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More Human Than Human Essay, Research Paper

More Human than Human

How meaning is constructed in the film The Fifth Element

The Fifth Element is a futuristic action move, which was produced in 1997 by the famous French moviemaker Luc Besson. Also known for films like Leon, Nikita, The Big Blue, and Atlantis. Besson was just twelve years old when he wrote the original script of the movie. I was just a kid in boarding school, I mean boring school, dreaming about science fiction and the movies Besson (cited in Ryan, 1997, p.29) recalls. Little did he know then, that twenty years later his script would turn into one of the most visually beautiful films made in the 20th century.

The Statement.

A film cannot be understood. We viewers can only construct our own meanings based on our own intelligence, experiences, and feelings. One can argue that all films has a certain message, as any contemplated action has, but the original meanings or messages are irrelevant due to the millions of totally or slightly different interpretations they are given. Therefore, meaning is not constructed by the filmmakers, but interpretations are, by the audience. In other words, I cannot tell you how Luc Besson constructed meaning, but I can show how I interpret the signs given.

The Plot.

The year is 2259; a planet-sized sphere of supreme evil is approaching the earth at relentless speed, threatening to destroy the earth. It cannot bee defeated by usual methods like weapons violence only makes it stronger. The only thing that can save earth is divine light which is generated by four ancient stones, each representing the elements earth, wind, water and fire combined with a mysterious fifth element. The story is spawn around the search for the five elements, which introduces us to Korben Dallas (the hero), Leeloo (the Supreme Being, alien), Zorg (the villain) and numerous other characters.

The Methods.

In order to successfully interpret a film, that is, to achieve a relatively high level of understanding of what is generally believed to be the original message(s) of the filmmaker, one have to take a close look on how the narrative is represented. A narrative is how the way a story is told, that is to say, a story with a beginning, middle, and an ending. Humans are narrative creatures; we need the three factors in order to create a meaning (Turner, 1993. 68). When David Wark Griffith (1875-1948), the man believed to be the developer of narratives on film, started to arrange his films like narratives, as they would be written in a novel, he got a lot of criticism. The producers did not think the audience would understand anything when the story was jumping around (Cook, 1996. 65). History proved quite the opposite. In fact, the right usage of narrative arrangement and the implemented tools that can be used within it extends the filmmakers opportunities for sending a message, and the viewer s prospect of interpreting it. This includes the structural role of the characters, the genre, the hierarchy of discourses, and ideology, amongst others.

We can also involve binary oppositions in the treatment to increase the general knowledge in further analysis. O`Shaughnessy explains binary oppositions like this, Each word or concept is defined by its opposite and only make sense if we understand its opposite as well (O`Shaughnessy, 1999. 126). Further he sites Aristotle thesis Everything is either A or not A . However, it is important to understand that by implicating opposition or duality in the analysis, can lead to intricate questions rather than unmitigated answers due to the lack of universal truths in the world of ideal concepts. Take for example good vs. bad , good is explained throughout the idea of every one agreeing of the concept bad . If one is to revise Nietzsche, one would maybe get another apprehension on good since he reveals that the concept bad beyond a doubt is not universal (Nietzsche, 1887. 14-18).

The Treatment.

As mentioned, The Fifth Element takes place in the future. We encounter spectacular technology, strange aliens, new designs, and so on. These factors make it easy to put T5E in the sci-fi genre. However, Besson diverges from the regular portrays of the future and in a way remakes the genre. He paints a positive future, a future that is bright, funny, wealthy and full of hope, apposed to other films in the sci-fi genre like Metropolis, Blade Runner, Mad Max, Water World, 12 Monkeys, The Postman and so on.

The way the story is represented, or the narrative structure in this film, has a classical pattern. O`Shaughnessy shows this diagrammatically: (O`Shaughnessy, 1999.107)

stabile situation disruption stabile situation 2

(enigma, desire, goal) (resolutions)

However, this can also be argued since we learn that the sphere of supreme evil comes every five thousand years, and thus the story is set by determination. In addition, the story does not even start of with a stabile situation. The reason we can say this film has a classical pattern is that the main character (Korben Dallas), one of the characters from who we see things from (point of view), fulfil the demands of the classical pattern. The story does not really start before we meet him. This also shows the importance of Korben, we are presented with a seemingly unsolvable problem until he appears. This happens in the taxi scene, where Leeloo literally falls into Korben`s car, which also is one of the most important scenes in the film. This is also where we become introduced to the two points of views. First Leeloo`s, she is the alien, we identify with her in the way that things are new and unfamiliar, we do not know how the world is in the year 2259 and neither does she, so she reacts how we maybe would in that setting. Seeing some the world from her view explain things that otherwise maybe would be left

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