Movie 'Bravery In The Maze Runner'
In my opinion The Maze Runner is an outstanding film filled with a tremendous amount of tension and curiosity. When people are forced into circumstances that one would not necessarily choose, good friendships are formed and bravery is prominent throughout the film. The director managed to keep ones interest throughout the film. The point I am trying to make throughout the essay would be how friendships are formed within horrifying situations where bravery is necessary in order for survival. I will refer to friendship as the main theme and referring to subthemes and elements within the film that helps to create the emotion that the viewer experiences.
The film starts off with a young man (Thomas) arriving in what seems like a lift made of metal …show more content…
grid. The lift stops and opens to the glade which is a large grassland encircled by enormous concrete walls. Young men have been arriving in this manner each month for the past three years. There is only one opening in this concrete wall which opens in the morning and closes up in the evening. Beyond the walls is an immense maze which reorganises itself every night making it impossible for the people in the glade to escape.
One thing I noted was that there were only men captured and held in the glade, only later on were there one female brought up. These men, under the leadership of Alby, have constructed a set of rules and regulations which they lived by to give that sense of structure. Their abilities was assigned to jobs like, those good with their hands were builders that made tree houses and those good with farming grew the crops and others were runners. These men fostered really close relationships and although they were complete strangers when they first arrived at the glade, they quickly became a family.
Friendships fostered in really bad situations, as seen in The Maze Runner can be compared to the ones in a similar film –The Hunger games, where people are released in a controlled environment and forced to kill one another in order to be the winner of their district. The leading actress and a boy of the same district soon became friends although they were actually going up against one another.
PERSISTANCE
The first subtheme that we can identify in the film is persistence. Although the gladers have been trapped for so long they continued to be persistent by not giving up on trying to map out an escape route through the maze.
The Maze Runners were given the task to pin point an escape route through the passageway during daylight since the grievers (Spider-like creatures) flourishes at sun down preying on human flesh.
We see the lead character Thomas quickly evolving into a character that the others looked up to. Although they were continuously faced with troubling circumstances Thomas keeps inspiring his fellow maze occupants through his curiosity, determination, perseverance and strong will (Answers cloud services,2014).
We can relate this sub theme back to the main idea of friendship as we see Thomas making plans to not only keep himself alive but the other two boys as well thus making him the hero of the story as he gives hope to a besieged community.
BRAVERY
After engaging with one of the creatures Thomas took the task upon himself to push his fears to the side and re-enter the maze for the sake of his newly made friends.
Although not everyone who entered the maze was survivors, they can still be seen as heroes for having the courage to die trying.
Towards the end of the film, Chuck (a little boy) accomplished the ultimate act of bravery by taking a bullet for Thomas.
STRUCTURE IN SOCIETY
Even though the gladers have been stripped from their identities, thrown into the glade and left to pick up the pieces of their lives and puzzle them back together, they formulated a structure which gave meaning and purpose to their lives. Taking it back to friendship- all the gladers had to contribute their abilities in order for the structure to function well in their community. Al of them respected the jobs they were assigned to and valued one another so much that they lend a helping hand whenever needed whether it was to farm or to fight .This confirms the myth that society simply cannot function without proper structure.
DEATH
The last sub theme that serves as a driving inspiration behind the film is death. The comfort that they find amongst the large concrete walls which serves as protection from that which lurks within the maze contradicts the death trap that encircles the glade namely the maze.
According to Grade saver (2014) “Awaiting the Gladers outside the protective walls is a world run by monsters where they would likely die violent deaths.
The fear of painful and unpleasant deaths, rather than the fear of simply being dead, serves to control the children and limit the chances they are willing to take”.
Sometimes you may find yourself in terrifying circumstances and then you have no choice but to turn to those around you, usually friends and family. Some people even have the capability to surprise you when its least expected of them.
I hereby conclude that friendship is a clear theme throughout the film, friendships fostered in a horrifying environment which produces new challenges daily. In the last few minutes of the film a group of gladers managed to escape the maze and ended up in what appear to be the control room where the activities happening within the maze were monitored and the “lift” was operated by. They were taken by an unknown operation into a plane and told that their safety was guaranteed. A scene appears where the main woman of the operating room hints toward the idea that they have been fooled into believing that everything was now over.
Can she be trusted or do we have to wait for instalment two in order to answer that
question?
