Dystopian Changes In The Movie Divergent
The film Divergent directed by Neil Burger is set in a dystopian future, in a country which is divided into five factions, Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful) and Erudite (the intelligent). Each managed in an attempt to form a utopian society. At the age of sixteen children of the factions must choose a faction to which they will now be apart of for the rest of their life. A character that changes throughout the film is strong willed sixteen year old Beatrice Prior (Tris) when on choosing day she rejects her familys group and chooses a whole new faction called The Dauntless. After she discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly ‘perfect society’ she becomes a protagonist and is forced to fight for the country. The changes that Tris makes throughout the film help me understand that to survive in the real
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world you must use your identity and strengths to uncover the truth about your characteristics and society itself. We can see this in a number of techniques used throughout the film such as long shots, mid shots, close ups, voiceovers and dialogue.
At the start of the film Tris is introduced as a strong willed character but is yet defenseless against the leaders of Dauntless as she has to follow orders that she wouldn’t normally agree with. An important scene where this is shown is when Beatrice is in the training ground when one of the leaders, Eric threatens one of her friends Will to stand up against the target while Eric's assistant Four would throw the knives at him. But if Will flinches he will now be out of the Dauntless and thrown into the Factionless. As Will steps up to be a target, Tris steps in. To show this we see a close up of a brooding expression etched on her face. This shows that Tris is already growing conflict towards the Dauntless leaders as she believes that this is more than a consequence it is a death sentence. Through her dialogue with Eric we can see that Tris naturally cares about others more than herself. She says “Stop, anyone can stand in front of a target it doesn’t prove anything” which shows the audience that Tris is naturally a fighter as she is brave and strong willed by this she is able to step up for what she believes in.
As the movie progresses the viewer sees a change in Tris.
We can see that Tris is now capable of surviving as she is able to now do things that she disagrees on stick up for herself and her friends without minding what the Dauntless leaders think of her. A key scene that shows this when Tris comes into the corridor of the Dauntless headquarters and shoots Peter. A member of her new formed team (Marcus Eaten) tells Tris that he doesn't agree with her shooting another this particular Dauntless soldier. We see this in a mid shot of the complete disbelief on Tris’s face as she is horrified to what Marcus is saying. We then hear Tris’s voice as dialogue “Every minute we waste another Abnegation dies and another Dauntless becomes a murderer”. The way that Tris dealt with this situation helps the audience understand that Tris is now using the advantage that she is divergent to take a stand against the Dauntless leaders. This action also helps the audience understand that Tris is able to stand up as a protagonist and think precisely about the different consequences behind her actions before she
acts.
In my opinion Neil Burger wants us to make a change in society, he wants us to learn to put others before our own needs. To do this we need to stop going against certain peoples rules, we need to stop trying to fit in and start being independent individuals taking a stand for what we believe in. In this film, Erudite was constructed by antagonists who believed that the faults in society are human ignorance. The initial reason behind the forming of Erudite was to eliminate ignorance from human minds. But it soon steered away from its initial belief and hatched up a plan to overthrow the government system and restore themselves as leaders of the city. Doing this the members of Dauntless had a different perspective and had no idea that they were soon to become held as servant murderers for Erudite composed by a mind control virus. Due to Dauntless and Erudite being a team the people of each fraction were forced to follow because they were afraid of the consequences if they didn’t. But as Tobias points out Tris is an individual that does not let fear shut her out, instead it wakes her up, due to this she is able to step up as a symbol of hope for both Dauntless and Abnegation and take back the peace which is rightfully theirs. The change that happens to Tris helps us understand that it is important to believe in yourself and stand up for what you believe in. As for many of us we stand back and blend in with the crowd but by standing up for what we truly believe in we can make a positive change in the world.
world you must use your identity and strengths to uncover the truth about your characteristics and society itself. We can see this in a number of techniques used throughout the film such as long shots, mid shots, close ups, voiceovers and dialogue.
At the start of the film Tris is introduced as a strong willed character but is yet defenseless against the leaders of Dauntless as she has to follow orders that she wouldn’t normally agree with. An important scene where this is shown is when Beatrice is in the training ground when one of the leaders, Eric threatens one of her friends Will to stand up against the target while Eric's assistant Four would throw the knives at him. But if Will flinches he will now be out of the Dauntless and thrown into the Factionless. As Will steps up to be a target, Tris steps in. To show this we see a close up of a brooding expression etched on her face. This shows that Tris is already growing conflict towards the Dauntless leaders as she believes that this is more than a consequence it is a death sentence. Through her dialogue with Eric we can see that Tris naturally cares about others more than herself. She says “Stop, anyone can stand in front of a target it doesn’t prove anything” which shows the audience that Tris is naturally a fighter as she is brave and strong willed by this she is able to step up for what she believes in.
As the movie progresses the viewer sees a change in Tris.
We can see that Tris is now capable of surviving as she is able to now do things that she disagrees on stick up for herself and her friends without minding what the Dauntless leaders think of her. A key scene that shows this when Tris comes into the corridor of the Dauntless headquarters and shoots Peter. A member of her new formed team (Marcus Eaten) tells Tris that he doesn't agree with her shooting another this particular Dauntless soldier. We see this in a mid shot of the complete disbelief on Tris’s face as she is horrified to what Marcus is saying. We then hear Tris’s voice as dialogue “Every minute we waste another Abnegation dies and another Dauntless becomes a murderer”. The way that Tris dealt with this situation helps the audience understand that Tris is now using the advantage that she is divergent to take a stand against the Dauntless leaders. This action also helps the audience understand that Tris is able to stand up as a protagonist and think precisely about the different consequences behind her actions before she
acts.
In my opinion Neil Burger wants us to make a change in society, he wants us to learn to put others before our own needs. To do this we need to stop going against certain peoples rules, we need to stop trying to fit in and start being independent individuals taking a stand for what we believe in. In this film, Erudite was constructed by antagonists who believed that the faults in society are human ignorance. The initial reason behind the forming of Erudite was to eliminate ignorance from human minds. But it soon steered away from its initial belief and hatched up a plan to overthrow the government system and restore themselves as leaders of the city. Doing this the members of Dauntless had a different perspective and had no idea that they were soon to become held as servant murderers for Erudite composed by a mind control virus. Due to Dauntless and Erudite being a team the people of each fraction were forced to follow because they were afraid of the consequences if they didn’t. But as Tobias points out Tris is an individual that does not let fear shut her out, instead it wakes her up, due to this she is able to step up as a symbol of hope for both Dauntless and Abnegation and take back the peace which is rightfully theirs. The change that happens to Tris helps us understand that it is important to believe in yourself and stand up for what you believe in. As for many of us we stand back and blend in with the crowd but by standing up for what we truly believe in we can make a positive change in the world.