Post #15- 7 pounds (Figure)
Posted June 10, 2011
on:In the film 7 Pounds, Ben Thomas, played by actor Will Smith is a IRS tax collector. He visits Emily Posa played by Rosario Dawson, unexpectedly. In this particular scene shows Emily stopping her dog from eating meat. But, don’t all dogs eat meat? A dog’s that’s a vegetarian…? You must be joking. The denotation of a dog that is vegetarian has a number of connotations, mostly negative. We would believe that all dogs are meat eaters, however a vegan dog strays away from convention. We question whether or not this could actually be true, which goes back to what we believe is credible.
How could this even be possible? Well, in the movie, Emily’s dog has the same heart condition as she does. She is a vegetarian therefore her dog is a vegetarian. The denotation of dogs (pets) being “like” their owners has been supported by society and the scientific community. In psychology, dogs have been said to look like their owners. In this case however, Emily and her dog are like because of their heart condition. Most people may say that this could be true because most animal have very similar health issues. The connotations that could be associated with this scene are that, “it’s just a dog, why can’t he eat commercialized dog food?”, “If I eat healthy, my dog should be able to sustain a health diet as well”. What I am a getting at is that we, the audience formulate our own connotations both the negatives and the positives. It is very easy for us to slip into our own interpretations of what this scene is trying to represent. Another denotation that I observed in this scene was the idea that Ben just shows up to Emily’s house uninvited, similarly to how IRS collectors call the homes of debtors persistently.
Word count: 305
1 | freefood1134
June 18, 2011 at 3:30 pm
I love that movie and after viewing that clip, I am really tempted to watch it this afternoon. You have addressed some things about the characters in this movie and societies views that I had never considered before. I never realized that the dog had a heart condition as well. I just thought that she was weird and wanted her dog to be healthy. I considered the fact that dogs resemble their owners. Though this statement is true in some cases I never thought to make that connection in this case. Also I had never been visited by a tax collector and thought will smiths behavior to be a little strange.