Film Review Essay On Ordinary People

Superior Essays
Money, power, and glory. What more could a person ask for? Most people believe that the happiest lives are achieved with wealth and status. However, as they say, “Money doesn 't buy happiness”. The Jarrett Family was the model family of their posh and pristine neighborhood. They had it all, the perfect house, wealthy job, the perfect family, but it is not until the tragic death of their eldest son, Buck Jarrett, where the Jarrett family find all of the faults that lurked beneath their hoax of the “perfect” family. The film, Ordinary People, analysis the structure of the upper class family and the reconstruction of life after death as the family realize the truths they have blinded themselves to see.
The film begins with the tranquil and soothing song from the local school choir. The song is, in essence, a sham to the actual state of most of the characters, as it depicts harmony and peace which contradicts
…show more content…
How are you? Oh fine, fine. I just couldn’t be better, really. Oh terrific, yeah.” This scene is reflective on how similar Conrad is to his mother, Beth, as they both fanatically try to create and maintain the sham of happy and healthy individuals. Conrad’s first meeting is almost disastrous as he show disdain and anger from some of the simple questions Dr. Berger presents such as, “How long since you’ve been out of the hospital?...Feeling depressed?...People treating you like a dangerous character?...Are you?...How long were you in the hospital?...What did you do?...Doesn’t say what method?” These questions along with the Dr. Berger’s nonchalant manner of speech pick and poke at Conrad showing that he not to happy that he is seeking help or with Dr. Berger personality. To Conrad, Dr. Berger is a mirror. He symbolizes Conrad’s unconscious and poses the questions and bitter truths that Conrad is viciously trying to bury deep in his

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Ordinary People is a 1980 film about Conrad and his family. Their family lost the eldest son in a boating accident and their relationship with each other becomes strained after Conrad attempts suicide. The relationship between Conrad and his mother is distant and disconnected. The relationship between Conrad and his father is more open in comparison. After Conrad returns home from the hospital he starts therapy with Dr. Berger.…

    • 1625 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Visual Analysis In the film “The Long Day Closes” the scene of Tammy’s in Love helped demonstrate the film maker’s use of the cinematic elements such as mis en scene, cinematography, editing and sound to help the audience understand the protagonists feelings of loneliness, and being conformed into a routine, as well as having a hard time of being an individual. The purpose in this film was quite an interesting one. In this particular scene of Tammy’s in Love, the filmmaker was very intricate when it came to the purpose of the films mis en scene.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bye Bye Birdie Analysis

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Bye Bye Birdie Bye Bye Birdie is a comedic musical with the music by Charles Strouse in 1963. The following cast members sing many solos, duos, trios and full cast songs: Janet Leigh (Rosie DeLeon), Dick Van Dyke (Albert F. Peterson), Ann-Margret (Kim McAfee), Maureen Stapleton (Mae Peterson), Bobby Rydell (Hugo Peabody), Jesse Pearson (Conrad Birdie). There are 15 songs total.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When I think of horrific events that have happened in history I often think of the people who committed the crimes. Usually those people are awful savages who were emotionless. They kill innocent people for pleasure and treat them like animals while doing so. These attributes usually get pinned on said groups of people because we ourselves like to believe that humans are not capable of doing such horrific things. Christopher Browning shows us an example of a group of normal men who committed terrible crimes.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ordinary People: The Importance of Communication Judith Guest displays many important life lessons in her novel Ordinary People, which can be guide everyone in difficult situations. Ordinary People is a meritorious novel, devoted to teaching common people how to fight through the hardships of life. The main characters, Conrad and Calvin Jarrett, are the epitome of a teen-parent relationship, albeit attempting to cope with two traumatic events. Before the book begins, Buck, the older of the two Jarrett brothers, dies in a boating accident. Conrad, flush with survivor’s guilt, unsuccessfully attempts suicide.…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While at first glance the characters, settings, and difficulties faced in Judith Guest’s Ordinary People seem mundane and commonplace, the novel’s subtext, about a psychological battle against the self, transforms this “ordinary” WASP family into an extraordinary family in despair. Conrad, the protagonist, and son of Beth and Calvin, returns from the hospital and prepares for his first day of school since his suicide attempt, which was fueled by his immense guilt over the death of his brother, Buck. While preparing breakfast for everyone, Beth comments on Conrad's clothes, stating to Calvin, “Decency is out, chaos is in”. This quote illustrates the terribile relationship between Beth and Conrad, while additionally foreshadowing Conrad’s…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ordinary Men Analysis

