Shutter Island: Why Perspective is Everything

The breaking of the fourth wall has been defined as a character acknowledging the existence of the audience outside of the film but besides merely recognizing the existence of the separate reality Martin Scorsese's Shutter island actually invites the audience to completely identify with its main character by placing the camera inside a mirror Now, what's so remarkable about this shot is that it helps to clarify why consecutive viewings of Shutter Island change the experience of the film completely. You could even say that it's like you're watching a completely different film. We start off by watching a mystery thriller about US Marshal Teddy Daniels and the search for an escaped patient from remote Ash Cliff mental institution But mostly the story is about his search for the killer of his wife the arsonist Andrew Laeddis, who supposedly also a patient on the Island. As the story unravels we find out that the two marshals might have become the victim of a plot by Ashley to sinus them from revealing dark secrets about the institution And it's only at the climax of the story that we discovered a real truth Your name is Andrew Laeddis... The 67th patient at Ash Cliff is you , Andrew? Now I suspect most viewers were shocked by this plot twist and with the evidence lay down at a table mine had thought- how did I not see this before? However, some people continue to deny Teddy's true identity stating that [Ashley] is in fact a sort of Nazi Esque Cia Lab of some kind.To clear up some of these misunderstandings I will argue that the fourth wall mirror shot is key to comprehending the truth behind Shutter island and how the film manages to make audiences turn a blind eye towards reality. Where are the kids? It's important to note that director Martin Scorsese stated in an interview that the entire movie takes place inside of Teddy's head Notice that there's not a single scene that doesn't depict Teddy as the focal point of the story Or even a scene without his mere presence. On top of that, the audience is constantly reminded of the tragic goodness of an [aroos] made-up character.. Doesn't exactly square with Teddy Daniels,the man the legend,I'll give you that. Teddy's profession as a US marshal on his role as protector of justice also give his character superiority over two seemingly untrustworthy doctors of Ash Cliff And if that wasn't enough for an audience to align with Teddy, he's also revealed to be a war hero Having liberated victims of the holocaust from a Nazi concentration camp I'm from the get-go it is obvious about Teddy's preconceptions about the Asheville if institution are seen something like before both the framing and a dramatic almost menacing music Playing in the background add to the parallel that this facility might not be any less evil than the infamous Nazi death camps but the real tragedy about his characters that he cannot come to terms with the death of his wife and suffers from a massive amount of guilt for having executed number of camp guards during the war Teddy's really shown to be a victim rather than a perpetrator and all of this really makes it difficult for audience not to fully align with the protagonist and Really end up being just as delusional as the main character himself Andrew, please don't However even during the first viewing of the film you can already notice that Teddy's world is a little strange Many of the characters don't really seem to act as one would expect him to in certain situations The guards seem to be irrationally on edge as Teddy and Chuck arrive, and that's supposedly because of the escaped patient But later are shown to be bored when Teddy launches a search party on the Island Patients are waving and looking at Teddy but not at Chuck and doctors and nurses are kind of laughing at Teddy's attempts to interview them Very impressive defense mechanisms. Even Chuck eggs out of character as he struggles to get his firearm out of his belt Just seems like an odd thing to happen to a u.s. Marshal and especially for a film with emphasis on such a subtle and arguably insignificant Occurrence and even said he shows irrational behaviour as he starts to act on impulse and becomes increasingly violent and reckless in a search for a man who looks almost too fantastical to be real then there's the fact that the film has a number of continuity errors that are so Obvious that they cannot possibly have been missed but he added around accident in one scene a character pretends to drink water out of a Non-existent glass only for the glass to appear Empty in the next shot These jump cuts and hands the feeling that Teddy is living in a sort of dreamlike state hence why both the character and audience start To question the realness of the protagonists' world however all of this can still be explained if the argument that the entire thing is just a setup and Ted is just being drugged and manipulated into Believing that he is in fact a perpetrator himself Why are you here? Because I've killed my wife Now there's really one scene or rather one musical piece that quite subtly manages to debunk this train of thought Architect for piano and string in a minor besides the fact that the music parallels the general feeling of the scene Quartet for strings and piano in A minor by gustav mahler remains a rather odd choice of music to say the least we see that The music Triggers a response in teddy that brings him back to the headquarters of the decade Concentration camp where the same music was playing on a record player now Why is this odd because the gustav Mahler was Jewish and his music was subsequently banned by the