Blog One.... Reality (Draft)

Hello

This is getting ridiculous. TWO assignment posts in ONE day? :O
I'm either spending waaaaaay too much time on these.... or I have too much free time. Either way. I hope you enjoy!

In each blog there will be, an introduction to which idea from the film/book is being presented
This post will cover the topic of 'To what extent are we capable of creating our own reality?' This question will be looked at through discussing the movie/book, Life of Pi.

the philosophical idea will then be explained
The question 'To what extent are we capable of creating our own reailty?' sounds very hard, but it is actually rather simple when explained with an example. Okay, imagine a fat middle aged guy who sits at his computer all day and earns nil. Then, imagine that this fat middle aged guy imagines that he is a hot model. How long do yout think that he can keep believing himself to be a hot model? Maybe. If he truly belives he was a hot model, to himself, he will be that person. However, if he then walks  
down the street and smiles at some girls, believing he is a hot male, then I'm not too sure that his own reality will last very long. The point is, that our reality is created through many people, and not just ourselves.

how the film explains this idea will then be explored
The movie, Life of Pie, raises this question through looking at the extent to which Pi, the main character, is capable of creating his own reality. In Life of Pi, the main character, Pi, is shipwrecked in a lifeboat. In the lifeboat, there is Pi, and a tiger whose name is Richard Parker. Throughout the whole of the movie/book, we are left to believe that Richard Parker is real. However, nearing the end of the story, it becomes very confusing. There is a scene, in the movie, in which Pi closes his eyes, and then Richard Parker is nowhere to be found. This leads to more confusion and discussion about whether the tiger was real or not. This therefore raises the question of the extent to which Pi is capable of creating his own reality. Did he create his Richard Parker, or was Richard Parker real?

then we will evaluate how well the film explains the idea through content and presentation
The movie Life of Pi is a brilliant film, partly because of the clever way it addressed this question.. The director managed to make the viewers unsure of whether Richard Parker was real or not. The director did this by making some clever editorial decisions. Firstly, when Pi's ordeal is over, Richard Parker disappears. This raises the question of whether Pi actually created Richard Parker as a way to get through his ordeal or whether Richard Parker was actually real. If Pi created Richard Parker as a way to get through his ordeal then he did create his own reality. Secondly, nearing the end of the book, Pi was interrogated by two Japanese men who were sent to investigate the crash of Pi's ship. During the interrogation, Pi tells the two men his story and the Japanese men don't believe that a TIGER was on board with him. Pi then changes his story to fit the men's expectations. In this way the movie/book addresses the question of whether we can make our own reality because Pi is forced to change his reality to meet the expectations of other people. Think about how the fat guy with glasses in the opening example was also unable to maintain his reality because of the infuence of other people.

I will give my opinion and discuss the idea
The movie does not confirm or denying whether we create our own reality because we never find out whether or not Richard Parker is real. I honestly think that yes we are capable of creating our own reality, however it only happens in solitude. If we think back to the fat guy with glasses, we can see that he can believe he is a hot model as long as no one else is around to break the illusionary reality that he has created. If anyone wants to counter this argument and say 'Oh well, daydreaming is like creating your own little world, but you can daydream even when you're with other people'.

I don't care, said to the statement above^^^

Well, then yes... But in you're daydream, no DURING your daydream, you are quite solitary. You're in YOUR OWN LITTLE WORLD. Dreaming. In the daytime. So I think that it can only happen in times where you are in solitude. But that's just me. Go have your little thoughts about daydreaming, probably daydream about daydreaming...

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading my view on the first topic of discussion in Life of Pi Blog-and-Tell, and I shall see you next time!

Peace out Girl Scouts


Ps, if this post has been too simple for you and you were expecting something more mind blowing, then figure this out for yourself. When being interrogated about his shipwreck Pi said:

'If you took the city of Tokyo and turned it upside down and shook it you would be amazed at the animals that fall out: badgers, wolves, boa constrictors, crocodiles, ostriches, baboons, capybaras, wild boars, leopards, manatees, ruminants, in untold numbers. There is no doubt in my mind that that feral giraffes and feral hippos have been living in Tokyo for generations without seeing a soul'. 


I'll give you a hint: do you need to see something to believe it is real or can you create your own reality by making something real even if you can't physically see it.

BTW, I told you the tiger was CG!!!