Film Analysis: Joe Versus The Volcano
Imagine standing in front of two paintings. The first: a picture of what most would consider a normal life. It illustrates a man with a job, a home, everything a person would need. The second picture had a very different depiction. It shows a man standing on a cliff with the whole world in front of him. With no belongings or baggage holding him back; he had everything in front of him to explore. Now what if you were able to choose one of these pictures and that would become your life? Many would choose the first painting. They would choose the safer route where everything they needed would be promised to them. But in the movie Joe Versus the Volcano the focal character Joe Banks lived a normal and very dull lifestyle, but he craved so much
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more. He wanted excitement and to get out of his rut. Joe despised his “safe life” and even said that it wasn’t even worth being called a life. Joe desired more to life than just what the first picture could offer him.
Joe’s world was bleak; he despised it.
His life was ordinary and he wasn’t exceptional, and he wanted so much more than his mundane routine. The movie begins with a scene of Joe walking into the factory where he works. You can tell very obviously that he hates his job from the tone in the first four minutes. As soon as he gets out of his car Joe finds his foot landed in a puddle of mud, but this didn’t even seem to faze him. His face read, “Of course this happened, this happens every day”, as he proceeded down the muddy path with everyone else. As he walks down the crooked road that leads to the gates the sole of his shoe rips, and after recognizing this he continues to traipse along. He gets pushed into the courtyard and throws his hands in the air and looks to the sky as the song in the background plays: “Another day older and deeper in debt - Saint Peter, don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go - I owe my soul to the company store”. Joe is a classic victim of an “everything bad happens to me” scenario. He hates his job and he always complains that the office was making him sick. Every day was the same monotonousness. He had completely lost his passion for life. He was constantly distracted at work and didn’t really care. Once Joe found out he was sick, quitting his job was the first thing he did. He didn’t want to waste his last bit of life working at the same place he had been at for four and a half years; doing work he claimed he could’ve done in six months. “That’s four years wasted. If i had them now, it would be like gold in my
hand.”
Have you ever found yourself feeling so unlike yourself and unhappy that you figure you must be sick? That’s how Joe was; he wanted to be sick, and he was a diagnosed hypochondriac. Whenever he would be asked how he was, he would always say he was tired and not feeling well. He would go to doctors appointments on a regular occasion because he knew that something must be wrong with him. When he was at the office he would constantly complain about the florescent lights; he said they made him feel blotchy, puffy, saying they were sucking the life out of him. He would constantly check his glands and make himself cough as if he was trying to convince himself he was sick with some sort of cold. When Joe met with the doctor he was told he had a fatal and incurable disease called a brain cloud. Once he heard this news, he accepted it immediately. It only made sense to him that he was dying; he didn’t want a second opinion, he just took it as his fate.
Joe didn’t want to be that man who worked a nine to five job that didn’t matter. Joe didn’t want to be the average Joe; he wanted to be a hero. Before he worked at the factory he was a firefighter; he saved lives. Once he dragged two children from a burning building and then went back for a third. He began to feel sick once he left the fire department. Of course this would be the guy someone would choose to trick into volunteering to jump in a volcano to save an island of people. Doing that would make him a hero. He would sacrifice himself in order to save someone else. Joe boarded a boat titled The Tweedle Dee with Mr. Graynamore’s daughter Patricia. When Patricia fell off of the boat during the storm Joe jumped into the raging sea to save her. After the boat sank he made a raft and used the only water he had to keep her hydrated, not giving himself any. He cared more for others than himself. When the time came for Joe to jump in the volcano he dressed in a suit and carried a martini. He walked towards his ultimatum with poise, with the air of a James Bond style. He was going to die the man he always wanted to live to be.
Prior to Joe learning about his condition his life was drab. He wanted to live his life with style. When given the opportunity to leave his gray life behind, Joe accepted without giving it a second thought and didn’t look back. When Mr. Graynamore approached him with his proposition Joe didn’t even take a moment to think it over, he immediately accepted. Mr. Graynamore told him “Live like a king, die like a man” and that idea intrigued Joe. He was going to die anyways, why not spend his final days in luxury? With his newly deep pockets he began living a life he had never known before. He rented himself a limo to drive him wherever he desired, but when the question of “Where do you want to go?” came up Joe was stumped and required the drivers assistance in helping him find the right places to shop. Joe bought everything he desired and didn’t hold back. The only limit he had was time. Even when he had everything he could imagine he still seemed to lack fulfillment.
It wasn’t until Joe found himself “away from the things of man” that he began to become who he always wanted to be. Facing death taught Joe how to live. He had to get out of his tedious life to realize the kind of man he had the potential to be. When Joe quit his job he had very little he took with him but a few thing he did have spoke volumes. He had three books: Robinson Crusoe, The Odyssey, and Romeo and Juliet. These books showed that Joe always wanted to be a man of adventure! He wanted to live a life worth remembering, with crazy stories of perilous adventures. He wanted to fall in love and meet the woman of his dreams- and that he did. If Joe was never told that he was going to die then he most likely would have never quit his job and found self-confidence. He would have never fallen in love and got married to the woman who seemed like someone he had met before. Because Joe thought he was going to die he began to live like a different man. He stopped feeling sick, he did things he never thought he would do, he finally became the man he always wanted to be.
