Gummo - Movie Critique :: essays research papers

The film Gummo is intended to be a emblematical movie in which fantasy and reality intertwine. Initi any(prenominal)y, the film opens in a small town in Ohio after a tornado has brush through and destroyed it. Economically the small region is wrecked. Like the buildings almost them, the social fabric that is holding the town together is coming by at the seams. Whatever traditions and values this town has held in the past see to no longer exist as the line between the religious and the profane has been obscured beyond recognition. While it is difficult to know outright the attitudes and convictions of all social group, based on what the film shows there is little, if either, social solidarity in this environment. The foundation for this statement bum be seen in the lack of every authoritative figures in the film. The town is seemingly void of any structure, law, or government, and the actions of its residents seem to reflect this. Individualism seems to reign supreme in thi s community, if it can be called that. Admittedly social bonds such as friends and family still exist, only when as a whole individual pursuits and interests still override any pretense of collective purpose. This event, however, doesnt truly deviate at all from what is considered normal, true it does take on a much uglier face in Gummo, but individual goals and pursuits are commonplace practically anywhere in the United States and around the globe. On the other hand, it must be know that in most instances natural disasters do have a account statement of bringing communities together in times of hardship, something that is not at all seen in the film. In short, the social order, much like the town itself, is in shambles, with little or no social solidarity. Gummo is meant to be entirely symbolic in one way or another. One of the more remarkable symbolisms is that of cats and their murder. The function of their deaths is rather straightforward in a town such as this, there appe ars to be very little to do. In fact one thing that is never seen in Gummo is the playing of any assortment of sport or recreational activity. It appears as though the teenagers are trauma from extreme cases of boredom and, because of the demand at the butcher shop, they can be paid and entertained through the murdering of these animals.