Amelie Essay PDF

Preview

Summary

Literary Analysis and Interpretation of the movie "Amelie" with the importance of symbolism in the plot....

Description

Analysis of Character Development With Symbolism Amélie’s bold and charming, yet shy personality is one of the most interesting aspects of the film. Amélie’s growth is beautifully expressed in a very transparent way, using symbolism for support. The symbolism gorgeously embellishes her growth from childhood, into her love life. Amélie’s character development carries the plot through the film, blossoming through each event that occurs. The film begins showing Amélie as a very curious girl, growing up in a lonely setting. Her parents leave a gaping hole in her childhood, lacking physical affection in their parenting. Amelie’s parents are very protective, homeschooling her in fear of health problems. As a single, homeschooled child, Amelie has almost no one to socialize with while growing up. Accommodating this social deficit, Amélie uses her wide imagination to entertain herself. The used camera her mother gifts to her becomes her window into the world, inspiring her to see things differently. Having no one to socialize with, Amelie instead finds satisfaction in everyday activities. “Amélie herself loves to plunge her hand into a sack of grain, or to crack the top of a crème brûlée with a spoon.” (Macdonald) These small pleasures in life show that Amelie finds joy in the smallest things, displaying her warm, grounded personality. Watching Amélie grow into a kind, young woman, the color red is used repeatedly through the scenes. The color red represents Amélie’s character in many ways: she is flirtatious, passionate, and full of romance. Amélie’s childhood shaped her into a very shy girl, however her thoughts and intentions are always full of life. “A waitress in a Parisian café, Amélie sees it as her mission in life to right wrongs and improve the lives of her customers.” (Smith) She has a heart of gold, going out of her way to perform

anonymous acts of kindness. As Amélie grows up, one of Amélie’s anonymous acts of kindness encourages her father to travel. In the film, her father’s garden gnome represents her father’s longlost dreams to travel. In Amélie’s childhood, he has many obstacles that force him to place his dreams aside for the good of his family. As an army doctor, he is constantly worried about Amélie’s health. In addition, Amélie’s mother hates the gnome, and moves it inside the garden shed, showing her bland personality. One day, long after the death of Amandine Fouet, Raphaёl Poulain brings out the garden gnome from the shed; this represents the returns of his dreams to travel. Amélie decides to secretly break off the gnome from her mother’s shrine, sending it around the world for pictures with a variety of landmarks. This shows Amélie’s intentions of helping her father move past her mother’s death, inspiring him to travel once more. We can see here that Amélie is growing emotionally as well, moving past the hardships of her mother’s death. Amélie’s anonymous actions eventually bring her to find her true love. After Amelie’s love interest drops his prized photo album, she picks it up, sending her love interest on a scavenger hunt without revealing her identity. The photo album she hides from him symbolizes her desire for romance in her life, despite her introverted personality. Growing up, Amélie only gets to experience romance by playing the role of matchmaker, watching the romantic relationship from afar. As she carries the photo album with her around town, her need for human interaction grows tremendously, while she watches her love interest scramble desperately to find his secret admirer. Amélie’s character growth is tremendous during this time, as she increasingly risks her personal comfort for the ability to reach into the world of romance.

Towards the second half of the movie, the photo booth and a telephone booth are significant parts of Amélie’s scavenger hunt for her love interest. These two objects symbolize a sense of safety for Amélie, as Amélie uses it as a hiding spot in many instances. Amélie is always filmed alone in the telephone and photo booth, often using the privacy to advance the next step of her plan. These two items are significant to Amélie’s character development because they help her become more comfortable with romance, while providing relief of discomfort as she stretches her comfort zone. Looking at the film as a whole, all of these symbols are very closely connected. Most significantly, the color red not only represents Amélie’s personality, but follows Amelie’s character development through the movie from start to finish. At the very beginning of the movie, Amélie is shown eating red raspberries off her fingers. When she grows up, Amélie wears a bold red lip, as well as a lot of red clothes as she gets older. Amelie’s apartment is full of red, from the color of the walls to the sheets on her bed. The photo booth that starts the scavenger hunt between Amelie and her love interest is also red. This shows the romantic side of Amélie’s personality that has always been a part of her since her childhood. In Amélie’s apartment, the color red is a common theme in the furniture and decorations. Amélie spends a lot of time in her room, showing that she felt this space was comfortable and safe. At the end, when she finally meets her lover face to face, he enters her apartment, initiating intimacy and physical touch. This shows that Amélie finally becomes comfortable with romance, and she has established trust with her love interest. With this happy ending, this event wraps up the progression of Amélie’s character development as she grows up. Her amazing progress through the film

gradually reveals the romantic side of her character. At the end of the film, she returns to her place of comfort with her love interest, showing the audience that she has fully matured into a woman who is fully comfortable with something that was foreign to her during childhood.

Word Count: 974 Works Cited

Macdonald, Moira. " ‘Amélie’ lights up Paris fairyland with romance, charm." Review of fffffffffffffffffffAmélie, by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Seattle Times, 9 November 2001 Smith, Neil. “Amélie (2001)” Review of Amélie, by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. BBC, 4 October fffffffffffffffffff2001...