shawn20009

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.

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