Monday, April 19, 2010
Intermission: Discussing and Viewing House of Sand and Fog
As we continue to view the film House of Sand and Fog we have had many opportunities to discuss characters, particular events, and themes. We noted the similarities between the Colonel and Baba from Kite Runner. We couldn't miss the obvious cultural conflicts that escalated the tension between Lester and the Colonel or the pride that contributed to the destruction of three families. However, we haven't really talked about the imagery - the trees, the birds, or all the fog and sand that seamlessly link the story events together. Why are they there? What do they mean? In today's blog response select just one of those repeating images and tell us what you think it might mean and how it figures into the story. (Oh, you cannot say a tree is just a tree here.)
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The imagery in this movie helps develop the topic of sight. There are many situations where everything is not what it appears, and the lack of sight contributed to the conflicts. One of the repeating images is the fog. When there is fog, it is hard to see what is behind it. In this movie, the families lacks the communication to figure out how to settle the dispute over the house. There is a "layer of fog" stopping them from seeing where the other is coming from. Instead they fight between the fog and end up in a worse situation, with death and destruction; neither family winning.
ReplyDeleteThe repeating image I chose was the fog. I believe that the fog is continuously showed in the film to represent the distorted views the characters have of one another. With fog it is hard to see what lie ahead, and it’s hard to see things for what they really are, and in the film that’s what happens with the characters perspectives. Like with Cathy and Colonel Behrani, Cathy only took time to see that Behrani was a foreigner who had purchased her home for the sole purpose of turning a profit, and Behrani only saw Cathy as someone who had misused her fortunate circumstances and ruined her own life, “Americans do not deserve what they have, they have the eyes of small children”. When in all actuality the purchase of Cathy’s home was a chance to get Behrani’s family on better financial terms and provide a university education for his son, and Cathy was someone who was barely overcoming many emotional battles with the lost of her father, her husband, and her alcohol and smoking problems. Characters views and perceptions were distorted in this film just like that of anyone traveling through fog.
ReplyDeleteIn the film the most reoccurring imagery I see is the fog, I feel that the fog is the most reoccurring image in this film because the fog hides things and behind the fog lays secrets. At the end of the film the house is hid behind fog to hide the secrets and the lies that had happened in that house. A murder/suicide took place in that house and the fog is covering up the secrets. Not only the murder/suicide but that house was left to a girl named Kathy when her father died, after her husband left her, her whole life went downhill and she ended up losing the house because she did not take care of the things she needed to. She lied to her mother about still being married and still being able to support herself, when she really couldn’t, she needed drastic help. Kathy not only messed up her own life she also messed up the lives of others and because of her basically a whole family died. So I feel that the fog is covering up the secrets, the lies, the truth and the pain.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the movie, many events take place leading up to the point where people start going crazy and things get out of hand. The fog, for example, portrays how the character’s, such as Cathy or Lester for example, have anger lurking like the fog and finally taking over. At one point in the film, Cathy is driving and she can barely see the road due to the fog. The fog starts off slow and prowls late at night, going crazy, like Lester (who decided to break into the family’s residence).
ReplyDeleteAs we watch the film A House of Sand and Fog, I have noticed that trees are used as imagery in the movie. I think the reason why trees are shown throughout the movie is because they have a meaning to the main conflict of the story. For example, when the colonel and his family were back in Iran, they had a big house and he cut down the trees so he could see the ocean. To me, this means that you cannot get a clear view of a situation unless you eliminate whatever is blocking you from seeing the bigger picture. This relates to the way that Cathy only cared about how she wanted her house back because her father worked hard for it. She never stopped to think about the mess she caused that made her lose her house and she also never thought about the Colonel’s family and how he was right in saying that the house was theirs. It isn’t until the end when she “cuts down the trees” and sees all the problems she caused just because she only cared about getting her house back.