nazis? Secondly the quartet for strings belongs to Malish earlier and lesser-known work So why on Earth would ss chem water and half his exact piece playing in his headquarters? It seems highly unlikely that this event actually happened And it makes us wonder about the reality of Teddys memories the music as a sort of Grimm Brothers Fairy tale-like Quality to the Memory while snow was falling everywhere and bodies lie frozen on the ground The thing is real life footage shows that there was no real snow to be seen during the liberation of the camp Adding further doubt about just how trustworthy Teddy's perspective is a little research also revealed similar Actually never finished [the] quartet and had trouble finding his own voice leaving [in] fragmented and isolated in between his work the parallel of and rude and seems obvious as he struggles to find his own voice and hides behind the Voice of Teddy taking the Ferry back in the morning come on Charlie And you prove that Andrew is in fact hiding behind this fake persona We only have to look at the opening scene of the movie after teddy froze up He looks into the mirror which in film often indicates that the character has a split personality On top of that you can see that half of his face is illuminated by the sun Whereas the other half is left in the dark signifying Teddy's buried real personality even unknowingly States his main goal the entire story This phim returns multiple times and comes to Climax when Andrew's face is fully illuminated and has finally accepted reality as it is Oh, and did you noticed that little bandaid on his forehead? Now that's gone here too indicating that he's no longer covering up his wounded personality oh and remember that part where Chuck is praising [Teddy] the man alleged I give you that notice that the legend also explains that Teddy's personality is not real, but just a made-up story But the most important theme of all to be found in the opening scene is a substance that both literally and figuratively Keeps his scene of flow water so at the end of the story is revealed that Andrews wife drowned two children in the Lake.That's why Teddy is so nauseated by water and like a psychological practice steadiest slowly But surely put an [increasing] contact with water and so he ultimately comes close to his drama as possible By diving into the sea, but Teddy's physical appearance and demeanor also changed dramatically during the film He starts his journey with a rather collected and no-nonsense attitude towards the world, but as the story progresses He slowly stripped from the things that make him who he is. First, his gun. Then his clothes. Then his attitude and ultimately his entire made-up self as I stated earlier Andrew came up with Teddy's persona only because he was unable to deal with the violence and guilt that he's had to endure in his life This sort of cyclical nature of violence and cruelty that is part of humanity and in which he actively pursue Cos What ultimately drove Andrew into insanity no matter how much he denies it Carly thinks you're harmless that you can be controlled, but I know different You don't know me. Oh, but I do don't know or I know you We've known each other for centuries Also notice that the Sadistic Warden is a name on purpose because warden is an anagram for Andrew and there are more of these anagrams to be found as its shown by Dr. Collie at Climax of the Story Though he fails to explain the name of Teddys Faith partner Chuck Aule who turns out to [be] the mysterious, Dr. Nian until the us Marshals office that he's a defense mechanism surprise motherfucker because fanatically chuck Aule sounds a lot like chuckle which in turn indicates his characters role as gesture or Trickster within the realm of story as a whole.These type of companion characters are known for their [mischief] and their Motivation to push the [protagonists] interchange, and that only does chuck tricked Teddy into believing that he is his partner But he also has an active interest in helping Andrew to accept reality as it is life makes me wonder Yeah, what's that boss? Which would be worse... To live as a monster Or to die as a good man? And to me this is the magic and brilliance of shutter island it knows its purpose and making the audience Identify fully with a fake character and arguably manages to make us just as delusional as Andrew himself On top of that it gives us a fascinating look into the psychology of this tragic character trauma and the nature of reality It shows us just how powerful our minds can be and that perspective really is everything because when we fully align to the point of view or certain belief We sometimes fail to see the truth even if it's laid out right in front of her eyes Right all right all right. Thank you guys so much for watching man This really was a long ass video, but I hope it paid off for you in the end if a bit Please don't forget [to] leave a like comment subscribe and especially share this video wherever you can Because that's the way we get our voice out and introduce many more people to our content Thank you all again so much for your support so far Don't forget to follow us on Social Media and we'll see you guys in the next one

Channel: Storytellers

Views: 2,524,069

Keywords: Shutter Island, Shutter Island analysis, storytellers, video essay, analysis, Leonardo di Caprio, Martin Scorsese, perspective in film, nerdwriter1, every frame a painting, channel chriswell, now you see it, plottwist, mindfuck, Gustav Mahler, Dachau, wisecrack, storytellers1

Id: YkmJBVKqNiE

Length: 10min 43sec (643 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 09 2016