Life of Pi - Research Paper Example

Life of Pi Introduction Life of Pi portrays deeply spiritual ideas of the world’s three primary religions that are Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. The bulk of the film describes Pi’s ordeal as he survives on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean. Life of Pi is virtually impossible to classify in any given genre. It can be characterized as a postcolonial film because of its setting in post-independence India and its Canadian authorship (Miller, 110). Like many postcolonial films Life of Pi can be considered an example of magical realism, a literary genre in which fantastical elements like animals with human personalities or an island with carnivorous trees appear in otherwise realistic setting, and by this a realistic theory emerges. Life of Pi is a 2012 American -Indian- British live action and computer-animated adventure drama film based on Yann Martel’s 2001 novel of the same name. Ang Lee directs the film. Life of Pi did succeed in depicting the story of a young Indian man who survives the tragic shipwreck but later entered a 227 days journey on the Pacific Ocean with a ferocious Belgian tiger. Besides the troubles and tribulation, the film also depicts meaningful lessons on the religious aspects. Pi Patel whose role was played by Gautam Belur at five, Ayush at twelve, Suraj Sharma at 16 and Irran Khan at middle age had to move together with his family to Canada on a Japanese cargo ship. Unfortunately, the ship in which they were travelling in is struck by a deadly storm and only some people survive. However, an unexpected incident happens, separating Pi from the group. Pi is left alone in the boat together with his family’s zoo animals, including in the zoo animals is a ferocious tiger named Richard parker. In order to survive Pi has to find ways to deal with the unexpected and dangerous company (John, 186). Throughout the 127 minutes of the film, the audience would be fascinated with pi thoughts and actions through the transformations, the beliefs he holds as well as his solutions for the fearsome, aggressive company- Richard Parker. From a somehow weak, flaccid person, Pi is seen letting parker take over the lifeboat, but Pi gradually becomes stronger and tries to gain dominance of the situation that he is in now. Finally, Pi achieves the control and sustains a neutral relationship with the Belgian tiger. This is not only a fight for survival but also a metaphor, which implies the battle for good and evil. The film Pi tries to make the reader want to believe in God, the film give then reader the democratic choice that is the desired to believe rather than the belief itself. The two survive for 272 days at sea with one stop on an island overflowing with vegetation and meerkats. In the evenings when the tide rises on the island, it contains a deadly acidic level and kills anything in the tide pool or the now flooded ground. Therefore, everyone seeks shelter on top of the trees at night. After gathering food from the island, Pi and the tiger get back to the lifeboat and head back in the sea (Susan, 23). By analyzing the conflicts, characters, dream sequence, and symbols a psychoanalytic theory emerges. There are strong Oedipal connotations in this theory, the son’s desire for his mother, the father’s envy of the son and rivalry for the mothers attention, the daughters desire for the father’s attention. Of cource these all operate on a subconscious level of the characters of the film, this is to avoid the serious social more. There is also an emphasis on the meaning of dreams. This is because psychoanalytic theory asserts that it is in dreams that a person’s subconscious desires are revealed. What a person cannot express or do because of social rules will be expressed and accomplished in dreams, where there are no social rules. Most of the time, people are not even aware that it is they secretly desire until their subconscious goes unchecked in sleep. Life of Pi might not make you believe in god, as a character in the film suggests. It does however; make you believe in the power of story, the way human beings use them to explain or overcome trials the world deems necessary to drop us in, one of the many things that differentiate us from the wild creatures of the animal world. Pi is seen as a precocious child, always interested in learning about and studying new religions and the beliefs that come with them. His father believes that one who follows many religions may as well believe in none, but the boy understands the power that comes from each system of beliefs. His eclectic knowledge helps him understand the world and the events and miracles that happen within it. The thought of a boy and a tiger trapped in a lifeboat may not immediately portray a fascinating film, but the moments of visual brilliance erases all the thoughts, that exists about the film (Susan, 28). Lee and crew begin introducing the magnificent wonders the depths of the ocean has to offer. Beautiful fish that illuminate the water at night with blue glow, waves of flying fish, and even the awesome force of whales rising up and breaking through the surface of the waters are only a small taste of the window dressing this story has under its wing. Ang Lee is no stranger to this level of visual brilliance of storytelling. This is the first man who gave us the cinematic look of the incredible Hulk as he is perceived today, so there was no doubt that the Life of Pi was going to be a feast for the eyes (Jonathan, . Lee and his cinematographer Claudio Miranda for example find brilliance in the most mundane-sounding scenes, turning the glistering water of a calm ocean into a mirror that reflects a blue, cloudy sky. A time or two the horizon is left ambiguous, and wide shots give the impression of the lifeboat floating through a star field. Such shots could be set aside and considered gratuitous, and in many other films, style-over-substance is a critical bomb that is just waiting to be