The Concept of Belonging Is an Exploration

The Concept of Belonging Is an Exploration

  • Submitted By: sthompson37
  • Date Submitted: 07/12/2011 11:39 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 674
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 513

Belonging speech
Sean Thompson
The concept of Belonging explores the notions of identity, acceptance, isolation, alienation and the understanding of who we really are. An individual can be marginalised through individual rejection or group alienation which can give the individual strength, courage and dignity to overcome hardship. However an individual may have difficultly keeping balance between conforming to a group and retaining their individual identity. I believe that individuals who are members of an isolated group in society can be alienated from that group, causing them to be the most desperate and disadvantaged people in society.
I consider ‘Samson and Delilah’ written and directed by Warwick Thornton and ‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess, to be perfect examples of this. The film ‘Samson and Delilah’ is set in a tremendously remote Aboriginal settlement in the Northern Territory. Despite the isolation, they do have some sense of community and unwritten rules, that all must obey. Samson’s alienation begins when he breaks the rules and attacks his brother. After sniffing some petrol, Samson ambles outside to thrash his brother and his much loved guitar with a stick. Thornton slows and warps time in this scene. Samson sits motionless, sniffing petrol for almost a minute, in a near-dark room before the attack. Not a word is spoken throughout the altercation. Shortly afterwards he is bashed by his brother for his transgression. Again, not a word is spoken during the attack. It is odd that his continual petrol sniffing does not warrant any discipline from the community, despite the fact that it is ruining his life. You can sniff petrol but you can’t bash your brother. You might expect that the absence of dialogue and slow pace of the action would result in a bored audience but Thornton has created tension and highlighted the boredom and isolation using this technique. Similarly, Delilah is blamed for her grandmother’s death. She is accused of not...

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