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Argument for Ordinary Men and their “Obedience to Authority” While Christopher Browning’s text Ordinary Men may be brief in length, it is robust with narrative content, data, and emotion. Detailing the corrupted Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police, Browning effectively launches an argument that the majority of these men were not innate mass murderers, but instead ordinary men. Browning successfully makes this argument by applying a great deal of focus to the men, as he establishes their backgrounds and analyzes their behavior. Furthermore, the psychological impact of a group setting is illustrated, as well as the effect of authority.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Samantha Lopez Vrooman Film Studies November 2, 2014 Jules and Jim Film Analysis Trying to comprehend this film was hard because to read the subtitles and trying to look at the scene of where the characters were at felt like the audience had to choose which one was important, the conversation between the characters or scenes of where the characters were at to make the plot. This understanding between the scenes and the words connect with the film of Catherine choosing between two men. This connection of the words and the scenes tells the audience that we have to choose and if we do choose the words then we miss a couple of the scenes and if the audience chooses the scenes then we miss five to ten words, which to the audience feels like we missed the entire plot of the film. However, Jules and Jim…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ordinary People Analysis

    • 1581 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In the movie Ordinary People, the main character, Conrad Jarrett, suffers from what appears to be either Major Depression or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The diagnostic criteria for Major Depression in the DSM-5 is: depressed mood most of the day, diminished interest or pleasure in most activities, significant weight loss when not dieting, insomnia, psychomotor retardation, fatigue or loss of energy, feeling of worthlessness, diminished ability to concentrate, and recurrent thoughts of death (Oltmanns & Emery, 2015) . Conrad displays many of these criteria. He experiences diminished interest or pleasure in most activities that he once enjoyed. This can be seen when Conrad quits the swim team because he no longer enjoys swimming, something…

    • 1581 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drumline Essay

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I am doing my music in a movie paper on the movie Drumline. Urban R&B and rap have been conjoined to function as a soundtrack for the movie Drumline. However, some soundtracks in the film are souvenirs, but under the direction of Austin, the music in the movie enhanced it to depict a life of its own. The movie is associated with the general collection of decent urban rap cuts thus proving to be diverse in comparison to other films. Therefore, music listeners who watch the film are exposed to a variety of songs that range from the dirty rapping of the south and neo-soul singing.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the film Ordinary People, there are three characters making up a very dysfunctional family. Conrad Jarrett, Beth Jarrett, and Calvin Jarrett all make up a family, that just recently went through a major loss of Beth and Calvin’s son and Conrad’s brother, Buck Jarrett. This film is all about how the Jarrett family is handling this death with themselves and each other. Through out this film all the family members are copping differently, whether it be through silence or violence, but they all seem to be having a problem managing their conflicts appropriately and safely. All three of the Jarrett’s seem to use silence a lot more often than violence but when they choose to use violence it’s short and sour.…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He illustrated that no matter how strong someone’s beliefs and morals are, once they are placed into a world of no rules and regulations, the greediness and their own savage self will shine through. In this story, darkness was not only shown through the disturbing acts of racism, but was also shown as an unforgiving force that eventually drove all of the characters to drop the holds of society and civilization and showed through their actions. “Conrad implied that every man has a heart of darkness that is usually drowned out by the light of civilization. (http://www.*.com/)”…

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I decided to take a different approach to my critical film review. “Inside Out” is a recently new film that does not actually have an identified therapist or client. However, the main themes of the movie have many parallels to the content that we have been learning in class. “Inside Out” is a Disney Pixar movie that brings to life the five emotions (Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear, and Sadness) of 11-year-old Riley. Life is seemingly going smoothly for Riley and her emotions.…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reflection Paper on The Village (2004) In the film, The Village, a primitive society of people is influenced by the legends told by the elders, resulting in their containment within the boundaries of the village. They are held there by their belief in the existence of the creatures said to live just beyond the village in the surrounding woods. This belief system follows many of the claims made by Durkheim, including his views on the presence and power of the supernatural or divine. The Village demonstrates that a community that holds the same beliefs and respect for those beliefs may maintain social stability, though the foundation of their system may be false.…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Movie Review – The Help ENGL – 201 October 4, 2012 “The Help” based on a best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett, a story of three women who take extraordinary risk in writing a novel based on the stories from the view of black maids and nannies. Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s, a young girl sets out to change the town. Skeeter, who is 21 years old, white, educated from Ole Miss, dreams of becoming a journalist. She returns home to find the family maid, Constantine, gone and no one will explain to her what happened. Skeeter acquires a job as a columnist for the local paper at the being of the movie.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics