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Wang 1 Yifei Wang Dan Carrion Drama 62 MWF 11-1150AM 3/2/2017

Analysis of “Falling Down” The film Falling Down is about an ordinary man called Bill that loses control of his anger and frustration when confronted with typical everyday stress. He has reached his outburst point and lost his sense of self. The film shows examples of both cultural and social issues in the society. The film has great emphasis on the criticism of contemporary western culture and it places many social factors in the context of a social setting with cultural influences. The plot structure of this film is very clear. At the beginning of the film, we can see the protagonist Bill, portrayed by Michael Douglas, is stuck in a traffic jam in Los Angeles, California in a hot day. The director demonstrates the exposition by showing Bill’s face as the point of attack. Closely followed is the inciting incidence when Bill gets out of his car and abandons it in the traffic jam. The rising actions or complications of crisis are Mr. Lee—Angel’s Fight Hill—Drive by—guy in the park—Whammy Burger—not economically viable man—surplus store— phone call—traffic jam—golf course—BBQ—shoots Sandra. The climax is when Bill falls from the pier after being shoot. The falling actions are captain--Sandra is ok—Adele’s birthday party. The resolution is Bill’s face again, which perfectly in accordance with his face at the beginning. It creates a contrast between Bill’s

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condition before and after. The first Bill is happy while the second Bill is already dead. By displaying his face on the tape, I feel empathy of what Bill has gone through. The tape is all we have left of him. Overall. I think the plot structure of this film is very compact and organized. The story is so brilliant that it enticed me to continue watching it and I was always curious about what is going to happen next. In my opinion, the actors and actresses all did an incredible job in portraying their own characters in the film. Michael Douglas who played Bill and Robert Duvall who played Prendergast, portray life as real, funny and aggravating as it truly is. Michael Douglas did an excellent job in his role of an average worker, and Robert Duvall’s acting is vivid and deep. Falling Down represents all Americans, the aggravation, road rage, raising issues of social justice, and conflictions between different ethnicities. It illustrates everyday situations in a fresh perspective. The striking similarities between Bill and the police officer Prendergast is what drive the whole story. Bill uses extreme behaviors to break through his dilemma to attain what he thinks “freedom” and “home”. Indeed, his life is in a mess. His wife left him with their daughter. He has to live with his mother relying on his modest salary. However, he becomes “economically inviable” a month ago. The eruption in the convenience store is like opening up a joint. Everything seems to be enlightened, he thinks he can do whatever he wants to do resorting to

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violence. On this way back home, he collects two things: violence and thought. On the contrary, the old police officer deals with his life crisis in another way. He seems to be isolated from the world as well. His police career is coming to an end. Waiting for him are a wife with mentally instability and a sad situation where he does not have any children in his late years. The sudden death of his daughter becomes a haziness of pain and sadness he can never walk out of. During the process of pursuing Bill, he is not conceited but humble and courteous. Regardless of subordinates, suspects, or witnesses, he treats them with respect and manner. In contrast, as a matter of fact, these two roles are slightly over exaggerated, one is too evil and the other is too virtuous. Bill is at the peak of his mid-life crisis. He walks away from the traffic congestion, heading towards his ultimate fate of sadness. Right before his death, he has no choice but to accept such a helpless outcome. There is no grief in his expression, only deep resignation. Millions of people in the city are just like him, the identical figures standing in dutiful, orderly rigidity like office drones just waiting to be knocked down by an immense force far more bigger than themselves. They passively accept the abuse against them; that is their inevitable role in this ruthless society. At the end, Prendergast finally swears to his boss who despises him a lot. He is sitting on the step to consider whether he should continue to take on this dangerous occupation, imagining his beloved wife at home shed tears when she is

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making chicken feast. Reality, the antagonist, is what stops both of them from achieving their ultimate goal—going home. Human nature is like a coin, it is divided into two sides to see which side you choose. The story is mainly about broken ideals, which evokes populist sentiment, juxtaposed with the idea of a battle or a struggle. I think the movie accurately reflects the urban population who are extremely depressed and lack of appropriate psychological counseling. I cannot help but think that maybe we are all potential “terrorists”. We have the most common hairstyle, eat the most common lunch, rarely have a turning head while strolling on the streets. Suddenly on one day, we feel the need to be respected, cared, and rewarded. We realize our give outweighs the take by too much, and then we start to have a distorted and unbalanced mental state. Just like what the old police officer Prendergast said in the movie, “you still got the choice.” Likewise, we all still have our options and we get our fates in hand. “So don’t lose it, don’t falling down.” The film successfully demonstrates dramatic action. First, it is complete and self-contained. The story has beginning, middle and end. Second, it is purposeful. It evokes my response of pity and thought for the protagonists. Third, it is varied and complex. Bill’s adventures are unfolded by many different encounters and incidents when making his way across the city of Los Angeles. Fourth, it engages and maintains interest. The whole film is compelling, and it arouses my interest.

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Last, the plot is probable. It is logically consistent despite of a few theatrical exaggerations. Moreover, the total design effort work together and function as it should for a theatrical performance. The costume design is ingenious. When we look at the resemblance between Prendergast and Bill, we can find that they both wear black slacks, white shirts and ties. Interestingly, Bill has dark tie with light yellow diagonal stripes. Meanwhile, Prendergast has light yellow tie with dark diagonal stripes. The opposite pattern cleverly indicates their opposite personality and attitude. The props in the film are worth discussing as well. There are many symbolic props throughout the movie. Bill bought for his daughter as her birthday present. The water gun serves as a dramatic twist. It was shown for the first time when Beth (Bill’s ex-wife) told the little girl to stop playing it. And when Prendergast is confronting with Bill directly, nobody expects Bill to pull out a water gun. Also, the billboard on the street implies that Bill and Prendergast are both controlled by a woman. The snow globe bought by Bill for his daughter’s birthday represents a fantasy world. Bill is as if he is living in his own fantasy world where he successfully retaliates against the society, even if he is unhappy about the policy that fast food restaurant stop the supply of breakfast at certain time.

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In conclusion, Falling Down does a good job of representing a genuine feeling in our society today. It is like a black comedy at first and then it culminates into a reasonably portrait of the urban reality. “The man is not sick, the society is sick.” In general, I think the individual actors achieve a successful characterization and the areas of the design are effective....