Look Both Ways Essay About the Theme Fear

Fears can paralyse individuals by making them feel anxious and paranoid with their lives and surroundings. They would be constantly worried about what’s happening around them, which causes them to feel restless and isolated. In ‘Look Both Ways’, Meryl experiences her fear with death after attending her Dad’s funeral and witnessed a man getting run over by a train. She realises that death can happen to anyone at unexpected times. She starts to perceive negative things and death happening to her. Her anxiety has caused her mind to imagine and turn things into worst case scenarios. When she’s walking, she imagines the train derailing overhead and crash on top of her, and when she sees a man walking a dog, she sees him as a threat whom is about to attack her attacking her, the chances of all these things happening are quite low. It shows that her fear in death has a great impact on her anxiety and her mental state, making her feel disconnected and isolated. Rather than talking to others about her problem, she uses painting as an emotional release. ‘It’s cheaper than therapy.’ In the film, Sarah Watt uses animation to show Meryl’s anxiety and the accidents she imagines and puts herself in. It also shows how Meryl is often drowned in her world of fear in death, and hopes to live a peaceful life. Disconnection and isolation caused by fear can often paralyse them as it makes them anxious and paranoid. They would often be worried about what is going to happen making them feel restless and not being able to relax. Their anxiety paranoia would tend to separate them from others.
Fear can cause others to be paralysed emotionally if they are unable to make a decision and deal with it. They wouldn’t be able to open up and express their emotions putting more pressure on themselves, making them feel paralysed, disconnected and numb from over time. Nick from ‘Look Both Ways’ is a journalist for the newspaper who had discovered that he has testicular cancer. Finding out his illness