ReplyDeleteSome specific causes that escalate towards the conflict between the Colonel and Cathy are, the lack of religious understanding, their wants and needs, (the Colonel's family wants to feel at home with the view of the ocean-he builds the deck, and Cathy's need to keep the house that he father workded so hard for.) The two families come from two totally different countries, resulting in the significant conflict between Cathy's young, persistent personality, and Colonel Behrani's strict, aggressive character. The escalating factors that arise between Lester and Colonel Behrani occur AFTER the incident with Cathy and Behrani, when he grabs her arm and leaves a bruise. Lester is furious that Behrani did this, and later gives him a visit at the house. Behrani is upset that Lester treated him the way he did by threatening him with immigration laws, and forcing him out of his home, that he makes a point to share the incidens with the sheriff. The conflict continues throughout the movie, especially when Ishmael, Behrani's son is shot and killed by another officer. This is an important climax in the movie, because we start to view the trees and the fog, together - symbolizing the distorted view of "God's wonders", and foreshadowing the parallel challenges, and hardships that both characters will struggle from. Lester is viewed to be a prejudice character in the movie, primarily because he does not show anu concern or care for Behrani's family, as he threatens them with deportation laws. One specific incident occurred when he was at their home, and he told them that if they do not start packing up their belongings and leaving, that "he knows people in the immigration department". This was a threat that upset Mrs. Behrani from then on. Lester never believed Mr. Behrani (when translating for his wife after Lester stomps in their home and finds the family helping Cathy back to health) which was a major reason as to why the two could not fully understand eachother, and successfully communicate. A couple other characters in the movie, the Colonel's wife, Cathy's mother, and brother, all played an important role when introducing the flaws, and helpless time periods in Lester's and Cathy's lives. Obviously Lester's relationship with his wife had its faults, and he happened to meet Cathy at this time, and fell in "lust" with her. He tried to help Cathy, get her home back (that had mistakenly been taken from her by the governemnt, and sold to the Behrani family), and also protect her from Behrani, who had not once, but put his hands on her twice. It was during the time that that Cathy realized that the Behrani family would not cooperate, and sell the house back to the government, that Cathy felt like she had nothing worth living for. She called her brother in hopes that he would come visit for a while, and help her get her life back on track. Her mother on the other hand was very negative towards Cathy. She was always nagging her about smoking, and visiting, and her husband. Unfortunately, Cathy lived one big lie when she faced the reality with her mother. After all is said and done, the Behrani family has washed away, towards and ocean's path of returning home.
ReplyDeleteI think that the main specific cause that led to the escalating conflict between the main characters is the lack of communication between them all. Had the Colonel and Cathy sat down and took the time to look beyond their appearances and talked they would see the true reasons behind their circumstances. The same applies to the Colonel and Lester, if Lester had not been so worked up by his emotions and took the time to talk to Behrani, Lester would know that Behrani wasn’t just buying Cathy’s house to turn a profit and that he had legitimate reasons to why he wanted to make money from the house. Prejudices that both Cathy and Lester make about the Behrani family are that they are a foreign family in America to make money off of buying people’s homes. This view is what had caused most of the conflict in the film, had Cathy not made assumptions she would not enlisted the help of Lester and in turn Lester would not have gone to the Behrani home harassing them after the altercation at the house when Behrani left a bruise on Cathy. “I have a lot of friends at immigration, people get deported everyday.” Also had Colonel Behrani not made the assumption that Cathy was an unworthy American and Lester just a scared man, he would not see the need to be so rough and violent. For instances when Cathy was at his home talking to Mrs. Behrani, Colonel Behrani manhandled Cathy and was rude, because he assumed she had enlisted Lester to harass his family.
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ReplyDeleteIn the movie, there are a number of scenes where the fog is seen rolling down the hills of California, or lingering around the home that Cathy and the Behrani family fought so hard for. The fog imagery is present in the movie to portray the hardships that both families faced. The fog always seemed to roll in when Cathy was at an all time low in life, and when Behrani was angry, or stressed.
The fog to me seems to be an indicator of following events, foreshadowing so to speak. Other times it was added as a representative of preceding events. The filmmaker dots the movie with these short scenes of fog subtly, but one paying attention could catch their significance. The fog at the beginning of the movie was calm, representing the tranquility each of the characters enjoyed at the time. Cathy was still in the house and The Colonel had not set his eyes on it yet. After the conflict had been established there was a scene where the fog rushed a bit more vigorously. The foreshadowing occurs right before Cathy tries to kill herself and Lester breaks into the house. She looks into the clouds and they are moving furiously among the trees. This makes sense considering the chaos about to follow.
ReplyDeleteThe fog portrays a great amount of symbolism in the movie. Fog blocks or decreases our vision to see in front of us. It leaves what is lying in front of us hidden, until we are close enough to see it. In the story, bits and pieces of the backgrounds of the characters are hidden from one another. The Colonel is oblivious to the fact that Kathy wrongly lost her home, so he feels no sympathy for her. Kathy and Lester immediately believe that the Colonel is just an ordinary immigrant, when he is actually a high powered military leader in his homeland that he was forced to leave. The fog simply represents the fact that Kathy and Lester were oblivious to the fact that the Colonel and his family were forced away from their only home, and that the Colonel could not see that Kathy was forced out of her home as well.