Bibliography
• Gradesaver.2014.The Maze Runner Themes.[Online]Available at: http://www.gradesaver.com/the-maze-runner/study-guide/major-themes/ [Accessed on 09 September 2014 ].
• Answers cloud services.2014.[Online]Available at: http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_theme_for_The_Maze_Runner [Accessed on 09 September 2014]
The film starts off with a young man (Thomas) arriving in what seems like a lift made of metal …show more content…
grid. The lift stops and opens to the glade which is a large grassland encircled by enormous concrete walls. Young men have been arriving in this manner each month for the past three years. There is only one opening in this concrete wall which opens in the morning and closes up in the evening. Beyond the walls is an immense maze which reorganises itself every night making it impossible for the people in the glade to escape.
One thing I noted was that there were only men captured and held in the glade, only later on were there one female brought up. These men, under the leadership of Alby, have constructed a set of rules and regulations which they lived by to give that sense of structure. Their abilities was assigned to jobs like, those good with their hands were builders that made tree houses and those good with farming grew the crops and others were runners. These men fostered really close relationships and although they were complete strangers when they first arrived at the glade, they quickly became a family.
Friendships fostered in really bad situations, as seen in The Maze Runner can be compared to the ones in a similar film –The Hunger games, where people are released in a controlled environment and forced to kill one another in order to be the winner of their district. The leading actress and a boy of the same district soon became friends although they were actually going up against one another.
PERSISTANCE
The first subtheme that we can identify in the film is persistence. Although the gladers have been trapped for so long they continued to be persistent by not giving up on trying to map out an escape route through the maze.
The Maze Runners were given the task to pin point an escape route through the passageway during daylight since the grievers (Spider-like creatures) flourishes at sun down preying on human flesh.
We see the lead character Thomas quickly evolving into a character that the others looked up to. Although they were continuously faced with troubling circumstances Thomas keeps inspiring his fellow maze occupants through his curiosity, determination, perseverance and strong will (Answers cloud services,2014).
We can relate this sub theme back to the main idea of friendship as we see Thomas making plans to not only keep himself alive but the other two boys as well thus making him the hero of the story as he gives hope to a besieged community.
BRAVERY
After engaging with one of the creatures Thomas took the task upon himself to push his fears to the side and re-enter the maze for the sake of his newly made friends.
Although not everyone who entered the maze was survivors, they can still be seen as heroes for having the courage to die trying.
Towards the end of the film, Chuck (a little boy) accomplished the ultimate act of bravery by taking a bullet for Thomas.
STRUCTURE IN SOCIETY
Even though the gladers have been stripped from their identities, thrown into the glade and left to pick up the pieces of their lives and puzzle them back together, they formulated a structure which gave meaning and purpose to their lives. Taking it back to friendship- all the gladers had to contribute their abilities in order for the structure to function well in their community. Al of them respected the jobs they were assigned to and valued one another so much that they lend a helping hand whenever needed whether it was to farm or to fight .This confirms the myth that society simply cannot function without proper structure.
DEATH
The last sub theme that serves as a driving inspiration behind the film is death. The comfort that they find amongst the large concrete walls which serves as protection from that which lurks within the maze contradicts the death trap that encircles the glade namely the maze.
According to Grade saver (2014) “Awaiting the Gladers outside the protective walls is a world run by monsters where they would likely die violent deaths.
The fear of painful and unpleasant deaths, rather than the fear of simply being dead, serves to control the children and limit the chances they are willing to take”.
Sometimes you may find yourself in terrifying circumstances and then you have no choice but to turn to those around you, usually friends and family. Some people even have the capability to surprise you when its least expected of them.
I hereby conclude that friendship is a clear theme throughout the film, friendships fostered in a horrifying environment which produces new challenges daily. In the last few minutes of the film a group of gladers managed to escape the maze and ended up in what appear to be the control room where the activities happening within the maze were monitored and the “lift” was operated by. They were taken by an unknown operation into a plane and told that their safety was guaranteed. A scene appears where the main woman of the operating room hints toward the idea that they have been fooled into believing that everything was now over.
Can she be trusted or do we have to wait for instalment two in order to answer that
question?
Bibliography
• Gradesaver.2014.The Maze Runner Themes.[Online]Available at: http://www.gradesaver.com/the-maze-runner/study-guide/major-themes/ [Accessed on 09 September 2014 ].
• Answers cloud services.2014.[Online]Available at: http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_theme_for_The_Maze_Runner [Accessed on 09 September 2014]