The obsession of being “the best” shows up in every movie we have watched so far. The dark Knight, Proof, Singing in the Rain, and the Prestige all have characters that cross the line of commitment and start to become obsessed. My definition of committed would be making small sacrifices in life for something one cares about or wants to achieve. Obsessed in other terms would be making large sacrifices which have the potential to hurt one’s self or their family just to achieve their goal or want.
In the movie Proof we see Catherine’s dad be crazy and how she reacts to him being insane. Catherine eventually becomes so interested in the question of “if she crazy”; that she crosses the line of committed and becomes obsessed. Catherine sacrifices her sanity to figure out whether she is crazy or if she is just imagining it. She is so obsessed with not being crazy she clings to the only person who will tell her that she is sane. Throughout the movie the audience is not quite sure if Hal is helping Catherine for the right reasons or if he wants to get close to her so he can publish the proofs. Catherine does trust him but is a big part of that because he tells her that she is normal? Catherine’s sister treats her like she is just like her father and completely insane. This makes Catherine even more interested in whether or not she is crazy. Towards the end we even see Hall start to wonder if Catherine wrote the proof or if she is just a little wacky. Eventually she has flashbacks proving that she was indeed the one who wrote the proofs, which convinces the audience that she is not crazy. Although the audience knows that Catherine is not crazy is she convinced?
The issue of being obsessed also appears in The Dark Knight. In The Dark Knight Batman is portrayed a the best hero ever. I think because of the city’s expectations, Bruce Wayne is obsessed with being “good” and having good morals. I would describe Wayne as obsessed more than committed because he sacrifices himself, his body, and every day of his life to protect Gotham from evil. We see him lose his sanity in the scene with the Joker and him in the jail. He puts a chair in front of the door so nobody can stop him; he pins the joker up against the wall and seriously considers killing him. This is completely against Batman’s morals of never killing anyone. Bruce Wayne’s whole life is based around the safety of Gotham. If he were committed rather than obsessed he would not risk his life, and he would eventually say “that is enough”. In the movie we don’t see him once give up or just say “I’m done”. He is clearly obsessed with his reputation.
High Noon is very similar to The Dark Knight in reasons like one guy is trying to save the whole town from evil and that one guy sacrifices everything just so he can save the town. In High Noon we see Will Kane get married at the very beginning of the movie and put down his badge as the town’s Marshall. All the sudden he hears a rumor that Frank Miller is back in town. He and his new bride leave town but in fear of his town’s safety, Kane returns. He could have easily said “I’ve done enough, and I’m retired now”, but he doesn’t. This puts his new relationship in jeopardy. This is the first example of Kane being crazy. He sacrifices his brand new marriage in order to keep his town safe when he is not even the Marshall of the town anymore. When Kane returns he tries to gather up men from the town to help him fight Frank Miller. The men one by one all back out on Kane. He is betrayed by his own people even though he himself is very brave about fighting Frank Miller’s gang. This would be the perfect opportunity for Kane to back down. Although most normal people would back down at this point and leave town; Kane stays and ignores the fact that he is the only one who will be fighting against the Millers. This is the second example of Kane being obsessed with protecting his town. He sacrifices his safety by fighting them all by himself. Kane is even wounded in the fight but doesn’t give up. He eventually defeats them with pride. At the end of the movie we see Kane break his obsession of fighting for the people because once he defeats Miller he throws his golf star badge into the ground and leaves town with his new bride Amy.
Out of all of the movies we have watched, the theme of obsession definitely comes through the movie The Prestige the most. In my opinion, all of the magicians in this movie are obsessed. They all want to be the best at what they do. Borden is portrayed as the most obsessed. Borden (Alfred) has a twin brother (Fallon), they switch back and forth living as the magician and living as the assistant; they also switch roles playing Borden in real life. It would take so much energy to live a double life basically just for one trick. I couldn’t imagine sharing a husband with my sister. Do they not get jealous over each other? When one of the brothers gets his fingers shot off, the other brother cuts his off as well just to continue the illusion. In the beginning of the film we see Angier’s wife get killed because of the knot Borden tied. Does this event make Angier obsessed with getting revenge? I believe so. Later on in the movie (right around 1:34) Angier has a quote saying “I don’t care about my wife, I care about his secret.” This clearly shows that Angier is obsessed with magic and revenge. To say such an awful thing about his recently deceased wife says that his sanity is long gone. We also see Alfred say awful things to his wife. When Alfred's wife asks if he loves her or not he replies with "No, not today." The Prestige is a perfect example of people becoming obssessed by risking their family and their own lives for that obsession.
Throughout these movies each one of the character seem to become obsessed with different things. Is this real in life too? Do people become obsessed over their careers? Over what they do or don’t want to be portrayed as? I believe this is very much true in life. People spend more time with their coworkers than they do with their family members. People should asked themselves in life if they are committed or obsessed.
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