The symbols in each movie

1) The photos in BLOOD SIMPLE are the start of all the misunderstandings. In the past Marty didn’t know anything about the fair of his wife. But after the first few pictures taken by Visser, his anger came out and he started his revenge and got involved in this nightmare. The fake picture of Abby and Ray dead in the bed also misleads Marty. When Marty was about to give Visser the money, Visser shot Marty. And Visser throw Abby’s gun in the room to create a misleading scene. These things start with the fake picture. And as Visser says, “life is very uncertain and something can always go wrong.” The appearance of the fake pictures is the moment that life goes wrong for Marty. Marty’s life was totally changed because of this fake picture. He wanted to kill Ray and his unfaithful wife, but instead he is the first one who was shot and got buried alive. Because of the photos, a series of misunderstandings begin. Ray thought Abby killed Marty and Abby thought Visser was Marty and killed him. All the twists start from these photos. Everybody was confused after this. Nobody in the movie truly knows what was happening to everybody. Even Visser, who thinks he knows everything, was also confused at the end. The photos are fake, and this tells us that everything can happen because of money. The photos can be faked, and also the relationship and everything valuable in the world can be faked and changed because of money. The photos triggered the twists and misleading in this movie.

2) RAISING ARAZONA: The Baby is the thing that everybody wants. The baby is the centre of the story. Every story happens because of the baby. Somebody chased this baby for money; somebody chased this baby for love. The baby was exposed to a lot of dangerous situations, the gunshot, the robbery, etc. But to my surprise, he was not hurt by any of them. The baby can mean a lot of things. He can mean the lust of money. The motor rider wants to get the baby for money. He was chasing the baby. And the baby only means money to him. For Hi’s two friends from prison, the baby also means money. But for Hi and Ad, the baby means love and family. They stole the baby from Nathan because they need the baby to form a real family. They love the baby more than anything in their life. They protected the baby with their lives and it is the baby, who changed Hi’s attitude towards life. For Nathan Arizona, the baby is just one of his children. And I think Nathan thinks his business is more important than its child. The baby is the dream everybody has, even though the dreams may mean different things for everybody. The baby is always something beautiful and desirable. But it seems like nobody can own it forever. At first I felt that the American Dream made people focus more on money and start to forget about love and family. But at the end, I think because of the baby we still see the love in people’s heart. The love of Hi and Ad made them return the baby to his father, and Nathan Arizona forgave them because he understands their feeling of desiring a baby and family. Love solved all the problems. And the baby brings love and family values back to people.

3) MILLER’S CROSSING: The hat appears through the whole movie, from the beginning to the end. At the beginning the hat was blown away by the wind. During the movie, we can see Tom keeps wearing his hat through out the movie and always protect his hat no matter what happens. I think the hat means Tom’s belief and dignity. In a society, which full of lure and lust, it is easy to lose one’s belief and dignity. Tom was exposed to a world full of crime and lure. He didn’t lose himself; he kept protecting his belief, which is represented by the hat in the movie. When he talked about his dream with Verna and she asked whether he chased his hat, he said no he didn’t. But actually he is always chasing his hat in the real life. When he was in the wood thinking whether to kill Bernie or not, he was facing the crossing. He chose to stay with his belief and hat and chose to be a good person. At the very last he chose to leave Leo because he loves Verna. He did what he thinks is right and integrate. And at the last scene, Tom was still wearing that hat. The hat is Tom’s criteria when he faces a crossing. Somebody loses his or her “hats” easily in this confusing world. But Tom didn’t. The hat appears a lot in the movie, we know it means something, but we will never know what it really means. It depends on how we see the society and perceive the character of Tom.
4) BARTON FINK---THE HEAD
The movie tells us about the creative process by exploring Barton’s mind. The box and the head are always the unsolved mysteries for us. The movie is a combination of reality and imaginary. Sometimes we are watching Barton’s real world life such as going to Hollywood, but sometimes we are in Barton’s dream or even imagination such as the fire in the hotel. I think the head represents Barton’s passion and inspiration for writing. In the past, Jack is his idol and role model, but after he found out that Jack is actually an alcoholic and liar, Barton was so upset and angry. The role model in his mind collapsed. And what made Jack his role model? It is Jack’s talent in writing that Barton admires. But actually the talent comes from Audrey. Having the head in the box makes Barton feels safe and satisfied, because he feels that he has her head then he has her talent and inspiration in writing. Also the head represents Barton’s faith and principles for writing. He wants to be a real writing that doesn’t write only for money. He doesn’t want to compromise to the reality and abandon his dream of writing. He always keeps the head with him means no matter what happens, he still have his faith with him but at the same time, he is a little bit confused about whether it is right to stick to his dream instead of writing just for money. That’s why when the girl asked him whether this box is his he said he doesn’t know. The head is what Barton is always pursuing. The head is always a mystery for us. We don’t know who killed Audrey and which person is real and which one is imaginary. This is just what a writer would become when they are writing. They have to switch from the real life and the characters in his book. Sometimes the writer doesn’t know which is the real him. That’s why Barton doesn’t even know whether the girl is real or from the picture.

5) hudsucker proxy—the circle
The circle is everywhere in the movie. The clock is a circle, the hula-hoop is a circle, and the life of everybody in the story is a circle. I think the circle means karma and fate. From the beginning, Norville was looking for a job, his coffee cup circled the job opening on the newspaper and the newspaper chased Norville and drove him to Hudsucker. And at that time he was at the bottom of a circle. After he got to Hudsucker, things changed dramatically. He became the CEO of the company, but in his office there is a big clock, which is also a circle. That circle controls his fate. His Hula-hoop happens to become a success and he goes to the top of the circle. After reaching the top, there must be a down turn. His company collapses and he decided to suicide right at midnight. Everything seems liked well planed by somebody. Everything comes so suddenly and surprisingly. The circle controls all of these. When Norville was about to hit the ground, he was saved by the clock and the angel. After that he was on the top of the world. The circle starts again for him. Life is like a circle, and everything is a circle. The circle controls everything

6) FARGO –snowy whiteness.
In Fargo, everything happens in the cold weather, and there is snow everywhere. In that era people is crazy about money and neglect valuable things in life such as love and family. They commit crime just for money. The snowy whiteness means justice and integrity. Their crime looks more evil and hateful in contrast with the whiteness. The whiteness makes everything, which are not white looks very obvious. Since the snowy whiteness tells us that even we are in an era, when people lose their mind for money, there is still integrity and love and justice in the world.