Belonging

Belonging is deep and complex and its meaning is unique to each individual depending on their perception of the world. Every person has a deep, ingrained need to belong and the search for a connection and security can be conscious, subconscious or a mixture of both.
My related texts are “Frankenstein”, a novel by Mary Shelley, and “A Beautiful Mind”, a film directed by Ron Howard. These will be accompanied by our prescribed text which has been selected from Peter Skrzynecki’s anthology of poems in “Immigrant Chronicle”. I will be focusing on “In The Folk Museum” and “10 Mary Street”.
Unlike “10 Mary Street” and similar to “Frankenstein”, “A Beautiful Mind” explores the concept that an act of exclusion or inability to belong stems from a lack of understanding. The film follows a schizophrenic mathematician throughout his life and his challenge with his disease. The director of the film has incorporated strong symbolism as a device to highlight Nash’s different and unique perception of the world. In an early scene, a mathematical pattern is depicted and literally highlighted from Nash’s point of view. This digital film technique symbolises the different prism through which Nash views the world. Additionally the symbolism of imaginary characters only seen by Nash, which are displayed almost exclusively through subjective camera shots, contrast Nash’s perception with that of other characters in the. With this firm base of differing perspectives the film boldly depicts the strong disconnection derived from this different way of looking at the world and thus supports the notion that perceptions shape one’s connections or their ability to connect.
So you can see there are many different meanings placed on belonging which all differ due to unique perceptions of the world, every individual will view it differently and the question whether someone belongs or in fact is able to has no definitive answer. Additionally I have explored the fundamental nature of belonging,... [continues]

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