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Clash Of The Amish And Modern American Cultures In The Film Witness By Peter Weir

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In the 1985 film Witness, Peter Weir uses Mise-en-scène to show the clash of the Amish and modern American cultures. Mise-en-scène is French expression that means ‘staging action’ and it refers to all the visual elements within a scene, from setting; costumes and acting style. The correct use of these can provide the audience with a deeper understanding and connection to the themes. The Amish do not believe in the use of guns and violence. The collision between the two cultures is shown in the scene where John Book shows the young Amish boy, Samuel, the basic parts of a gun and lets him hold it. He later then is caught by Rachel, the mother of Samuel. John voluntarily gives the gun to Rachel to respect their way of living. The acting style of the actors help display the clash to the audience. …show more content…

The body language shows that she is not very confident handling the gun. It also means that the weapon either disgusts her or she does not want anything to do with it, on the other hand, you can see John sitting down with his back hunched over portraying that he is feeling ashamed, because he broke one of the rules whilst living with the Amish. The costuming in this scene also portrays a clash between the two cultures. The costumes on the hooks are very plain and old fashioned. The dress Rachel is wearing is also very plain with no patterns, just solid colours. John is not wearing a shirt which is very modern American. The clothing differences between the two cultures also help to get the clash across to the audience by showing the differences in their clothing

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