Motifs in Cinema 2013 - Man against Society

Andrew of Encore's World of Film and TV is hosting his annual blogathon of Motifs in Cinema. I decided to pitch in and explore a theme that was present, one way or another, in many movies last year - Man against society. Whether those films featured characters fighting the law, government or the ideas followed by majority but not themselves, cinematic year of 2013 was filled with the acts of defiance.

Blue is the Warmest Color / Her

In both movies the characters are battling the idea of love those around them believe in. Adele is continuously bugged by her 'friends' who keep persuading her to date a guy and she is rejected by them when she falls in love with a girl. In Her while Theodore actually enjoys tremendous amount of support from his friends and colleagues, you can see just unconventional what he is doing - and that would be having a relationship with a computer program - is in the scene where he meets with his ex wife who mocks him. Both Adele and Theodore do what rebels do - they continue to love who they chose and not being bothered by those trying to take away the meaning and importance from the love they have in their hearts.

Stoker / Kings of Summer

Both in Stoker and Kings of Summer teenagers look for freedom and search for the answer to the question - who am I? India finds her liberation by accepting her true nature, while the boys attempt to build their own paradise far away from their lives, parents and worries. The point is - being a murderous psychopath and living in the woods is not exactly the society's approved way of growing up.

The Hunt

In provocative and shocking The Hunt, the main character Lucas is wrongly accused of having inappropriate relations with one of the kids in school. Even though Innocent until proven guilty should be the guidance for every society, he is being prosecuted by the people in his village on every step of the way, before any investigation even takes place. The Hunt beautifully shows Lucas' defiance - holding on to his innocence and dignity his oppressors don't show for one second.

Dallas Buyers Club

The film tells the real story of Ron Woodroof,  a man diagnosed with HIV virus who discovered that the treatment people receive in hospitals may not only be far from the best treatment there is, but also cause them to become more sick. Ron decides to fight the system and fight for his life, helping other victims of HIV along the way and having his homophobic nature challenged during his endeavors. Jean Marc Vallee's uplifting and touching movie shows that sometimes there is so much injustice and senseless prejudice and hatred in this world even imperfect, selfish people become so tired of it that they stand up and defend the others.

The Conjuring

In last year's best horror film, medium Lorraine Warren and her husband Ed, who worked as ghost hunters for years, help a family who has fallen victim to the ghost haunting. Real people aside, what Lorraine Warren does in this movie is extraordinarily brave - in the beginning of the film she mentions how people keep calling her and her husband freaks. And you know it to be true - people with abilities others don't understand always had to fight disbelief, fear and anger. And despite of this as well as horrible implications of Lorraine's gift, she continues to help those who need it most.

12 Years a Slave / Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

12 Years a Slave shows the defiance of Solomon Northup, a man kidnapped into slavery - he refuses to let go of his sense of worth, human dignity and the idea of freedom and he doesn't lose the hope of being rescued. While throughout the film he sees people who abandoned their hope, he refuses to let go. In Mandela we see a man so determined to lead his people towards equality and freedom he sacrifices his happiness and his own freedom and spends his life fighting for others.

The Wolf of Wall Street / Spring Breakers / The Bling Ring

In The Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort not so much challenges the society as he fights the whole world - here is a man so greedy, selfish and arrogant he doesn't believe anyone has the right to tell him what to do or to interfere with his illegal, amoral proceedings. He lives outside the law, much like Alien and the girls in Spring Breakers, who abandon the normal way of living for the sake of money and crime. In The Bling Ring bunch of spoiled kids choose even easier way to what they want - instead of just buying their ways and using connections to good jobs and ultimately becoming filthy rich, they steal. But here is a disturbing twist to all those movies - each crime, in the end, goes somewhat unpunished. Ordinary people still look at Jordan as if he was God, the kids from Bling Ring find fame and the two last girls standing from Spring Breakers are shown as heroines. And why?  Perhaps because choosing the easy way to things we want and getting them when we want them, is still a dream many have.

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