Tomorrow When the War Began
TMWTWB Essay
Tomorrow when the war began is John Marsden’s acclaimed first novel in a series of gripping tales of a group of teens who return home from a tramp, only to realise that their whole town has been taken hostage by an unknown force. It has also been adapted into a widely acclaimed film. Several major themes can be identified in the film, one of the main themes being change. Change forces the characters to think and act differently to what they are usually used to. The theme of change affects the character’s usual lifestyle, the character’s outlook on things and the personalities of Ellie and her gang.
We first see change in the film when the characters arrive home from their camping trip in Hell (a vegetated sinkhole in a remote area of bush) and they see that their houses are empty, and their animals are dead. At the beginning of the film, Ellie said “We’ve all had to rewrite the scripts of our lives, these past few weeks.” This means that Ellie and her friends have had to adapt to their new circumstances and that their lives have changed dramatically. The young teens now have to defend themselves and move around in the dark to avoid being taken hostage like their families, as opposed to their life before the invasion, where they didn’t have to worry about the possibility of being killed the next day. The lighting and music play a big part in the change as well. The characters are seen to be “in the dark” in the latter part of the movie when they are trying to fight against the invaders, which gives off the illusion that they are trying not to be seen and are in hiding. The music is panicky and quick-paced which builds the suspense, which is completely different to the calm and happy music played at the beginning of the film, and at the beginning of the movie when the gang are in the light, which shows that they are safe.
The theme of change also affects the character’s outlook on things. Robyn Mathers, for example, was a good Christian girl that
Tomorrow when the war began is John Marsden’s acclaimed first novel in a series of gripping tales of a group of teens who return home from a tramp, only to realise that their whole town has been taken hostage by an unknown force. It has also been adapted into a widely acclaimed film. Several major themes can be identified in the film, one of the main themes being change. Change forces the characters to think and act differently to what they are usually used to. The theme of change affects the character’s usual lifestyle, the character’s outlook on things and the personalities of Ellie and her gang.
We first see change in the film when the characters arrive home from their camping trip in Hell (a vegetated sinkhole in a remote area of bush) and they see that their houses are empty, and their animals are dead. At the beginning of the film, Ellie said “We’ve all had to rewrite the scripts of our lives, these past few weeks.” This means that Ellie and her friends have had to adapt to their new circumstances and that their lives have changed dramatically. The young teens now have to defend themselves and move around in the dark to avoid being taken hostage like their families, as opposed to their life before the invasion, where they didn’t have to worry about the possibility of being killed the next day. The lighting and music play a big part in the change as well. The characters are seen to be “in the dark” in the latter part of the movie when they are trying to fight against the invaders, which gives off the illusion that they are trying not to be seen and are in hiding. The music is panicky and quick-paced which builds the suspense, which is completely different to the calm and happy music played at the beginning of the film, and at the beginning of the movie when the gang are in the light, which shows that they are safe.
The theme of change also affects the character’s outlook on things. Robyn Mathers, for example, was a good Christian girl that