From 3-19-2007 class meeting.
With regard to “Gates Of Heaven,” I am just baffled by this issue of having red objects seen beside the owners of Bubbling Well Cemetary. The father did not have anything like this during his interviews. Every time he was on camera, his background was incrediby plain. He was really the only thing in the shot. But observing his wife and two sons’ interviews, each of them were surrounded by objects that meant something to them. Although, this is done at the cost of creating a shot that has a great deal of clutter in it. Maybe this represents their emotional baggage, they all need things in life in order to feel better about themselves.
The mother needs her kids, because in a way they are her pets. But they have moved out and started their own families, so what does she do? She buys so much stuff that she can take care of those monetary items instead. Her oldest son Phil placed trophies all around his office in order to make him feel like he has done something with his life. He needs a meaning in life, and his old trophies are used as a substitution for going out and making something for yourself. During the scene, he is hiding behind the trophies, literally; they take up all the space. Danny loves music and would rather lie in his hammock and play his guitar than do anything else. He owns a large stereo system which is incredibly loud; and he brags about its musical power.
Danny is trying to impress everyone around him, Phil is trying to impress himself, and their mother is trying to impress anyone who would come see her. Cal is the most interesting of the four because of his lack of doing the same types of things. What does he know about life that makes him so incredibly comfortable? Did he find the Meaning of Life, not the film, but the real thing? Maybe so.
But what I cannot get out of my head is what the freaking connection is between the red items that appear on screen with the people. that I cannot seem to wrap my brain around. I do not know if there is any true way of learning the true answer, unless I find the maker of all things…these things that is.