Visual Literacy- A Single Man Movie Reflection

The movie A Single Man was interesting, I was enticed the entire time I was watching it, and ended up really liking it although I do not know why. I believe the message throughout this movie is that although life is tough, there is more to push through for. George Falconer is the main character and is a professor. He recently lost his boyfriend of 16 years to a car crash, and does not want to continue going and is going to commit suicide. Throughout the course of the events of his life and the people he coincides with end up changing his mind, and he decided to burn the suicide notes and lock up the gun by the end of the movie. Unfortunately passing away at the end of the movie due to a heart attack.

The director for this movie was Tom ford, who is known for being an American fashion designer. I believe his life experiences molded this movie into what it because. I also think the characters were very well dressed because of his profession!

This movie really added to my visual literacy. I do not know if it is because I am getting good at picking out the significance of the visuals or if the visuals were very obvious throughout the film. There were many times, where it was with the next door family or his flashbacks where only visuals and music are present. During this time we are left wondering the significance of the moment and what exactly what is happening. We are able to use our knowledge of the film and our personal life experiences to help mold the story. There is also a point in the movie where you are staring at a mural with eyes staring right back at you. The visual of the watching eyes, when he pulls up to the liquor store is also very important and could be interpreted in many different ways. I like to think it means that people are there to look after him and that people care very much and he matters. One of the most powerful visuals I saw was when he first put the loaded gun into his mouth. I cannot begin to image what was going through his head, but it was very powerful. I imagine people going through a hard time can relate and make a connection with this visual, when thinking about the battle of giving up and pushing through. The visuals were definitely used to help support the story line and the message being portrayed.

 

This is a picture of the mural I was talking about in the above paragraph. I decided to take a screen capture because I wanted to show how powerful the image is.
Source: A Single Man