Question 2:
Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm, is a film that takes place in the 1970’s during the post-Vietnam war and Watergate scandal era, that both consequently impact not only the moral framework of society, but also the way characters in the movie act. The characters, the Hood’s and the Carvers, are families that are the main focus in this movie. Although the movie starts with an incorrect interpretation of Dostoevsky’s novel, the lives of both these families and the characters individually can be analyzed and interpreted through philosophies from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Notes from the Underground.
Dostoevsky’s main argument in this novel revolves around freedom. He believes that freedom transcends reason and that human beings are free in the …show more content…
When Ben finds his daughter, Wendy and Mikey on top of each other, he is shocked and just observes for a split second without intervening. After intervening, he carries Wendy back home, and this is when he has a feeling of anxiety. The only reason why he even caught the two together is because he was at the Carver’s house to meet up with Janey Carver because they are having an affair. After being ditched by Janey, he was left alone to stumble upon the kids doing, or looking like they were doing what he intended to do with Janey. When carrying Wendy home in what looks like the wilderness, he is having anxiety as he realizes that what he is doing, that is cheating on his wife, is no better, or is even worse than what he caught his daughter doing, which is why he does not get that mad at her. It is in this moment he has a sense of guilt, and has a time to reflect on his actions, but it is still not when he becomes conscious of the absurd. Likewise, when Mikey tragically dies in the ice storm, the person to stumble upon his lifeless body on the ground is Ben. In shock, he sees if he is breathing, and when realizing he is dead, he carries him to his home. This scene is foreshadowed by him carrying Wendy home as the children are also wearing the same coloured coat, and the setting of wilderness surrounding it, is the same. After breaking the news to his and Mikey’s family, the Hood’s go to pick up their own son, Paul. As he comes out of the train, Ben has this feeling of “that could have been my son who died,” and this is when he comes to face the reality of the absurd. As the movie ends with him having a breakdown in his car, we know this breakdown is a consequence of confronting the reality of the inevitable death’s everyone has to face one day. This transformed the character of Ben Hood because in the beginning of the movie, he was
Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm, is a film that takes place in the 1970’s during the post-Vietnam war and Watergate scandal era, that both consequently impact not only the moral framework of society, but also the way characters in the movie act. The characters, the Hood’s and the Carvers, are families that are the main focus in this movie. Although the movie starts with an incorrect interpretation of Dostoevsky’s novel, the lives of both these families and the characters individually can be analyzed and interpreted through philosophies from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Notes from the Underground.
Dostoevsky’s main argument in this novel revolves around freedom. He believes that freedom transcends reason and that human beings are free in the …show more content…
When Ben finds his daughter, Wendy and Mikey on top of each other, he is shocked and just observes for a split second without intervening. After intervening, he carries Wendy back home, and this is when he has a feeling of anxiety. The only reason why he even caught the two together is because he was at the Carver’s house to meet up with Janey Carver because they are having an affair. After being ditched by Janey, he was left alone to stumble upon the kids doing, or looking like they were doing what he intended to do with Janey. When carrying Wendy home in what looks like the wilderness, he is having anxiety as he realizes that what he is doing, that is cheating on his wife, is no better, or is even worse than what he caught his daughter doing, which is why he does not get that mad at her. It is in this moment he has a sense of guilt, and has a time to reflect on his actions, but it is still not when he becomes conscious of the absurd. Likewise, when Mikey tragically dies in the ice storm, the person to stumble upon his lifeless body on the ground is Ben. In shock, he sees if he is breathing, and when realizing he is dead, he carries him to his home. This scene is foreshadowed by him carrying Wendy home as the children are also wearing the same coloured coat, and the setting of wilderness surrounding it, is the same. After breaking the news to his and Mikey’s family, the Hood’s go to pick up their own son, Paul. As he comes out of the train, Ben has this feeling of “that could have been my son who died,” and this is when he comes to face the reality of the absurd. As the movie ends with him having a breakdown in his car, we know this breakdown is a consequence of confronting the reality of the inevitable death’s everyone has to face one day. This transformed the character of Ben Hood because in the beginning of the movie, he was