Hey guys! I have chosen to write my second post about another medium because I haven’t quite finished the book yet. I picked to analyze the movieRise of the Guardians because I thought it was an intriguing portrayal of the theme identity crisis. This movie is about how the five guardians of the world – Santa Clause (North), the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy (Tooth), the Sandman (Sandy), and Jack Frost – team up to stop the Boogeyman (Pitch Black) from threatening the children of the world. After alerting the Guardians of Pitch’s return, the Man in the Moon names Jack Frost the newest of the Guardians. Jack Frost has trouble understanding how he can be of help to the children of the world. He sees how many children believe in the other Guardians, but can’t figure out why he had been named a Guardian. Throughout the movie, Pitch causes kids in the world to stop believing in the mystical Guardians by taking away and destroying what they do. For example, he takes away Tooth’s teeth she has collected and smashes all of the Easter Bunny’s eggs. By the end of the movie, Pitch had filled all the kids-of-the-world’s minds with nightmares; all except for one. This one child gives Jack the strength to ultimately defeat Pitch Black in the end and restore hope to the children along with finding his true purpose. Below is the trailer to Rise of the Guardians:
In this movie, the character Jack Frost exemplifies an identity crisis and how he finds his true purpose at the end. For example, in the beginning, Jack doesn’t know how he got his powers. All he remembers is waking up under a frozen pond and then being able to control the snow and ice. He doesn’t know what his duty or purpose is in life or why he’s even there. Jack is worried if he will ever find out his true purpose. Jack in the Beginning Clip:
When Jack is summoned to the North Pole to meet the other Guardians, he isn’t sure he should even be one. He describes how the other four Guardians are all about hard-work and deadlines while he is about snowballs and fun times. Then Tooth explains to Jack what their job is really all about. She says that each light on the globe represents a child who believes, and their job is to protect them from danger. The Easter Bunny then buds in and tells Jack that none of the kids believe in Jack, making him feel even more unwelcome. You Don't Want Me Clip:
At this point in the movie, Jack feels that he doesn’t belong and has no idea why the Man in the Moon summoned him to be the fifth Guardian. Once Pitch dumps Jack into a hole in the ice, Jack is convinced that Pitch was right when he said Jack just makes messes out of things. Baby Tooth, the only fairy left, encourages Jack to open the “tooth box” of his memories. Once Jack does, he watches what his life was like before he got his powers. Jack realizes that the reason the Man in the Moon gave him the power to control snow and the cold was because he saved his own sister from dying in the cracking ice. After knowing why he got his powers, Jack is motivated to take down Pitch and make kids believe in him. Jack feels complete now because he understands the reasoning and his duty. Jack's Memory Clip:
Also, another character in this movie that goes through an identity crisis is Pitch Black, the Boogeyman. In the clip below, he states that in the dark-ages, he was the source of belief; everybody was scared of him. Then, as time went on, mothers told their kids that it was just a bad dream – not the Boogeyman. Once Pitch was out of the picture, the Man in the Moon created the Guardians to protect the kids. This made Pitch feel very uncomfortable which is why he’s battling the Guardians. Pitch Black Clip:
In the end, Jack is the only Guardian who isn’t severely weakened by the fact that kids stopped believing. In one last-ditch effort, Jack goes to Jaime’s house, the one kid in the world who still believed, to see if he could actually see Jack. It turned out that when Jack made it snow in Jaime’s room, he believed in Jack. Jack found his true purpose – to bring joy to kids and make them believe in the other Guardians. Jaime Believes Clip:
In conclusion, Rise of the Guardians depicts the theme identity crisis because it shows how one Guardian – Jack Frost – discovers his purpose in life and knows his duty to all of the kids in the world who still believe.
I think that Madison did a good job connecting the medium to the theme of identity crisis and I liked the way she used the trailer and the videos to help the reader better understand the movie. "The Rise of The Guardians" was a good choice in movie because Jack had a great identity crisis. This is a great movie.
Reply
Leave a Reply.
Author
Hi! I'm Madison. I will be reading the book Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. I am super excited to read this book because I've heard it's really good. I love reading and learning about how different things tie in with one another, so I'm looking forward to working on this project and learning about the theme: identity crisis!!