Piece 2 Draft

Sean Levy

Dr. Devine

Expository Writing

12 March 2014

*Needs an intro*

Deception plays a key role in this film. One of the scenes that we see this in is the scene where Robby and Peter are engaged in a conversation with a person, using the username “Untitled”, in a chat room. Peter believes that the person that they are talking to is a man pretending to be a woman. The irony here is that while they are claiming that they are being deceived, they are deceiving someone at the same time. But what’s the significance? What does this say about digital culture? This tells us that the film is also putting a heavy emphasis on real world interactions. It also tells us that we can only know someone by meeting them face to face. The barrier of the internet and technology prevents us from interacting and learning about each other. We might be who we say we are on the internet and we can easily lie right to each other’s faces. I believe that this tells us to go out into the real world and meet each other. Moreover, that the best way to know someone is in real life. Not by the words on a screen but by skin on their face, the blood in their veins and the reality of their soul. Miranda July wants to portray the digital world as a hazy uncharted territory where one cannot be sure of another's identity. This places more of an importance on the quality of interaction in the real world as they are portrayed as more fulfilling than those made artificially (either on the internet or as posts on a window). The real world, as seen through this movie, is a place where the interactions made by the characters strengthen the connections made between them. This is contrasted by the interactions made through artificial means. The artificial interactions do not end well and weaken, or completely destroy, any connection that the characters may have had.

Another theme of the film and that is the concept of the real vs fake. Just first scene ends, Christine's narration continues as the camera focuses on a bird sitting on a branch. It then cuts to Richard, who is staring at the bird. Richard then looks at his ex-wife, whom he recently divorced from, as she is separating their belongings. She hands him a framed picture of a bird and tells him that it belongs to him. The bird outside could be a symbol of real life and the static picture is a symbol of life through someone else. July is saying that we cannot live our lives through the experiences of others and we must go out into the world and experience things for ourselves. This can also be seen in one of the last scenes of the movie in which Robby leaves his apartment to investigate a clanging noise that can be heard throughout the film. It is revealed that the source of the noise is a man tapping a quarter on the bus stop sign. Though his mother told him that is was the computer that controls the street lights, Robby is unsatisfied and therefore must investigate for himself. This is important because we must be the ones to find the answers for ourselves. We must live for ourselves and experience all we can. The only truth we can really accept is the one that we see with our own eyes and our own experiences.