectators witnessed the boy’s sickly actions, they ignored it as if it was not of their concerns. Later on, their relationship suddenly takes an unexpected turn as help turned into lust which led viewers such as myself to start questioning the sympathy I had for her. However, my view of her became more and more understable as the story progressed. Her telling Michael that it was time for him to “go back to his party” (qtd. in Daldry), symbolized the end of a relationship. This event led me to sympathize more with Schmitz as it represents the harsh realities of situations that happen throughout most people’s lives. With Elizabeth …show more content…
When Elizabeth Costello stated that “sympathy has everything to do with the subject and little to do with the object” (qtd. in Coetzee, PDF 133), I realized that sometimes that is not always the case. The concept of the tin can that Hannah Schmitz gave to the daughter of a fire victim in the movie shows that she has a soft interior that still shows the care that she embodies truthfully; sometimes the physical object triggers specific responses that causes sympathy among the viewers. Even if she committed the crime of mistakenly causing the deaths of the prison inmates she looked after, she portrays the humanity she still has in her by helping those that are affected by the accident. Sklar even states that when evaluating the topic of sympathy, “‘sentiment’ and ‘sentimentality’ need to be reexamined” (ctd. in Sklar, 36). The daughter of the fire victim accident sees the case as a figure that resembles an object similar to the one she kept up and had stolen in her days locked up in the camp. This signifies the same care that she has for Michael Berg as well as the victim affected by this accident. When the viewer understands the thought process of the character that is Hannah Schmitz, they begin to understand some of the reasons behind her actions and whether they were intentional or not in the first
However, Hannah Schmitz surprisingly exhibits these very traits that resembles a caring figure that takes care of the weak. Because of this, I feel as if movie viewers connect with Schmitz to a degree that respects her character for all of her good deeds. Howard Sklar, a lecturer at the University of Helsinki, states that with “emotional forms of imagination, we can begin to understand the ways in which the story might affect the reader” (ctd. in Sklar, 10). By evoking emotional connections with the audience, the movie connects the viewer by showing Schmitz feelings through her actions. She saves the ill Michael Berg by taking him home in his time of need and viewers tend to empathize to the thought of helping others in their times of need. When spectators witnessed the boy’s sickly actions, they ignored it as if it was not of their concerns. Later on, their relationship suddenly takes an unexpected turn as help turned into lust which led viewers such as myself to start questioning the sympathy I had for her. However, my view of her became more and more understable as the story progressed. Her telling Michael that it was time for him to “go back to his party” (qtd. in Daldry), symbolized the end of a relationship. This event led me to sympathize more with Schmitz as it represents the harsh realities of situations that happen throughout most people’s lives. With Elizabeth …show more content…
When Elizabeth Costello stated that “sympathy has everything to do with the subject and little to do with the object” (qtd. in Coetzee, PDF 133), I realized that sometimes that is not always the case. The concept of the tin can that Hannah Schmitz gave to the daughter of a fire victim in the movie shows that she has a soft interior that still shows the care that she embodies truthfully; sometimes the physical object triggers specific responses that causes sympathy among the viewers. Even if she committed the crime of mistakenly causing the deaths of the prison inmates she looked after, she portrays the humanity she still has in her by helping those that are affected by the accident. Sklar even states that when evaluating the topic of sympathy, “‘sentiment’ and ‘sentimentality’ need to be reexamined” (ctd. in Sklar, 36). The daughter of the fire victim accident sees the case as a figure that resembles an object similar to the one she kept up and had stolen in her days locked up in the camp. This signifies the same care that she has for Michael Berg as well as the victim affected by this accident. When the viewer understands the thought process of the character that is Hannah Schmitz, they begin to understand some of the reasons behind her actions and whether they were intentional or not in the first