ReplyDeleteOne of the imageries that were repeated throughout the movie was fog. The fog represented distorted vision. The fog always made it hard to see what was on the other side. When Colonel and his family lived in Iran, he could see the view of the ocean that was near because he cut the trees down but when he moved to America he blocked the window that lead to the ocean. While living in America Colonel didn’t look at it the same as if he was in Iran, America was unclear to him. Also the fog represents the main views in the movie. I say this because each character is unable to see what is in front of them. This is how all the characters feel towards each other, they don’t communicate the way they should about things so they can all have a better understanding as one. Another imagery that stood out in the movie that meant something was the birds. I believe that the birds represented Cathy because for example, when the Colonel’s wife first met Cathy she referred to her as a “broken bird”. That broken bird had to do with Cathy being so upset and tore down because of the loss of her father’s house. Cathy was broken and felt as though she lost everything. These were the two imageries that meant something to me while I watched the movie.
ReplyDeleteThe Fog that is shown constantly throughout the film represents the misguided and blind actions the characters take in the movie. Fog usually prevents someone from seeing clearly and the characters in the film didn’t seem to understand each other’s situations very clearly. Cathy thinks that Colonel Berani wants her house so that he can add to it and sell it for a profit, but such is not the case. Mr. Berani is only trying to provide his family with a good home that has a little something of Iran in it. On the other hand, Mr. Berani thinks Cathy is just some crazy lady who can’t deal with the fact that the house isn’t hers anymore. Actually, that house is all she has and was left to her by her father. She only lost it because she was wrongfully accused of not paying her taxes.
ReplyDeleteThe fog was used continuously throughout the movie to foreshadow different events in the film and also used to symbolize the distortion of views among the characters. People are told not to drive when it’s foggy because it obstructs the vision of the road and this is used as imagery in the film to exemplify the obstructed views of Lester, Cathy, and Mr. Behrani. The fog was usually illustrated before something bad happened in the movie, it foreshadowed a major event or conflict that was about to emerge. In the film the fog was shown before Mr. Behrani killed his wife and committed suicide. The fog was like an indicator that something bad was about to occur in the movie. The fog could also be used to exemplify how Mr. Behrani’s view was obstructed by his inability to let go of the lifestyle he was trying to get back. As his wife was dying he was describing to her how they were going to return to their seaside home. He was blinded by that desire and traumatized by his son’s death which distorted his judgment and resulted in him killing his wife and himself. The fog had several meanings in the movie.
ReplyDeleteSymbolism was used alot on this movie especially when it came to describing the main theme. One strong use of symbolism was the deck and how the Colonel had it built so he could see the ocean, however it also blocked out the window to the backyard when he did this. This symbolizes the way they would judge each other before finding out the truth about each other's situation. The colonel built this deck to get a good look at the ocean but he blocked out the vien in his own yard just like he blocked out Cathy when she attempted to explain the importance of her house to him. It is the same with Cathy when she just saw him as a greedy foreigner and although his wife cried and tried to tell her they could not go back to their homeland she was too caught with her own worries to listen. It is clear that the deck is in direct relations to the main theme about judging others based on appearances rather than the truth
ReplyDeleteThere are images that reoccur in this movie that help the audience flow with the story and main conflict of the movie. The imagery scenes such as trees, water, fog, etc. do not only create a better movie but also help the person watching understand the story better. Like the character, I think each imagery scene out looked on their emotions and feelings they were going through at the moment. For example, the water each time had a different flow like the character’s characteristics that changed each time as the water scene did. When Cathy was furious that her house was taken away by some greedy foreigner, the water scene had waves and a sound of rough water rushing. This encouraged the scene to be better understood and what the character was going through. Another time was Mr. Behrani kills himself and his wife; the water was so calm and peacefully flowing. Although the concept of them dying was upsetting and shocking, the characters were at last in peace and rest after all they went through. Mr. Behrani had witnessed his son’s death while Mrs. Behrani had no idea and feared of being deported or killed. That is why I think the imagery scenes played their part in the movie as I described above. I do not think it would have been this interesting without the imagery scenes that were included.
ReplyDeleteA repetitive image I would like to reflect on was the fog. In the movie whenever there was a disagreement or hard time, the fog rolled in. The movie gave the characters Kathy and Behrani many different times to make choices and it always seemed as though they continued to make the wrong ones (hence the fog). For example, in the closing scenes of the movie, viewers witnessed Behrani lying dead from suffocation and his wife dead from overdosing and Kathy in the semi-fetal position, alive, laying in the middle of the two. After the police are called and the two deceased are taken away, Kathy is asked whether the house belongs to her; the house that she went to lawyers for, and got officer Lester violently involved and imprisoned for; and she replied “No, its not my house.” Then the fog started heavily pouring in. Kathy fought tooth and nail during the entire movie to get her house back but denied it in the end. She was constantly faced with tough decisions and because she did not make things better in her life, the fog would constantly surround her.
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