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The comparison of Ang Lee‘s film Life of Pi and William Ernest Henley’s poem Invictus presents the reconciliation of contemporary concepts in which conflict arises along the way. Thanks to composers’ skilful manipulation of various literary devices, audience are made aware of the profound impact of dissmilar contexts on the discoveries being made. However, these two texts embody that the ramifications of one’s discovery is capable of …
The film Life of Pi explores the concept that discoveries allow man to access to a higher plane of spiritual and self-understanding. Through Pi’s strong connection with his multi-religious and cultural background, Ang Lee demonstrates his struggle between pragmatism and faith when he is stranded at the Pacific. For instance, Pi is enforced to disobey a tenet of his Hindu faith and hammer the dorado to death so that his predatory companion has something to sustain on. Yet his childhood sincerity that animals have souls and his exceptional sympathy for them bring about a sense of remorse .The saturated green colour and the accompanying diegetic sound portrays fish’s vicious slaughter and his pained expression having to disregard his culture - the Indian vegetarianism. To overcome this trauma, Pi associates the sacrifice of the fish as a mean of saviour using the symbolism of the legends about the Vishnu god in Hinduism “Thank you Vishnu for coming in the form of a fish and saving our lives”. Evidently, Pi’s childhood exploration of divinity alters when he finds himself in the middle of the ocean. Ingenuity and tolerance lies beneath his attempt to balance the reality and faith rather than primarily favour one side or the other .This change indicates that he becomes increasingly aware of his capability from co-existing with Richard Parker, facing starvation and near extinction. Insightfully, the film proposes that religion or reality is not entirely contrasting through his successful manipulation of the twos to stay consistently