Joe’s life didn’t truly begin until the day he was faced with the end. Joe knew what he wanted in life, but his dreams never seemed accessible. In his mind his desires were too much of a fairy tale to become true. But life takes risks; you’ll never know everything that you can have until you go out and take a chance and find out for yourself. The first picture may assure that you would have everything you needed to survive but sometimes that isn’t enough. In life you can’t always choose what’s easiest or most comfortable. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to us. Sometimes you have to choose the second picture where nothing is promised to you, and then you’ll truly learn how to live.
more. He wanted excitement and to get out of his rut. Joe despised his “safe life” and even said that it wasn’t even worth being called a life. Joe desired more to life than just what the first picture could offer him.
Joe’s world was bleak; he despised it.
His life was ordinary and he wasn’t exceptional, and he wanted so much more than his mundane routine. The movie begins with a scene of Joe walking into the factory where he works. You can tell very obviously that he hates his job from the tone in the first four minutes. As soon as he gets out of his car Joe finds his foot landed in a puddle of mud, but this didn’t even seem to faze him. His face read, “Of course this happened, this happens every day”, as he proceeded down the muddy path with everyone else. As he walks down the crooked road that leads to the gates the sole of his shoe rips, and after recognizing this he continues to traipse along. He gets pushed into the courtyard and throws his hands in the air and looks to the sky as the song in the background plays: “Another day older and deeper in debt - Saint Peter, don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go - I owe my soul to the company store”. Joe is a classic victim of an “everything bad happens to me” scenario. He hates his job and he always complains that the office was making him sick. Every day was the same monotonousness. He had completely lost his passion for life. He was constantly distracted at work and didn’t really care. Once Joe found out he was sick, quitting his job was the first thing he did. He didn’t want to waste his last bit of life working at the same place he had been at for four and a half years; doing work he claimed he could’ve done in six months. “That’s four years wasted. If i had them now, it would be like gold in my
hand.”
Have you ever found yourself feeling so unlike yourself and unhappy that you figure you must be sick? That’s how Joe was; he wanted to be sick, and he was a diagnosed hypochondriac. Whenever he would be asked how he was, he would always say he was tired and not feeling well. He would go to doctors appointments on a regular occasion because he knew that something must be wrong with him. When he was at the office he would constantly complain about the florescent lights; he said they made him feel blotchy, puffy, saying they were sucking the life out of him. He would constantly check his glands and make himself cough as if he was trying to convince himself he was sick with some sort of cold. When Joe met with the doctor he was told he had a fatal and incurable disease called a brain cloud. Once he heard this news, he accepted it immediately. It only made sense to him that he was dying; he didn’t want a second opinion, he just took it as his fate.
Joe didn’t want to be that man who worked a nine to five job that didn’t matter. Joe didn’t want to be the average Joe; he wanted to be a hero. Before he worked at the factory he was a firefighter; he saved lives. Once he dragged two children from a burning building and then went back for a third. He began to feel sick once he left the fire department. Of course this would be the guy someone would choose to trick into volunteering to jump in a volcano to save an island of people. Doing that would make him a hero. He would sacrifice himself in order to save someone else. Joe boarded a boat titled The Tweedle Dee with Mr. Graynamore’s daughter Patricia. When Patricia fell off of the boat during the storm Joe jumped into the raging sea to save her. After the boat sank he made a raft and used the only water he had to keep her hydrated, not giving himself any. He cared more for others than himself. When the time came for Joe to jump in the volcano he dressed in a suit and carried a martini. He walked towards his ultimatum with poise, with the air of a James Bond style. He was going to die the man he always wanted to live to be.
Prior to Joe learning about his condition his life was drab. He wanted to live his life with style. When given the opportunity to leave his gray life behind, Joe accepted without giving it a second thought and didn’t look back. When Mr. Graynamore approached him with his proposition Joe didn’t even take a moment to think it over, he immediately accepted. Mr. Graynamore told him “Live like a king, die like a man” and that idea intrigued Joe. He was going to die anyways, why not spend his final days in luxury? With his newly deep pockets he began living a life he had never known before. He rented himself a limo to drive him wherever he desired, but when the question of “Where do you want to go?” came up Joe was stumped and required the drivers assistance in helping him find the right places to shop. Joe bought everything he desired and didn’t hold back. The only limit he had was time. Even when he had everything he could imagine he still seemed to lack fulfillment.
It wasn’t until Joe found himself “away from the things of man” that he began to become who he always wanted to be. Facing death taught Joe how to live. He had to get out of his tedious life to realize the kind of man he had the potential to be. When Joe quit his job he had very little he took with him but a few thing he did have spoke volumes. He had three books: Robinson Crusoe, The Odyssey, and Romeo and Juliet. These books showed that Joe always wanted to be a man of adventure! He wanted to live a life worth remembering, with crazy stories of perilous adventures. He wanted to fall in love and meet the woman of his dreams- and that he did. If Joe was never told that he was going to die then he most likely would have never quit his job and found self-confidence. He would have never fallen in love and got married to the woman who seemed like someone he had met before. Because Joe thought he was going to die he began to live like a different man. He stopped feeling sick, he did things he never thought he would do, he finally became the man he always wanted to be.
Joe’s life didn’t truly begin until the day he was faced with the end. Joe knew what he wanted in life, but his dreams never seemed accessible. In his mind his desires were too much of a fairy tale to become true. But life takes risks; you’ll never know everything that you can have until you go out and take a chance and find out for yourself. The first picture may assure that you would have everything you needed to survive but sometimes that isn’t enough. In life you can’t always choose what’s easiest or most comfortable. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to us. Sometimes you have to choose the second picture where nothing is promised to you, and then you’ll truly learn how to live.