Basic Film Information

• Release Date: August 15, 2014
• Director: Phillip Noyce
• Writers: Michael Mitnick, Robert B. Weide, Lois Lowry
• Actors: Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep,Alexandder Skarsgard, Katie Holmes

Synopsis

When a young boy is assigned to be the next Reciever of Memory in the socialist society, he must face memories of past situations that he has never seen before. Once exposed to color, emotions, and desires, he must make a choice between fulfilling his given duty or revealing it all to the world.

Contemporary Reviews

• Manohla Dargis of The New York Times criticizes the film as “stale,” “cliche,” and a “poor copy” of other dystopian films in her review.

• Rotten Tomatoes offered a very harsh rating of 35% and an audience score of 55%.

• The Guardian‘s Jordan Hoffman critcizes the film for beeing “too familiar,” while the dialogue is “atrocious” in his review of The Giver.

Background and Interesting Facts

Jeff Bridges, who purchased film rightsin the 1990s, intended on casting his father as the Giver and even fimed the movie with his family years before the film was produced.

• Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), was twenty-four during the filming of the movie, twice the age of the character in the novel.
• In the novel, Jonas and Fiona never form a romantic relationship.
• Nelson Mandela died while the film was beng shot in South Africa, and his image is used in the film as a “memory”.

Analysis

The Giver is a film based on the Lois Lowry novel that details the story of a young man living in an isolated communist society. Within the community that the young man, Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), lives in, the leadership has taken away everyone’s ability to see color, feel emotion, and experience individualism, along with basic communist economic and social reforms. Viewers watch as Jonas and his friends are placed into various job positions, his being the honorable title of Receiver of Memory. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times, described Jonas’ position within his critique of The Giver: “one resident would always be the society’s custodian of collective memories and would, in time, pass this storehouse of remembrances on to the next Receiver” (Dargis). Yet, Jonas is faced with the decision to fulfill his duty to the Elders faithfully or to release the memories of emotion and color into the lives of each individual within the community. After witnessing the true oppression that each citizen was under in the society, Jonas decides to rebel against the over-bearing government. The Giver uses its young adult dystopian platform to make a statement on the oppression of communism and the extents it may go in the future.

At the film’s beginning, viewers are provided with a brief history of the society known as The Communities. After a mysterious event entitled The Ruin, The Elders created a society, protected by a boundary from the ashes of their former governments. Within The Communities, all memories of the past were erased and entrusted to a sole Elder, The Giver (Jeff Bridges). The duty of The Giver is to be the sole advising voice of reason, with history to back his claims so that The Communities can avoid another catastrophic event. The new society was one of true equality in every form and was firmly based upon rules, taught to children at a young age: to use precise language, wear government-assigned clothing, take their morning medication, obey the curfew set by the leaders, and to never lie. These rules were the basis on which The Elders were able to build a society free of individualism, allowing them to control each and every member of The Communities.

Beyond the basic rules for its citizens, The Elders sought to remove all other traces of personal thought and uniqueness from each individual. Each member was assigned a first name, but their assigned family units were not allowed to have last names. The family units were created by arranged marriages and children produced by birthmothers within the governmental system, eliminating all emotional connections between citizens. Employment positions were assigned by The Elders, who closely analyze each child to see which duty their skillsets would align closely with. Aside from basic aspects of their lifestyles, the citizens were not allowed to see color, rather, their prescribed morning medication removed the ability. By taking these steps, The Elders ensured that all knew that differences were not allowed, helping them avoid conflict, fear, pain, envy, and hate within The Communities. Because of the rules set up by the government in The Giver, when Jonas first begins to understand that he is different, he claims that he “didn’t want to be different. Who would?” (The Giver 2014). Those who were seen as different or attempted to rebel in any form, were sent to Elsewhere, The Communities’ title for the process of euthanasia.

The Communities, though they seem perfect as far as communistic societies are concerned, left The Giver feeling unsettled, as he felt that all should understand the beauty of individualism and emotion. Because of the tight restraints that the communist extremism had on the people, it was nearly impossible to set the memories free. When Jonas is forced to rebel against the rules, The Giver hatches a plan for him to escape and break the boundary of The Communities, thus setting all memories free to the unknowing citizens. Before Jonas has an opportunity to succeed, his friend, Fiona rebels against the government: “Something is missing from our lives. No, not missing. Something that has been stolen from me and from you” (The Giver 2014). During Fiona’s brief monologue, viewers are given the opportunity to understand the thoughts of estranged citizens within The Communities. The people do not have language to describe the gut-feelings that they have, but Fiona explains that they have the capacity t understand that something is not right within their lives. Within The Giver, the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep) attempts to explain to The Giver that the strict rules are necessary to prevent chaos and hate from infiltrating the people: “People are weak. People are selfish. When people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong every time” (The Giver 2014). The Chief Elder explains that love can easily turn to hate and, by removing it all, they had saved society from certain doom. The Giver, the voice of opposition to the communist agenda, explains that “with love comes faith, with it comes hope,” speaking in favor of emotion and democratic ideals in a sense (The Giver 2014).

These examples and descriptions explain how The Giver is created as a film against communistic principles. Within The Giver, Jonas explains that “The Elders and their rules were the lie” as The Giver addresses The Elders: “We are living a life of shadow, of echoes, of faint, distant whispers of what once made us real” (The Giver 2014). The quotes help to support the idea that the film, on a large scale, is a statement against communism and totalitarianism. Although The Elders seem to have the citizen’s best interest at heart, just as Marxist ideology reflects, by eliminating uniqueness and individualism, communist societies are removing people from what makes them human. A smaller connection can be seen in the color that Jonas first sees: red (IMDb). Though a minor detail, this small aspect of Jonas’ training supports the concept that The Giver and Jonas’ actions within, are statements against communist societies. Although the film addresses many other issues, by creating an emotional connection to characters as they work to remove a communist government, The Giver establishes itself as a pro-individualism, anti-communist film.

Bibliography

Asis Productions. The Giver Poster. Advertisement. Asis Productions. 2014. Web.

Dargis, Manohla. The New York Times. 14 August 2014. Web site. 10 November 2016.

Hoffman, Jordan. The Giver- First Look Review. 15 August 2014. Web site. 10 November 2016.

IMDb. The Giver (2014). 2016. Web site. 10 November 2016.

Rotten Tomatoes – Fandango. The Giver (2014). 2016. Web site. 10 November 2016.