Analysis Of The Film Six Degrees Of Separation

Today I will be discussing the prevalent theme in the novel of Paul's journey to reach maturity, the importance other characters whom he interacts with played in the development of his character and

Very protected. White servants… I don’t even feel black” (30). Paul is embarrassed to admit to his true race and states that he was raised as a white and doesn’t know what it is to be black. He rejects the fact that he is an American black man and can only dream and tell lies of being born into a Sidney’s family. Paul is then asked to talk about his father, he says “My father, being an actor, has no real identity…Out on the forest, back to the church… And my father is in tears and I say pop, this is not a real event, this is some script that was sent to you. And my father says I’m trying it out to see how it fits on me. But he has no life—he has no memory—only the scripts producers send him in the mail through his agents. That’s his past” (30). Paul talks about his imaginary father as if he is describing himself as an actor with no real identity, who is a lifeless being with no memory and only the personas he has created for himself. Paul who creates multiple personas to satisfy himself to become part of the upper class society, he goes to extreme extents to lie his way up.

Paul’s parents and Erik create many problems for Paul, and it makes it difficult for him to uncover his true self. Paul’s parents don’t pay attention to what Erik truly is, but are also absorbed in his high school football career. Dad said,” You’re saying that I know everything about Erik’s season and nothing about yours. Your right, and I’m sorry.” (Bloor pg.234) But Erik also creates problems

There are constant rules that pervade our society and control how exactly one must live and many unspoken rules of common decency as well. In the late 1940’s, these rules played a stronger role by separating the US by cultural and racial barriers which many believed were unbreakable and had to be followed thoroughly since this type of lifestyle had been ingrained in their culture for so long. The characters in the book, Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley display how life was in Los Angeles at that time and give evidence to how stratified the city was on racial identity. Daphne Monet, a light-complexioned black female, is able to walk on the lines of these customs and control what she wants to pursue. Mosley is able to depict Los Angeles’s culture and racial barriers by focusing on how Daphne Monet is able to weave through these traditional rules and control who she is and what she wants to be affecting all the characters that met her.

When Paul first moves to Tangerine, he is outcast, but as his confidence buildS, he learns to be a leader. He changed from being a shy kid to a brave boy who stands up for what he believes. As Paul struggles with relationship, he feel like a victim, but soon he learns confidence and he begins to stand up to his family.

The ways in which we learn and understand the world come from the ways we receive information and how we choose to exist in the world. In Six Degrees of Separation, Paul forces his way into the lives of upper class white families and reveals the hegemonic social stratifications that dominate their lives. The literary point of view, how the story is revealed, is significantly different in the film adaptation to concentrate on the systemic ways people create relationships with each other and how race, gender, sexuality, and class actively drive the ways people are able to exist.

Yet another example of the brutalization and dehumanization of the soldiers caused by the war occurs during Paul’s leave. On leave, Paul decides to visit his hometown. While there, he finds it difficult to discuss the war and his experiences with anyone. Furthermore, Paul struggles to fit in at home: “I breathe deeply and say over to myself:– ‘You are at home, you are at home.’ But a sense of strangeness will not leave me; I cannot feel at home amongst these things. There is my mother, there is my sister, there my case of butterflies, and there the mahogany piano – but I am not myself there. There is a distance, a

enters peoples houses and surrounds himself with what they have and for a moment he is able to pretend that what they have belongs to him. Paul creates a new identity for himself as

Paul has got an old university friend, a character who is very important for this book. His name is Ed Finnerty. He is the fatal character for Paul because he is the one who makes Paul realize his real position and all the people's real positions. He is

Paul's father had abused him emotionally, and probably physically, throughout Paul's life. He did so much to Paul's flagging self-image that he had to boast to others to make himself feel big, when he felt tiny inside. When he finally achieved that "bigness" that he always wanted, the glamour of "the good life," his father found him out and took that away from him, or rather, made Paul give it up. This made Paul feel even smaller and made him feel that he would be better off dead. So Paul decided to make his life "better off" and

in his quest to the live the life he always wanted, Paul not wanting to face his father and his true reality takes his own life by jumping in front of a train. He could not live with

Paul finally escaped the hostile world he lived in, but his money-bought romance did not last long. When he discovers that his theft has been made known in the new papers, and all the stolen money has ran out, he knew he had to go back to his real life. After a week of having the glamorized life he was longing for, Paul refused to go back to face the reality that he left behind in Pittsburgh. Paul knew he couldn’t go on forever in the City with no money in his pockets so he decided to give up on his own life. While going to get on his train that would bring him back to reality, Paul stepped out in front of it and killed himself.

From a young age, Paul and his siblings have a mutual understanding with their mother that she does not love them. The narrator states, “Nevertheless, when her children were present, she always felt the centre of her heart go hard… Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew [the mother’s adoration of her children] was not so” (1). While this proves difficult for the children to bear, it proves the most difficult for Paul. When Paul is young, he becomes curious as to why his family does not keep a car of their own. According to his mother, it is “Because we’re the poor members of the family” (2), which is “…because [Paul’s] father has no luck” (3). Paul then informs his mother that he is lucky, hoping to impress her, but she does not believe him. According to Freudian psychology, Paul’s response is appropriate. The narrator explains, “This angered [Paul] somewhere, and made him

He wears nice clothes around town trying to become the person he sees himself as. He goes to parties and meets people who are very different from the boring folk back home. Paul felt that these were the people he wanted to be. He believed that he was finally where he belonged. Paul felt that fate brought him here and that he should have never been in the dull town that he was from in the first place. If I was paul I would make the same decision and live life how I want it. I think every human person has right to live the life in their own way. They shouldn't be forced by societal

Nearly each aspect of the eighth film resembles a moment in the first film, but carries a matured and sometimes opposing purpose in comparison. (See Figure 9A, B) This comparative analysis will be comprehensive rather than scene specific because the parallels deal with Classic cinematography that doesn’t require extensive explanation and can easily be seen in the in-text screenshots of the films. Instead, the analysis will be more about how the cinematic parallels have evolved in the final film and how the distinction between first and last demonstrates why they are opposites.