Both “flat” and “round” characters
Round character: Carson, Malerie
Type characters: schoolmates, the captain of the cheerleaders, the quarterback, etc. namely the high school “Royalty”.
These characters are casted in contrast to the protagonist.
Mother is a special character in that her attitudes changed dramatically at one point of the movie.
2, Analysis of the Characters
Key words: stereotype, cliché
Stereotype: a stereotype is a fixed general image, characteristic, etc. that many people believe to represent a particular type of person or thing.
Cliché: an idea, expression or way of behaving which has been used too much that it is no longer original or effective; used showing disapproval.
(Collins Cobuild English-Chinese Dictionary)
Take the captain of the cheerleading team as an example: cheerleaders are generally beautiful in looks, and considered foolish or silly, and more importantly, mean. (Exactly who Claire is.)
Many cheerleaders enjoys high school life as standing on the top of the pyramid, but fail to achieve much once graduate from high school when looks alone won't help make a living or be successful.
The same is true to football players. Students with good grades and, in some occasions, courage to speak of them with words of contempt, calling them morons with strong arms.
Although what was said above isn't necessarily true, as stereotype is a word of over-generalization. But it doesn't change the fact that they are type characters.
Carson: probably the most obvious round character in the movie. He is smart with good grades, and is not shameful of not being good at sports, which separates him from commonplace type characters of geeky book worms. More importantly, he has his own voice , and he wants to be heard.
And as always, carson and the other students who are not high school royalty are treated like outcasts, isolated from “high school mainstream “life. Fatty Maleria, Gothic girl, weed guy.
3,Theme
unfortunately , the theme of the movie is a bit of a cliché. It's about dreams again. Nonetheless it's a good movie with proper skills employed. Such as,
*black humor
Black humor is the most striking feature of the movie. It is a black humor because the humorous treatment of a serious matter. Humor is apparent, serious as in people living in a world of numbness, caring less and less about each other, about the significance of life, all except Carson. It is quite in conformity with absurdist works like Waiting for Godot, as far as the theme is concerned, and with Catch-22 as far as the treatment of characters and dictionions(in this case the lines) are concerned, or any 20th century onward novel where men are portrayed as insignificantly small and petty living forms, obedient to their own fate and failure, living in a world of chaos and disillusion.
What's the movie trying to tell us?
In a sense, Carson is like one of the 2 beggars in Waiting for Godot. Born in a small town with a population of 8000, Carson nourished big dreams at an early stage of life of becoming successful. And never stops fighting to make them come true. Even sometimes does so at the expenses of his schoolmates. (the blackmailing.) as he said: why some people are born selfish and some are forced to become selfish. And meanwhile other people seem to be so content and happy about their reality , busy living their lives as routines and tasks to be finished, without ever stopping even for a second to think what I am doing, what the point of life is.
A recap of Story helps understanding.
44'' camera freezes at town sign which says 8000 population,indicating the typical setting where small down kids dream big. (check 1h09'38'' Carson hit the sign when his dream shattered)
2'08'' : some guy standing behind the reporter trying to get on camera when she was reporting something as serious as his fellow student's death.
3'50'' the first version of the story, once upon a time, there was a boy
6'16'' Carson's contempt for creationism reveals his belief in men's power of changing their own fate which conforms to his dreams of leaving town and achieving greatness.
6'47'' the career guidance woman is a total amateur,(who doesn't know the Northwestern University? ),she cares more about winning a juice cup than do the students good. Are there not a lot of students seeking her advice because she is an amateur, or is she an amateur because not a lot of students seek her advice?
8'11'' the 2nd version of the story, once upon a time, there was a boy who wanted to fly… Grandma speaks of her worry for Carson, saying he now lives with so much negativity. This proves he is not happy with his life and wants change.
21'27'' a good portrait of people going to something but not participating. Clover high chronicle is supposed to be the platform to air young people's opinions. American young kinds, they are supposed to have so many voices, but for those goers except Carson, it's just a part of daily routine. Pay attention to what Gothic girl says to Carson. (why do you care so much? Just don't.)
25'42'' mother, still has hopes.
26'05'' the career guidance woman has got her juice cup, which means many students have signed up for the community college under her persuasion, or maybe they don't need any persuasion at all?
29'33'' the principle mocked Carson's idea of starting a literary magazine, being utterly not inspiring. Attention to the detail of him picking up a bottle and specifically asking the students to not make out on his campus.(but getting rooms in motel 6 is ok)He cares more about face-work than education itself. Once again, working is just going through motions for these educators.(Numbness )
35'45'' it's no brainer the box are filled with trash.
