Family in Smoke Signals, Atonement in Hard Eight, The role of the State and Individual in Antz
Life, Death, & Film: Philosophy in Movies
SMOKE SIGNALS (Philosophical problem of family)
Introduction
Philosophy can be defined as the study of the general and fundamental nature of reality, existence, knowledge, values, reasons, mind and language. Philosophy is a way of thinking about the world, the universe and the society. It seems the ultimate goal of many people is to be remembered after their death, to transcend generations but the real transcending generation often has ideas and values that are focused on family values because it guides their success. Every family passes down its values to the next generation as these values greatly influence society.
In the movie Smoke Signals we realise that the main characters Thomas and Victor do not have a stable family background hence they do not have much family values. Family Values can be defined as moral or ethical values that pertain to the family structure and are traditionally upheld and transmitted within a family as honesty, loyalty and faith, according to dictionary.com. A clear example of dishonesty is the fiction /made up stories that Thomas tells people as these stories at times are biased. This is a way to have people pay attention to him and acknowledge his presence, due to the fact that Thomas’s parents died in a fire when he was just 3 he does not know what having a family feels like as he stays with his grandmother, so he uses these stories to try and make friends e.g. the women in the car ride.
Victor on the other hand grew up in a dysfunctional family as his father Arnold was a drunkard and this resulted in frequent arguments amongst his mother and father. He witnessed these arguments as a little boy and even witnessed his father gets kicked out of his home and relocates in Phoenix. This led to the huge resentment he had against his father as he felt that the...