Beast Of The Southern Wild Essay

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Beasts of the Southern Wild My first reaction to this film was, what does this film have to do with Louisiana History? As I watched it in class, and again at home three times, I tried to find symbolism relating to the conditions of our state and our world. Wading through disturbing images I saw poverty, neglect and decay. I tried to relate my own experiences to this film. I saw first-hand the effects of salt water intrusion on the trees, parks and other green spaces of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In this paper I will explore some of my impressions of the film, Beasts of the Southern Wild. Wink speaks of the place where he and Hushpuppy live as “my beautiful place.” He takes her to the levee in his ‘boat’ and shows her the ugliness on the other side of the levee. Their ‘boat’ is the cut off bed of a pickup truck. Somehow Wink has made it water-tight. Barrels serve as pontoons and he has added a motor. It carries an ice chest, some tools, fishing gear, and an array of other junk that Wink uses to help them survive life in the Bathtub. This boat is their livelihood, their connection to everything else and it is their lifeline when the flood comes. From the back of his boat Wink teaches Hushpuppy to…show more content…
Hushpuppy speaks of the levee as a wall that was built to separate them. She says they live outside the levee, however, after the flood Wink and his friends go to the wall to blow it up so that the water will drain from the Bathtub. He says he, “ain’t starving to death while them people are going grocery shopping and all that.” What does this mean? People grocery shopping is not what caused the flood in the Bathtub. How does blowing a hole in the levee drain the Bathtub, that is outside the levee, by letting the water IN. Somehow magic happens and the Bathtub drains dry, rather than more water coming into

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