39'10 Claire : home coming is nothing without the cheer float.
Carson:--- Go take the athletes engine away, they pride themselves running around like mules anyway. (hahaha)
Carson: they are gonna see this float if it kills me.
Later on, the scene in which Carson pulls the not so floating float by himself is a major stick for laughter. (the real meaning behind the burlesque is him fighting for himself and what he believes in. )
Then follows the blackmail part with some sorta picaresque touch. Carson managed to get all walks of life write for the literary magazine, with the help from his side kick, Malerie.
56'15'' Carson: ---“in what grade do we stop believing in ourselves? What grade do we just stop believing, period? I mean someone has to be a noble peace prize winner. Someone has to be a ballerina. Why not us? Now I can't be the only one that gets that.” From the conversation we realized that Claire had dreams too. She is a similar case to Carson's mother from hopeful to hopeless. And what Carson says is the theme of the movie.
1h 0' 40'' the principle announces new school policy, no logos, no writing to be seen on book covers , clothes…..etc.
In a country like America, this is a big deal, or is supposed to be one. Ppl just have to be able to express themselves freely.
Carson looks around for faces of anger, none is found. Attention to the changes in Claire's facial expressions.
1h 1'47'' the principle banned after school activities because Carson talks back. Everybody directs their anger toward Carson--- the only one having the guts to stand up for themselves, when it should be directed at the principle's arbitrary way of decision.
1h 02'02'' the final outbreak of conflicts.
The serious thing that has been sugarcoating by the humorous treatment now has surfaced. As Carson says, he didn't just stand up for himself, he stood up for all of them. None of them even realizes that they have been wronged by the principal , by the society, by the numbing and suffocating world. Some of them are even stupid enough as to think “you should write a letter of apology to them, maybe they'll reconsider”. The reaction of the royalty and what they say has got to be the point the movie is trying to make. Attention to their conversation:
Carson: the minute you guys walked into this campus, you were labeled as high school royalty. And you'd rather maintain that label than, heaven forbid, stand up for yourselves. But high school ends, and for your sakes, I hope you guys aren't the walking clichés everyone thinks you are. Coz life is gonna walk over you. It's gonna bite you in the ass.
Those high school royal students are stereotypes (walking clichés). You can probably think of people having a conversation like this:
A: look at that cheerleader. She is not working so hard.
B: don't worry, high school will end. In a few years, she'll end up jobless with a baby whose father is nowhere to be found. She'll understand then.
At the end of the movie, Carson is stuck by lightning, as is in the beginning.
Think about the conversation Carson has with Malerie about lightning(13' 02'' and carson's spirit's monologue in the end (1h 17'44''). One will realize that lightning refers to life force--- the energy of living, of doing something for oneself, of trying to make a difference, and not just waiting to die, which is missing in so many 's lives nowadays. Living in a highly competitive world today, young people talking about dreams are mocked at by so-called mature elite people. “be real!” “just don't kid yourself, you can never do it”. So maybe the time has comes when we have to do something for ourselves. It's not about dreaming big. It's about having dreams at all. Or we would all end up walking clichés.
Some other interesting things you may wanna check out:
Check 54'24'' and 1h 17' 27'' to see the change of the royalty.
Check 1h 7'40'' mother tells carson don't get your hopes up so when you fall it would hurt less. compare it with what she says at 25'42''. You will get how she transforms from being hopeful to hopeless.
***many characters are avoiding in various ways to deal with their problem.
Principal: chasing students who are making out off campus into hotel . He doesn't want to deal with students' lack of moral sense.
Mother: bury herself in loads of pills. Like what Carson says: 32'49''
People turn to pills before they turn to their problems these days. (want ting to get numb by pills than trying to solve their problems)
Father: “He is his mother's son”(1h 0'06'' ) he doesn't want to face his own failure as a father, blaming it to Carson's mother.
April(Carson's father's fiancé ): she is trying to ensure a marriage by having a baby, not wanting to admit that the marriage needs to be ensured by having a baby.
The royalty: they hide besides their separate club activities, avoiding the fact of their inability otherwise.(Claire seems to be aware of it, just not brave enough to deal with it, check 56'15'').
**at last: once upon a time, there was a boy…who wanted to fly.
Once upon a time, there was a boy who flew~
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