In Seven Pounds every
scene has a very important meaning as you look deeper into what's going on. The
way the Character is positioned, his or her type and or the color of clothing,
the lighting, and many other things can tell you more information on the story
and can give you more feelings towards the movie. In the film Seven Pounds, the
meaning of water is very important and significant to Ben himself. Another
important object that is significant to Ben and makes the audience think
of him when you see it is the box jellyfish that the audience sees in
the beginning of the film. Some other important descriptions you can
go into are the colors that Ben, Emily and Ezra wear. Seven Pounds is about
a guy named Ben who is an NASA engineer. Earlier in his life, he and his
wife were driving in a car when he looked down at his phone and ended up
swerving into other car killing seven people including his fiancée. He was the
only survivor. For two years he was living with the pain that he carries and
ends up giving away his organs to people he felt were worthy, in an attempt for
redemption. Tim donates a lung lobe to his brother. Six months
later he donates part of his liver to a child services worker named Holly.
After that, he begins searching for more candidates to receive donations. He
finds a man named George, a junior hockey coach, and donates a kidney to him,
and donates bone marrow to a young boy who assumingly had cancer. Two
weeks before he dies he gives his home away to a woman named Connie, who was
being abused by her boyfriend. When he dies he gives his heart to Emily, who he
started falling in love with, and his eyes to a blind man named Ezra. The two
most important objects in this film that give off the most meaning are the
water and the jellyfish that fallow Ben around where ever he goes.
Water has a very
important meaning in this film that directly relates to Ben. Water has a duel
nature meaning in this film because it symbolizes both life and death which is
what Ben is often looked at as. Ben is "death walking" but also is
life by how he is saving other people by giving away his organs. In
the beginning of the film, Ben is swimming the open ocean as his
voice is saying "God created the world in seven days, and in seven seconds,
I shattered mine". The scene is shot in a reversed gods/bird’s eye view.
The scene is shot with a low-key light as Ben swims towards the sun which is
the only source of light. The color of the scene is mainly blue
(Seven Pounds). This shot gives off a calming feeling
with the blue ocean water as the color blue means calm, stability and
peace. But at the same time it gives off a different meaning as blue can also
mean depression. The scene is shot from a reverse gods/bird’s eye view which
means looking up at Ben from an abyss or a hell. The low-key lighting gives off
a darkness that Ben is trying to swim away from into the light, given that the
way he’s been feeling with what he had done. Another scene with water is when Ben
is on the reef looking out into the ocean. Ben has been depressed for a long
time with the regret of seven deaths on his shoulders. The scene has Ben standing
on the top of a rock by his beach house looking out into the ocean as the waves
are crashing into the side of the reef (Seven
Pounds). The scene is shot with an extreme long shot as it lets the
audience see the ocean and look at Ben from a distance peering out to the ocean.
This shot can also be considered as an establishing shot which tells the
audience that there is something off. The meaning of the wave crashing into the
rock and rising as it hits means on the path to virtue, which means path to
worthiness. The next scene that features water is when, Connie comes running
back to Ben asking if he really can help her. Ben brings her and her children
to his house saying that he wants to give her his beach house and all she would
have to do is sign the papers that moves the house into her name. She ends up
signing it hoping that it would start and new and better life for her and her
children (Seven Pounds). In this
scene it shows the audience Connie staring into the ocean at sunset. The scene
is show with a high key lighting which gives you a calm feeling and gives the audience
the prediction that Connie and her children’s life will get better. She is also
surrounded by a beautiful nature setting, which means, happiness, healing,
Innocence and hope. Connie is also looking out into the calm blue ocean which
gives you another calm feeling. The symbolic meaning behind the ocean can mean
two different things, but in this particular scene, it means hope and truth. As
been realizes that he really loves Emily, he runs to the hospital to find out
what the chances are of her getting a heart. He finds out that there is a less
than five percent chance that she’ll get a heart with her rare blood type. This
is when Ben accepts what he must do in order to save Emily’s life. He calls his
lawyer while he’s walking outside, while it’s raining telling him that he is
going through with his original plan (Seven
Pounds). In the scene is shot in shallow focus, which focuses the audiences’
vision directly towards Ben as he calls his lawyer. Also in this
shot, Ben is not in the middle of the frame, as he is to the left of the frame.
