Sarah Polley’s film Stories We Tell is as much about how we interpret images – what we take as “true” – as it is about how we remember. Through a close analysis of the film discuss what you think the film sets out to do and how it achieves these aims. In answering this question you might also want to look at reviews of the film. The truth is subjective and how we see the truth impacts the way we understand meaning. Each individual’s memory is a result of what they deem to be true. Sarah Polley questions this concept through her film ‘Stories We Tell’ and brings to light the topic of reliability and subjectivity in terms of memory and the truth. Polley highlights the notion of truth and how each individual sees it differently. In her film, she denotes that in order to understand the truth and its subjectivity, stories must be seen, heard, and told (Vulture 2013). The interviews depicted in Stories We Tell allow the audience to absorb the subject as well as witness each character revisit the past and see it in a different light. This is shown near the end of the film where each character is seen reflecting on the subject of their mother, reflecting on their “private memory, his or her ‘truth’” (Vulture 2013). Through presenting this near the end of the film, it allows the audience to register how subjective the truth is, in that although they all spoke about the same topic, the way in which they reflect on this is entirely associated with what they remember. What we see is not always what is true. While watching the film, the audience is captivated by the “archival footage” shown while Polley’s family members and friends recall what kind of person her mother, Diane, was. Initially, we as the audience do not question the footage... ... middle of paper ... ...ell-written-and-directed-by-sarah-polley.html?_r=1&> Edelstein, D 2013, Edelstein: Sarah Polley Climbs Her Own Family Tree in the Meta-Doc Stories We Tell, Vulture, accessed 2 May 2014, Film Society of Lincoln Center , ND/NF Q&A: "Stories We Tell", Sarah Polley, online video, May 10 2013, viewed May 5 2014, Weisel-Barth, J 2014 ‘Review of “The Stories We Tell”’, International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, Vol.9(2), p.162-166, DOI: 10.1080/15551024.2014.884526 Lussier, G 2013, /Film Interview: Sarah Polley Explains Secrets of her Brilliant Documentary ‘Stories We Tell’, Slash Film, accessed 2 May 2014,
...s Processes For Psychoanalytic Theory.” Psychoanalytic Review 100.6 (2013: 881-917. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 April 2014.
writes her stories with the intent to shock her readers into seeing the truth behind human
Todd, Janet. Women and Film. Vol. 4. New York, NY: Holmes and Meier Publishers, 1988.
Welty's honest tone draws readers more closely to her emotions regarding literature through phrases like "the feeling that resides in the printed word, reaches me through the reader-voice" and "whether I'm right to trust so far I don't know". Welty uses words like "truth" and "trust" in order to express her abstract emotions in a way that the reader can understand, but that is also representative of her actual feelings. She writes, "the sound of what falls on the page begins the process of testing it for truth" and "I have always trusted this voice". When people write, the words tend to resound inside their own heads as they go. By "truth", Welty means how "right" or "correct" the words sound together. This not only refers to grammar, but also
- - -. “Other Lives.” We Are the Stories We Tell. Comp. Wendy Martin. New York: Pantheon, 1990. 274-288. Print.
Allison has had a bitter past full of moments which have scarred her personality. She uses these and writes about the world that few are willing to admit exists. Many find refuge behind their gregarious nature and take comfort in religion or other bodies. However, that does not change the facts of what the world is and how it got there. Allison exposes her audience to these facts, and in the process, she shares her own view.
Sarah Ellen Polley is a Canadian actress, writer, director, and political activist. Sarah has starred and directed many popular films. One of the films she directed was Stories We Tell. Sarah Polley's compelling documentary, Stories We Tell, mainly focuses on her mother, Diane Polley, who passed away of cancer when Sarah was 11 years old in 1990. This documentary discusses Sarah Polley’s family secrets. Stores We Tell examines the deep and eventful relationship between Polley's parents: Michael and Diane Polley. The film includes many interviews with Polley's siblings from her mother's two marriages, and other interviews with other relatives and family friends. Families create their own stories and narratives. Each family has a unique story.
Throughout this semester, we have discovered some of the greatest psychoanalysts who have influenced and affected the mental health field forever. With their theories they have shaped the understanding of the human condition and how it develops. The purpose behind these methods of treatments is to help people discover, change, and progress in life. Through self-awareness people are able to achieve this progress. Psychoanalytical treatment gives patients the opportunity to examine these assumptions, understand their origins in their lives, modify them if necessary, and make better choices for themselves (AmericanPsychoanalyticAssoication). The doctor who stood out and who I understood the most was Erik Erikson, the founder of the “Identity Theory.” As for the literary figure I chose that connects to Erik Erikson’s theory is a well-known American writer and poet, Sandra Cisneros.
"Up Close and Personal" effectively portrays how exceptional journalism can still win success and fame. Not only does Tally Atwater prove that it is not about what you look like or whom you know, but what you are able to produce. If a person has the talent and integrity to work towards their goal, they will be successful. Tally teaches the viewer the importance of telling the true story regardless of societies reaction. Whether or not the public agrees with the story at hand, the truth is meant to be heard. In journalism, in the real world, society should expect the same moral conscious as Tally Atwater showed in her search for the real story.
As Margaret Atwood stated, “In the end, we’ll all become stories”. Although this quote can be translated as broad and obvious, there is a profound significance it carries in all lives because as stories accumulate and we reflect on them, they begin to define us. Sarah Polley’s 2013 Stories We Tell begins directly with Sarah Polley presenting her storytellers, who are all part of the family. Her father Micheal, her brothers, and her sisters. She simply asks her family to talk about, from the beginning, the story of their mother Diane. With a set of wide and medium shots in each family members house, the audience gets the sense that the stories are going to reveal personal and maybe even shocking revelations about their memories. Everyone has
...ents a story truth, one that tells the truth in regards to sensation and emotion. This is represented when the narrator says “makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard exact truth”(O’Brien pg. 68). O’Brien shows that it matters not that a story is fiction, so long as it represents the truth as it seemed.
Most people are very convinced that they have memories of past experiences because of the event itself or the bigger picture of the experience. According to Ulric Neisser, memories focus on the fact that the events outlined at one level of analysis may be components of other, larger events (Rubin 1). For instance, one will only remember receiving the letter of admission as their memory of being accepted into the University of Virginia. However, people do not realize that it is actually the small details that make up their memories. What make up the memory of being accepted into the University of Virginia are the hours spent on writing essays, the anxiety faced due to fear of not making into the university and the happiness upon hearing your admission into the school; these small details are very important in creating memories of this experience. If people’s minds are preset on merely thinking that memories are the general idea of their experiences, memories become very superficial and people will miss out on what matters most in life. Therefore, in “The Amityville Horror”, Jay Anson deliberately includes small details that are unnecessary in the story to prove that only memory can give meaning to life.
Barry, Peter. "Psychoanalytic criticism." Beginning Theory: an Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. 3rd ed. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2009. 92-115. Print.
Although this short story -- one of the greatest in American Literature -- was published almost a century before Sigmund Freud, a renowned psychologist and psychoanalyst, published his works, Young Goodman Brown almost explicitly illustrates how Freudian psychology works. A lot of aspects of psychology are depicted in this short story.
1. Nichols, Bill. ‘Why are Ethical Issues Central to Documentary Filmmaking?’ Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2001, p1-20