English Speech
The need to belong is an essential part of being a human being. Sometimes in order to belong we assume a fake identity to connect to others in order to prevent us from being isolated. In the movie “School Ties” the main character David creates a facade in order to hide his ethnicity. He assumes a mask in order to be apart of a different religious society because of the prejudice he would encounter if his school peers were to find out he was Jewish. David takes different measures to hide his identity; this is evident in the scene where he first enters the school with his new football coach.
David’s coach is aware of the fact he is Jewish. When he is asked if he had dietary problems by the coach. David avoided the fact that Jewish people only eat kosher meat he gives the answer “I can’t eat turnips” to avoid the question.
In this scene there is a clear sense of resentment, which is shown with the close up camera angle framing David’s face. As he slowly begins to fit in with this school peers he starts to acknowledge that all of his friends are prejudiced against Jewish people. Although he doesn’t say anything this makes him feel angry.
Throughout a long period of the movie David wears a Jewish necklace. He eventually takes it off, while he his taking the necklace off he camera zooms into his neck, this symbolizes that he is making a difficult decision by betraying his religion in order to belong. In this scene the lighting in the room is showing us that he is in fact feeling resentment. The lighting highlights David’s face and there is a strong contrast obtained by juxtaposing him against the background o a dimly lit room.
While David is attending the Christian boy’s school there are two scenes shown when the whole school is praying. In the first scene they are praying while holding the Holy Bible and bowing their heads. David is the only boy looking around uncomfortably this is shown with the camera shot framing his upper body while also...