Elephant (2003) by Gus Van Sant and Interbeing in Interactions with People

Elephant (2003)

Director: Gus Van Sant

Writer: Gus Van Sant

Stars: Elias McConnell, Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, and John Robinson

     Here is a trailer from the movie Elephant by Gus Van Sant (the French subtitles are due to the fact that this clip was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in the South of France).  The trailer provides clips from a few important scenes and general background from the movie.  The movie is about a high school shooting in Portland, Oregon and the camera tracks each character's entire day, including their interactions with other main characters.  What's unique about this film is that it follows each character separately rather than as sequential events in the character's day.  In this way, Elephant gives the audience a chance to walk in each character's shoes in order to have an emotional connection with each character and notice in an extreme way how everyone in the school is, indeed, connected through their everyday interactions or even just in walking by a group of people.  One particular short clip in the trailer is of a student throwing a piece of paper at Alex (Alex Frost), one of the main characters and one of the shooters in the movie.  This exact action pushes Alex over the edge and solidifies his decision to bring a gun to school.

John having his picture taken from his point of view

     What I have noticed, after studying this particular film and its connection to the principle of interbeing, is how the characters don't really have names.  Each character, even the main ones, were given the same names as the actors who played them.  The only character given a last name is John McFarland (John Robinson) since his father also plays a part in the film (Mr. McFarland) and he is the most important character, since he is the only one who knows about the shooting before it happens and is the only character who tries to stop it from happening by telling others.  The way John tries to stop the incident (he tells everyone he possibly can not to enter the school) proves that each person's individual experience is important, yet we are still all interconnected regardless.  Even though only one person knew about the shooting besides the shooters, he could still save many lives by connecting with people and making others aware of the situation.  It's almost like a domino effect where one person knows one thing and tells three people, then they tell three people, etc.


     This scene portrays Nathan (Nathan Tyson) walking through the halls of his high school before the shooting.  This scene displays his interactions with the characters throughout the school as he walks from the field to his girlfriend.  He walks past runners, frisbee players, a guitarist, and others on his way into the school.  In the school, he passes random high schoolers at their locker or walking through the halls as well. He walks by a group of three girls, who notice him and gossip about how "cute" he is.  This group of gossipy girls are later followed around the school just as Nathan is in this scene.  The scene shows them watching Nathan from their point of view, proving that everything a person says or does - even just being present in another person's presence can have an impact on other people.

     Just to further address the film's emphasis on the concept of interbeing, I've included this additional short clip of one of the shooters, Alex (Alex Frost) playing piano in his room before Alex and Eric (Eric Deulen) go out on their shooting spree.  Notice the music Alex plays (Beethoven's "Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor, No. 2 Moonlight - Adagio Sostenuto") matches the music played in the previous clip, showing that even though Nathan and Alex are in two completely different locations and are not a part of each other's lives, they can still impact one another, and ultimately do when Alex kills Nathan and his girlfriend.

Alex and Eric on their unfortunate mission

     Our interactions with other people create a sense of interconnectedness between people no matter how much one knows another person or the proximity between strangers.  The simple act of throwing paper at another student in class pushed the student to start a school shooting.  John's warning to others about entering the school created a trust between strangers.  These people could choose to trust John, a stranger, and stay out of the school, or choose to ignore him.  Our connections with people are so important that it could mean someone's life or death.  The film Elephant portrays the impact we have on other people's lives no matter how close they are to us.

Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363589/
Elephant (2003) - Gus Van Sant

Image Credit:
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