Have No Fear, The Villain Is Here!

In many films today, there is almost always a controversy between what we agree with and what we do not. Although, what do you do when the character we are led to believe in, is actually a villain in disguise? When things begin to go dark when we thought all was bright. You may begin to switch with the theme, or you may remain empathetic to the evil-doer. No need to fear, that does not make you evil, the producers of the films will purposely direct your emotions to sympathize with those of the bad guy. Using this knowledge I will be discussing the film “The Place Beyond the Pines”, and it's portrayed main characters Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) and Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling). I will be discussing how the producers have led their audience to feel pity, sorrow, and even anger for the “bad guy”. Maybe he is not so ‘bad’ after all.

This story begins with the life of Luke Glanton. As a motorcycle stuntman, travel was a huge part of his career. Yet, once he arrives in Schenectady, New York, he is reunited with a woman from the past, a woman who he later discovers he shares a son with. Fearing the title of a “deadbeat dad”, Luke will do anything in his power to be involved in his son’s life in some form. By quitting his job as a motorcyclist, he is able to attempt to support his son. Afterwards, he takes up a job with a man at a local auto repair shop and tries to squeeze into the lives of his ex; Romina Gutierrez, and their son. After countless rejections from Romina regarding his financial support, he becomes desperate. Asking his employer for a raise, Luke sets out on the situation of a lifetime that he never would have thought he would land himself in. The character of Bradley Cooper is brought into the film on some seriously inconvenient circumstances. Avery Cross is part of the NYPD, and is also the murderer of Luke Glanton. Fast forward a few years, and the “good guy” remains as someone the audience hates, but the characters adore. The criminal who has died is someone the characters of the film believe to be the terror of the town that was finally solved, whereas the viewers know the deceased’s true intentions.

The producers of “The Place Beyond The Pines” do an adequate job at forcing the audience to feel nothing but pity for Ryan Gosling’s character. As a victim of a deadbeat father, all his character wants is to be a part of his child’s life by not making the same mistakes his father did. He gets his life together by quitting the job he loves, realizing how dangerous it is, and how much time he would spend away from his family. Getting a new, local, well paid job is Luke’s second step into his son’s life. The money he receives from every paycheck would go towards childcare, to insure his son has a good life. How could you hate a man like that? Later realizing that what he is bringing to the table is not enough, Luke asks his employer for a simple raise, not realizing that this source of income would be what ends his life, and begins the wrath of his son’s. As the audience, we wonder how things will turn out, will his son respect his drastic decisions? Or hate him for his criminal behavior? Several years later, Jason, a troubled teen curious about his biological father, becomes enraged by his discoveries, but it is not what we think. When Aj Cross enters Jason’s life, the secret is soon revealed: Jason’s father was dead because of Avery Cross, Aj’s father. Using these aspects, the producers have created a base for the audience. We feel empathy for not only Luke, who had been murdered in an act of unlawful money “exchange”, but for the son who was forced to grow without a father to guide and love him. Simply because Luke had gotten involved in some illegal business of bank robbery, the NYPD believed it suitable to shoot and kill him, unarmed, and surrendering. The police officer becomes the true antagonist of the film. Praised for his duties that “benefitted the community”, the audience begins to despise this man, while feeling sorry for the known criminal and his family.

The “protagonist”, Avery Cross, is made so that the viewers are forced not to feel any pride in his doings. By the gloating and positive praise he receives for murder, one cannot help but think he enjoys the attention. He is given medals and badges for killing a man who wanted nothing but to provide for his son. As if this was not enough, the man he killed was surrendering when he shot him by accident inside a family's home. After being shot, Luke had fired back at Avery, who later tells police that Luke had shot his gun first resulting in him firing back in defense, ending his life. Although the man feels remorse for what he has done, the audience cannot help but wish it would have been him who had died back in that house. With a son of his own, one would assume Cross would understand the pain it must have caused Luke’s family, but instead the man becomes just a shadow in the background of his own son’s life. This results in his son being brought up for drug possession with a friend, who is later revealed as Luke’s son, Jason. Once Avery realizes this, he forbids his son from speaking to him, fearing what he may do if he knows what he has done to his family. Nevertheless, his son continues to speak to the forbidden boy. Jason discovers his father’s past through his step-dad, who tells him his name, and the internet. After visiting Luke’s former employer, he is shown all he needs to know about his biological father, including a picture of the man who murdered him. While maintaining a friendship with Aj Cross, Jason notices a photograph in Aj’s home, the same photo that was in a newspaper article about his father’s death. Once Jason has placed two and two together, he lashes out by beating his former friend at gunpoint, then dragging Avery Cross out into the woods where he intends to murder him to avenge his father. While he prepares to shoot and kill the man who deprived him of a father, Jason has a change of heart and instead steals Avery’s wallet which held a special photograph, and runs away. When Jason is gone, he purchases a motorcycle, similar to the one his father once drove, and drives away. Back at his home in New York, a few months later his mother receives an envelope from her son, inside is the photograph, one of them along with Luke, dated back when Jason was just a baby.

By the final plots of the film, the majority of the audience is in tears. We realize the kind of life Jason would have had, attempting to grow as a boy without his father. The sympathy we feel for Luke Glanton and his family is over the moon, and the little remorse we feel for Avery Cross, even after he breaks down in apology, is just one example of the amazing job the producers had in making this a film for the “bad guy”.