Also as he is on the phone it’s raining which means, rain or pouring rain is often use to create a sense of
foreboding, or impending disaster.
Another important aspect in
this film is the meaning behind the jellyfish which ends up killing him in his
final scene. The jellyfish is just like water as it also has a duel nature as
although the creature is very beautiful and majestic, at the same time is
extremely dangerous and deadly. The symbolic meaning of a jellyfish is
acceptance and faith. When Ben moves into the hotel, he brings his box
jellyfish with him. He flashes back to the first time he seen a box jellyfish
while filling up the tank. He’s with his father and brother staring into an
aquarium with jellyfishes in them. His hands are pressed against the glass as
he is mesmerized by their beauty. While he, his brother and his father are
watching the jellyfish, Ben said that he never forgot what his father said, “they
were the most deadly creature on earth” (Seven
Pounds). This scene is shot with low key lighting and the only light used
is the brightness from the aquarium. It uses deep focus as both Ben and the
jellyfish are in focus as well as everything else in the scene to reference
that it wouldn’t be the last time these two meet. There’s a little bit of foreshadowing
as Bens hands are pressed against the glass which is also what the jellyfish
rapes around him in the death scene. The shot is a medium close up to show that
the jellyfish and Ben are one. After Ben goes to meet Ezra in the diner, Ben is
seen with the jellyfish in his hotel room. Ben is facing away from the camera
as the jellyfish is seen on his right hand side when he gets a call from Emily,
which ended up back in the hospital (Seven
Pounds). The scene is a close up just enough to fit both the jellyfish and
Ben in the shot. It symbolizes that both of their lives are intertwined. It’s shot
with a low key lighting again, as they are trying to make mostly everything
around Ben a darkness. Ben is not facing the camera which gives the audience
the feeling of sadness for Ben. Also in this scene there is no items around Ben
and gives a emptiness feeling deep within. Another scene with the jellyfish is
when Ben comes back to the hotel with Emily’s dog after he visits her in the
hospital when he asked her to look after him until she get released. It’s also
when Emily gets the pager after she learns that she needs a new heart. He also
brings food for the jellyfish. In this scene the shot is focused on the
jellyfish as it kills the fish Ben brought for it. Ben is out of focus directly
behind the jellyfish as it overlaps him. When Ben gets a call from Connie they
both go out of focus (Seven Pounds).
This is in shallow focus as it focuses solely on the jellyfish killing the
fish. Ben is out of focus directly behind the jellyfish giving another hint
that the two lives will meet soon.
Both of these aspects of Ben’s life
finally met at the end when Ben decides to commits suicide to save Emily’s life
and give Ezra the ability to see again. As Ben calls the ambulance, he flashes
back to the whole story behind why he is doing this. It shows him and his newly fiancée in his car
when he glances at his phone which causes him to get in an accident killing
seven people including his fiancée. As Ben gets into the tub filled with ice,
the jellyfish is next to it with the note left on the ground for the ambulance telling
them what to do with his organs (Seven
Pounds). The scene is shot in a gods eye view looking down on Ben as he’s
getting into the tub which symbolizes his coffin. The color in the shot is all
blue except for his shirt. Blue in this scene means healing and purification and
he is finally giving back what he had taken. As the scene progresses, Ben dumps
the jellyfish into the tub which latches onto his arm, killing him. As the
jellyfish is killing him he pulls the curtain down. His shirt turns to the
color of his fiancées dress when they got into the car accident. The ice was
thrown up by throwing himself around (Seven
Pounds). In this shot, it’s used with a close up on Bens face while he dies
which gives the audience more of a sadness feeling. The curtain that was pulled
down looks like the crunched steel on the car Ben and his fiancée were driving
in the accident. And the ice that was thrown out looks like the broken glass in
the accident. Both of these can tell audience that in his death he is with his
wife back when the accident happened. It also tells the audience that he feels
like he died two years ago with his fiancée.
Everything comes together
in the end in the suicide of Ben Thomas as he is in the water as the jellyfish
kills him. In the end Ben is with his fiancée as he is dying and then as his
heart is being transferred he is with Emily. He never expected to fall for
Emily which is why he went to see what the chances were of her getting a heart
to see if they could be together without him dying. But in the end he had to do
what he felt was needed which brought the two most important symbols together.
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