Happiness In The Badlands

Communicating the Theme of Happiness in The Badlands ===============================================================

This basic plot of The Badlands reminds one to question: what is happiness? What lengths would we go to in order to find it? But more than that, what does this sort of plotline found in The Badlands say to us, or symbolize as happiness? What does it represent, and how does it represent it through the language of symbols found in the film? How are we affected by the language of these symbols to understand the strange, destructive, passion desire for happiness we ultimately see in the characters of the film? ===============================================================

This is something to be considered in the following, alongside the basic concept of happiness itself, as viewed by Mill and Ahmed. To be clear, what this paper aims to explore is how the portrayal of something, like happiness, through a film communicates a message of what happiness is; Mill and Ahmed provide more of a theoretical basis on which to reflect on

This is the affect of language and communication in the film, which comes to serve as a kind of motif for our pursuit of happiness, which can be youthful, naive, rebellious, even destructive, or responsible and principled (as the character of Holly’s father tried to depict). We come to see happiness as less the feeling of elation when getting the reward that we want for our actions, and as more a temporary, precarious state, which may or may not emerge from the environment, or community in which we live; which may be horribly suffocated by that, or our own blind, passionate search to find happiness—at any