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Social, American

The beginning scene of Falling Straight down immediately establishes the location in the film, America, this is clear to the market with the American cars and yellow college bus together with the stars and stripes making ends meet the side. The lead character played by Michael Douglas is established as a white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant (WASP) who is allegedly the most privileged class in American culture. He is designed to represent the standard American white-collar worker.

The audience gets this impression of D-Fens (Michael Douglas) because he is definitely smartly dressed with a white colored shirt and tie, he wears spectacles, he’s cleanly shaven which is driving a typical American relatives sedan. This kind of first impression of D-Fens can be subsequently taken apart through the film plus the audience later finds out that he is unemployed and displeasure with American society. D-Fens’ car and the way he acts supply the audience a early clue that he’s not all that he appears.

D-Fens is stuck in a traffic jam and achieving more and more frustrated by the things around him, he reacts incredibly violently towards the fly in his car and thrashes about trying to kill it, thus giving the audience an indication that he’s quite a chaotic person when he gets annoyed. Another indication is once D-Fens tries to cool him self down wonderful air conditioning system doesn’t work, so he tries to open the window nevertheless the handle is definitely broken, the automobile is like a metaphor to get D-Fens’ lifestyle shabby, worn-out and not love it used to become.

There is a large range of distinct social classes represented inside the opening landscape all seen from D-Fens’ point of view. Inside the back couch of the car in front of D-Fens is a young Hispanic girl who is looking impassively in him watching his stress and break down unfold. D-Fens seems uneasy about this probably because it reminds him of his personal daughter and he feels ashamed that he can’t drive her to school any longer. This girl is definitely shown as opposed to the children on the bus who have are loud and content whereas she is silent.

The girl with sad searching and the car she’s in is also older these things associated with audience think she also doesn’t have the happy life which the American dream is supposed to offer. This immediately brings up problem of contest in the film and whether people coming from minority ethnic groups have the same opportunities while WASP’s. The camera in that case pans throughout to show one more white-collar staff member, a middle-aged woman putting on bright lipstick and trying for making herself look younger, this gives the impression that she feels threatened most likely by more youthful women in her workplace.

The next automobile that makes shot is a typical American school shuttle bus the children are very noisy and annoying, there is also a mixture of competitions represented plus they appear to be getting along together. There is a dark boy that may be staring at D-Fens in quite similar way since the Hispanic girl and it appears that non-WASPs are more of your threat to D-Fens and this perhaps implies he is racist. Next to the school bus is a fresh sporty, collapsible with two yuppies in the front seats.

They can be grouped like this mainly because they have cellphones, a nice car, and wise suits. They are represented because aggressive and impatient while the driver is usually honking his horn intended for no evident reason. They can be rude and loud phoning around and they seem arrogant since they no longer feel that they should be stuck in the traffic jam with everyone else. That they seem to epitomise capitalism in the united states and the type of people that turn into rich and successful in a capitalist culture. There are also illustrations of American society shown within the three fender stickers that D-Fens looks at.

The first one says “Financial Freedom phone , ” this kind of also displays capitalism in the us and that reality many people live in personal debt and see themselves as being captured with just money getting the way away. The next label says “He died pertaining to our sins” and this displays how spiritual orientated American society is definitely. The last 1 says “How’s my driving a car? Phone 1-800 EAT ALL THAT SHIT! ” this just shows how uncaring American culture has become with many people staying stuck in poverty, although many others live in luxurious.

The blinking , Delay’ lights, heat, noise and smoke all come together as well as the quick directly edits coming from each of these components build up the sense of desperation and threat until D-Fens finally has enough and gets out of his car and tells the man at the rear of him that he’s “going home”. This kind of phrase is usually repeated through the entire film and it becomes D-Fens’ quest. , Home’ can be not literally his house but to a time when ever D-Fens believed less vulnerable from foreign immigrants or non-WASPs, an occasion when his role in society was more identified and having been a family guy and a breadwinner, an occasion when he felt proud of America and its people.

