Here is a Textual Analysis of the film ‘Into the Wild’

We are presented at the beginning with a non-diagetic voice of a boy calling his mother. The voice is echoed and this gives a feeling of a ghostly voice. The fact that the voice is non-diagetic suggests that the boy who is calling his mother is set apart from the humanly world. There is eerie and lonely music when the film opens up in a blurry way and then it focuses on a picture of a boy, the voice is still heard and the audience can make the association of the voice with the boy. There is then a focus pull of a woman: she sits up in bed and puts her head in her hands with pain. From the focus pull of the picture frame to the woman the audience can assume that the woman is the dead boy’s mother. There is a close up of the woman and the man’s face and from this close up we can see the facial expressions and depict the pain they are feeling. The focus is on the woman and the man is slightly out of focus at the front. This shows to the audience a real aspect of gender: It is normally the man that keeps his feelings inside and is not as expressive as the woman and the woman that does not hesitate to express a degree of pain. This is the case here, it is the mother that is screaming and crying in pain and the father that is comforting her. The lighting in the room is very, very low key lighting because it is supposed to be taking place at night in the dark, but the audience still need to see the faces to depict the facial expressions.

There is then happy and melodic music heard whilst the previous scene fades out and into the next one. This is maybe to contrast and make a point that we are leaving a sad and dismal time and entering into a period of time that was more fortunate and joyful. The scene opens up with a very blurry and out of focus image that is unreadable. There is then a focus on a passing ground and the sound of a train on a track is heard and the audience can assume that the scene starts off on a train. The shot is out of a train door. The colour wash is blue and grey to give the aura that the season is winter. The audience get an idea of how cold it is from the snow on the banks and the grey sky. There is then a shot down the side of the train and this lets you see how fast the train is going and the type of train that the director has focussed on. From this shot we learn that the train is the type of train that carries cargo and it is quite a worn out train. There is match on music: when the music changes an octave the shot changes to a different side of the train door and we get a better aspect of the countryside passing. One of the shots of the ground (but from a different position out of the train door) there is a close up of a fishing net and the passing ground is blurry. The protagonist has a fishing net and therefore we can come to the conclusion that he is an outdoors man who likes to live off the land. There is a further out shot of down the train. The closest thing that is seen is the side of the trains door, and this is out of focus, and on that door is the name ‘Alexander.’  The audience can then make the assumption that the protagonist is called ‘Alexander’ because there is three other different angles of the same name and the name becomes the focus of the attention.

There is an establishing shot of a desolate town, from the shot we get the impression that the town is not that wealthy and is industrial. The lighting is sunset lighting. There is writing across the screen that we assume is the letters of the protagonist because the writing is addressed to someone called Wayne. There is an establishing shot of a decayed sign saying ‘Fairbanks’ and we learn that the protagonist ventured to end up here because he says in the writing ‘Arrived here two days ago.’ There is more establishing shots of more buildings that are runned down and desolate.

There is a point of view shot down the arm and there is a thumb out as if he was hitchhiking and then a low angle shot of someone’s feet whilst they are walking on the road. The shoes are quite tatty and therefore we can conclude that the man is not that wealthy and that he is definitely a hitchhiker. There is an over the shoulder shot, but the man walking is the focus and the background is out of focus. The man is wearing furs and has a beard, this gives the sense that it is a cold season and also that he hasn’t washed and shaved in a while. A still image of a bookshop is shown and there is a close up of a ‘Tanaina Plantlore’ book, and across the screen the protagonist thoughts are displayed saying, ‘Picked up a new book on the local Flora and Fauna.’ We can make the association that this is the type of book he picks up.
Lily