Love and Loss

Dear Diary,

Today is the date I will mourn for an eternity. My beautiful daughter, mother, and wife have been ripped from my palms, and even though each has left me with special reminders of life and the love we shared, I cannot help but cry. Nefertiti was my love, my life, my everything, and now she has been taken from me. For what purpose? I am not certain. She has been my amazing companion for years, raising our children alongside the many minor wives, like Kia, I have held, but none have ever compared to her beauty and elegance. We shared a special religious belief, she was my equal in the eyes of Aten. This is a moment that will forever stick in mind, no matter how much time will pass, I will never recover from such a loss…

I reach towards the Aten, begging him for mercy. How could this have happened? How could he take away my precious Wife and child? I have to hold my tongue. I must not speak harshly of the God. His plan for me is unclear, but I am aware that there is a purpose for what has happened. Perhaps, he found I paid too much attention to my family, that I have neglected my duties to him. There is only room enough in my heart to love and worship one being; Aten has made that clear with his extinction of my love. He will now be all I love. That must have been his plan. I must take my grief and use it for him. I was foolish to have thought the change of my birth name from “Amenhotep IV” to “Akhenaten”, in his honor would be sufficient to giving my full oath to serving the sun God. If only the beings from above would reach down and provide me aid with such dramatic news…

For the sake of the life we have shared, I must take this loss and turn it to love for the Aten. The God will see me through the hard times, and I will see to it that he is worshipped in the proper manner he deserves. All of Egypt will pray the name of the sun God, no other impostering Gods will be so much as thought of by my people. I will make point of it.

Akhenaten

The Dauntless Dream

Every bookworm’s dream is to have the opportunity to become a character from their favourite novel, I am no exception. If given the chance to become any character my heart desired, I would trade places with Tris Prior, formerly known as Beatrice, from the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. The chance to live the life of a dauntless would be breathtaking for me, with all the bravery involved, and the skill. She is more than just that though, as a Divergent, she is selfless, brave, and curious; all human skills that I dream of possessing.

For as long as I can remember, taking risks was something I adored doing. The adrenaline that would flow through my veins as I performed tasks that seemed rather dangerous, or out of my comfort zone, was a feeling that made me feel alive. Living the life of a Dauntless which, by definition means fearless or bold, would be a lifestyle to satisfy this aspect of myself. As someone who fears many things that are common in everyday life, for instance, heights, crowded places, dolls, loud noises, and occasionally clowns, possessing the abilities to face all of this would be fascinating. My biggest regret in my life so far, is not confronting the fears that have held me back my entire life. Being Tris would make all of this go away. I could climb ferris wheels and not look back; and dare to be whoever I want, how ever I wanted, without the judgement of others. There is no more of a perfect world than the ones we read in books. Time is an endless cycle, and the fears of wasting it do not exist. Not only would I be brave to it’s greatest extent, but I could help people in a way that does not require several degrees in medical science, or correctional courses, in a way that only requires two hands and a voice.

Defending the rights of others is something I have been extremely passionate about for as long as I could remember. As a dauntless, no one ever questions your judgement or your right to speak your mind, there are no rules except, do not be a coward. You are the law, and whether you use that power or abuse it, really depends on your intentions. To have that influence over the thoughts of others would be a dangerous power to hold, nevertheless, if it is put into the right hands, great things could happen. There are some negative aspects that could come along with this kind of society, but just the entire lifestyle of fighting for the people appeals to me on so many levels. Manifestos are a large part of the Divergent trilogy, and the Dauntless’ beliefs are some that I encourage daily: “We believe: that sometimes it is necessary to fight for peace; that justice is more important than peace; in denying fear the power to influence our decisions; in shouting for those who can only whisper, in defending those who cannot defend themselves; in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.” (From the Dauntless Manifesto). For me, the most important of these is the final two statements. All my life I have been brought up to defend those who cannot defend themselves, and to stand up for others, as well as what I believe in. The life that Tris of Divergent lives may not be the most desirable life, but it is an eventful one, with moments that hold so much bravery that I cannot help but desire it.

The experiences that Tris Prior gets to live through are timeless. Before the bad comes in, her life is one filled with the excitement of simply living. That is something that I dream of understanding, to enjoy the way you spend your time solely because there is a beat in your chest, and air in your lungs. My greatest fear is that when I am old and grey, I will look back on my life with nothing but disappointment of the things I did not do. Tris Prior would not do that. I want to face my fears, and not only speak up for what I believe in, but shout to the highest mountains when things are not right. Beatrice was a girl much like myself, afraid with that feeling of not belonging. She could barely look in a mirror without seeing the things she disliked of herself. Although, Tris is nothing like that. She is fearless, nonchalant, nothing can bring her down, and most importantly, she is brave. Tris kicked Beatrice Prior out the window, and that is what I hope to do with my current self. Being able to conquer my own demons is the first step I will have to take to be anything like what the woman she is, but it is something I would love to do. The novel Divergent is my favourite trilogy, I could read it countless times and remain just as in love as I was the first time my eyes scanned the pages. Still, to this day, three reads of the trilogy later, I yearn to live as courageously as they do.

I have dreamt many nights of the life of a Dauntless, and if I had the opportunity there is no doubt in my mind that I would take it. The bravery and adrenaline that it all takes is something I thirst for. As well, all of the characteristics, that are far from the kind of person I am today, are something that makes me wonder how the life of a Dauntless would be. Everything that this trilogy possesses has a component of my dream lifestyle. If I was given the choice, I would definitely trade with “Tris” from Divergent.