In the next field the second key character, Prendergast, is presented. He likewise appears to be a white-collar employee and a WASP yet he is somewhat older than D-Fens, his reaction to the traffic jam is in distinction to D-Fens’ because he much more relaxed and doesn’t allow it to frustrate him. He is displayed as a wise old police officer who is through the old school of policing and he is in comparison with the young arrogant policeman on the motor cycle who looks forward to his power but actually is a less competent cop than Prendergast.

There is also a smarmy salesman on the scene trying to offer the fresh cop support, which he rejects. He talks about his trade and just how he gives discounts for officials of the rules, this suggests that money can influence authorities and that they will be corrupt. The third scene presents a single mother who turns out to be D-Fens’ ex-wife, she is displayed as anxious and overworked having to find the groceries, walk the dog and look after the kid all at once.

The house appears to be nice, quite huge with a yard and white colored picket fence and it seems like to represent the best American family home, although there happen to be signs of this starting to fall under disrepair with the paint for the house damaged off as well as the front back garden being untidy. This reveals how D-Fens used to have a good traditional friends and family life as well as the suburban idyllic house that went with that, that’s when it used to end up being , home’. There is also a sign of how gun culture is very much part of American society with D-Fens’ small daughter using a realistic searching toy firearm and learning from a young grow older the power that you could have by simply possessing a gun.

The fourth picture represents a great immigrant shopkeepers in particular a Korean guy. It opens with the very well dressed, white-colored D-Fens strolling into a poor area of the metropolis, this is shown by the graffiti on the surfaces, the junk on the pavements and the reality there are material bars over the windows to hold the small shop secure. The Korean shopkeeper is dressed up in old, unfashionable clothes and he looks quite impoverished because his till is incredibly old fashioned and he is wary of a WASP coming into his shop in this area.

This shows the separation of communities in America and the lack of trust between them. D-Fens is very hurtful towards the shopkeeper in this field and he shows not any respect for him if he marches in and asks for change without having eye contact with the shopkeeper. D-Fens perceives himself to be dominant above the Korean guy and this individual sets the price tag on 50cents for the can easily of Softdrink and this individual takes control. He views the zuzügler as substandard to him because he is actually a WASP and he still has the beliefs of the time prior to.

D-Fens is racist as they mocks the Korean guys accent plus the fact that this individual can’t pronounce the , V’ in five, in that case because the man is Asian he instantly assumes that he’s Chinese and this is known as a typical unaware view of the American who have are usually insular inside their views. This really is shown once again later on in the film when Prendergast immediately assumes that his guy Japanese cop can be familiar with Korean guy. When D-Fens finds out the person is Korean he says regarding the foreign help that his country provides given to Korea and he therefore feels that this guy owes him and in saying , my own country’ this individual implies that the Korean person doesn’t are supposed to be there.

The image of the American flag is utilized once again in this scene if the container filled with flags is usually smashed on the floor in a have difficulty between the two characters. This kind of shows just how immigrants believe that they have to become visibly devoted towards America to fit within society. The broken goblet container may be a symbol to get how areas are now cracked in America. Or it could symbolise how the American dream is definitely broken just for this shopkeeper and in addition significantly pertaining to D-Fens. D-Fens then says that he is “going for taking prices returning to 1965” prior to violently smashing up the shop.

This period of the time is what D-Fens associates with “home” mainly because at this time WASPs were the dominating group in world and there was clearly prejudice against other cultural groups, this is a time if he felt acknowledged and highly valued in contemporary society and he was a happy family man living the American dream and this is a time he really wants to return to. The Korean shopkeeper is obviously utilized to violence and robberies living in the area that he does because he gets on the floor and shouts “Take the money! this can be seen as a significant insult to D-Fens because he sees him self as middle-class and in his opinion robbery is a thing that poor working class people perform.

He likewise feels that he is justified in terrorising this store because most he desired was a few change intended for the phone. This kind of scene have been interpreted by many people people as being racist and this is a great understandable view because the Korean man is represented in a negative approach. He is irritating and scruffy whereas D-Fens is represented almost like a hero determine with traditional Hollywood hero lines and he appears to be fighting intended for consumer rights.

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