lobbed. However, the Life of Pi is every bit arousing, as it is incredible to look at, the relationship between Pi and Richard keeps on growing with every second of screenplay the two shares. There is never a question of validity when it comes to the space between these two characters, and Lee and screenwriter David Magee do an impeccable job of designing a connection that is every bit as powerful as one between two human actors (Collins, 5). With regard to the theme in subject, the film seems to sends a very powerful message about heaven and hell. The island in which Pi and Richard arrive in is portrayed as hell this is because of the harsh ecosystem that exist there. Te first notion of this is Pi’s belief, when Pi first encounters the island he does not believe it is real, “My foot sank into the clear water and met the rubbery resistance of something flexible but solid. I put more weight down. The illusion would not give. I put the full weight of my foot. Still I did not sink. Still I do not believe.” This can symbolize doubting of faith, in Christian faith, the doubt of whether or not heaven is real. At first Pi is in doubt but once he takes a chance and falls on the island, he believes. Furthermore, heaven and hell are viewed in relation of night and day. During the day, Meerkats feed peacefully on the island not in fear of the Belgian tiger or anything else for that matter making living on the island easier. However, once it turns to night the algae become acidic and everyone must cast away in a tree to prevent the chance of acid burns or death on the island (John, 183). While Pi is recovering in the hospital, two representatives from the sunken ship, approach him to gain information of what had happened to fill their report. They ask him to tell them what had happens, and he does. After hearing what had happened the men scoff at his tale and say they cannot write that in their report. Pi has just shared a most intimate, magical, miraculous experience: the blessing of God sparing his and the tiger’s life, untold beauties, and a most incredible adventure, and still they cannot believe it. Pi is faced with a dilemma that is whether to stick to his story, this means more helpings of ridicule, accusations of being a lunatic or a liar, and having to tell and re-tell it. The other option was to come up with a good lie- a story they want to here- and claim this as the truth. Pi as we know him is a brilliant person (Jonathan, 45). Pi manages to come up with a brilliant solution to this dilemma. Pi decides to tell them another story, he proceeds to use the real story to fabricate another one, this one is a dark and depressing story. He puts people in place of the animals aboard the lifeboat, there were four of us on board and a rat. A Japanese sailor had a broken leg, the cruel French cook first killed and ate the rat, and then him, the cruel cook then later proceeded to kill my mother who was also in the lifeboat, I went into range and I killed the cook. The two-story approach becomes brilliant; it puts a halt to the questioning. The story creates doubts among the authorities and the turn from ridiculing him to feeling rather ill of the gruesome scene. The 2 stories creates a dilemma on which story they should put in their report, if they chose the second story this would mean that pi is a murderer which would later lead to a long investigation and paper work, so they opted to choose the first story to put in their report. Pi’s story is an allegory for another incredible story. This one is the story of God who so loved the world that he sent his only son. Jesus came into the world as a man and very plainly told people who he was. All we have to do is believe the fantastic story to be elevated out of our wretched state. This is all the ship authorities needed to do, believe the story, be filled with the wonderment and joy, and feel privileged to have heard it firsthand. Lee or example is acknowledged for his use of transactional objects in depicting relationships. In eat, drink, man, woman a film about a father-daughter relationship, family ties are mediated by food and preparation of food as a transactional object. Life of Pi uses an allegory where the animals reflect the elements of human beings drama in the story. By the way, Lee has treated a variety of themes and used different style and technique in directing the film, his work can be analyzed as that of an auteur. Auteur theory generally considers that the author of the film to be the director of the film. A film is a natural extension of the director’s mind, and they are a single, visionary, creative force behind it. However there are some people have made a case that there are so many people involved with the shaping of the film that describing any single one of them as its ‘author’ in the same way we do with literature is over-simplifying the case. However, in this case, Lee is the one who is going to get much of the credit, this is because of his ability to capture pretty much everything that made the book so popular upon its release. Lee’s colors, effects and wonder of the film perfectly capture the fairy tale nature of Yann Martel’s work; and make us believe in a world where tigers, humans, zebras, hyenas and orangutans are the only survivors of a shipwreck in the pacific. Works cited McWilliams, John. New England's crises and cultural memory: literature, politics, history, religion, 1620-1860. New York: University Press, 2004, 183. Miller, Arthur & Abbotson, Susan. The Crucible. New York: A&C Black, 2010. Miller, Arthur & Bloom, Harold. The Crucible. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010, 109 pages. Collins, P.H, The tie that binds: race, gender, and US violence. Ethnic and Racial Studies, New York: University Press 21 (5). Jourdain, Silvester. The Ragman's Son Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1964. King, Jonathan. The Mayflower Miracle: The Pilgrim's Own Story of the Founding of America, London, David and Charles, 1987. Read More