Analysis Of The Movie Everything Is Illuminated

Everything is Illuminated is a movie about a young American Jew, Jonathan, on a journey to uncover the history of his grandfather’s past through the help of a man named Alex Perchow, and his grandfather. This journey brings to light or â€Å"illuminates† these characters lives in one way or another. â€Å"We assign symbols to everything we do in life and we do not even realize it because society has imposed norms to our way of thinking (Cassier, 71). The movie uses Jonathan’s need to collect items of his past family members as a symbol of a subjective reality. These items especially the picture of his grandfather represent living history to Jonathan and because of this Jonathan is afraid that without these items he will forget the past. Alex has been socialized by his culture to abide by traditional norms and traditions, however Alex creates an identity for himself by adopting the lifestyle and norms of a reference group he wants to assimilate into, that being Americans. Alexander has been socialized by television and other forms of media to have this image of what it means to be a â€Å"true† American and adopts these similar lifestyle choices. It is through the help of Jonathan that Alexander breaks away from his socialized ways and discover his own identity. I will be exploring how Jonathan creates meaning through his job as a â€Å"collector† and how Alex using the American lifestyle as a reference group in order to create an identity for himself and how Jonathan helps him break away fromShow MoreRelatedScene Analysis of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay790 Words   |  4 PagesScene Analysis of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Frankenstein was a novel written by Mary Shelley in 1832. At the time when Frankenstein was written gothic novels were very popular and so this novel was seen to be very popular. In 1994 the Frankenstein novel was turned into a movie by Kenneth Branagh, starring Kenneth Branagh himself as Victor Frankenstein. 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