whitleysam99

I have chosen the genre of crime to study and make connections with. The texts that helped make the connections were Fast Five directed by Justin Lin, Boy directed by Taika Waititi, The Shawshank Redemption directed by Frank Darabont and Witness directed by Peter Weir. The significance two connections that I made with made with these four texts were the theme of violence between Boy and Witness, Another theme that’s highlights crime within the two films The Shawshank Redemption and Fast Five is easy fortune from illegal acts to get the money.

A connection I have been able to make between my texts was the theme of violence. I saw this idea predominantly in Witness by Peter Weir and Boy by Taika Waititi. Peter Weir uses this when John Book was forced to escape by knowing too much about McFee murdering another fellow police officer. “Washing my hands, man!” this quote is used when the deputies Fergie and McFee murder their fellow police Zenovich. Then in the film Boy by Taika Waititi you see it when Alamein comes to find Boy to take the jacket off of him this is when Boy starts to realises how his dad isn’t such a great person after all. The difference between violence in the films is that one cannot be fixed and is quite a lot more illegal although any type of violence is illegal. All of this shows to the viewer that having these characteristics is not good at all and shouldn’t be copied in anyway, or form.

We see similar characteristics in the films Fast And Furious 5 directed by Justin Lin and the film The Shawshank Redemption directed by Frank Darabont. Easy fortune is shown in Fast Five when Dominic Toretto assembles his “family” to plan a massive heist of $100 million to buy their freedom with the money they stole from the powerful Brazilian drug lord Reyes. In The Shawshank Redemption Andy Dufresne starts out by laundering money for the prison warden called Norton, he then ends up escaping prison and then using the alias he created to launder the money, He then goes on to show how corrupt Shawshank is, as he is showing how corrupt Shawshank is he manages to buy his freedom through his laundered money for the warden. When the warden is about to be confronted by other law enforcement officers, he kills himself. The director uses special effects from blood splatter on the window behind his desk. I think the main message that the directors are attempting to get across here is that in both films is there is a lot of violence coming from easy wealth, with Tommy being shot on the wardens count because he was willing to help Andy get out legally. Which means Andy has to break the law to get out of prison instead of breaking the law to get put in. In the film The Shawshank Redemption we see the law going over to the illegal side an alliance being formed between Luke Hobbs and Dominic Toretto, This happens when Hobbs’s team get ambushed by Reyes men, and Dominic and his “family” come out to save Hobbs who will surely be killed like the rest of his team. This is symbolised by the grip between Dominic and Luke when he goes to help him up. Money has affected people in two different ways through the films, but both finished with the same outcome, freedom.

A significant connection that I have made between some of my chosen films is that the characters have similar characteristics of their family. In the films Fast Five and Boy, This is common in the two films because these characters show us things about this particular genre of crime, such as in Boy it show’s that there is some signs of family violence but this is the complete opposite in Fast And Furious where the whole basis of their crew is on family and loyalty “the most important thing in life will always be the people in this room, right here, right now” This piece of dialogue is from Fast Five in which it is proving the point of the family, this does connect to crime as they do break the law in many ways with them racing, and also stealing the hundred million dollars worth of “drug money”, were as in Boy “Hey Auntie, can I have an ice block please?, No.” this is not showing crime yet it is showing that there is not much love and that is what family is built on. This proves to the viewers that there is still crime with in family’s whether it is not showing love and by stealing.

In conclusion, I made two significant connections between four texts about crime, with violence and easy money. There is also another connection in family that I have made but it is not as big in violence as the other two, I think that in all of these films the director was trying to prove that there is crime in everything no mater how big or little it is.