O Calculus Film Analysis

There is nothing to fear, but fear itself. This axiom highlights what many people perceive as mankind's greatest weakness, fear. Fear commonly manifests itself in two forms, tangible and transcendental. For the people who seek the thrilling feeling of fear through movies, this combination can all but guarantee that picture will be a cinematic thriller. In Mike Flanagan’s film, Oculus, fear is portrayed all throughout the movie. The movie tells the story of a brother-sister duo, Tim and Kaylie, in an unique way where it is parallel to events happening in the past and present. Most importantly, the film’s most prominent symbol is the antique mirror, also known as the Lasser Glass, that their parents bought when they moved to a new home. The
First of all, the antique mirror represents the fear of losing control in various ways throughout the movie. The Lasser Glass happens to possess supernatural powers where it is able to manipulate people and induce hallucinations. During these hallucinations, the main characters and the audience itself is not able to discern what is reality and what is an illusion. This leaves the main characters and the audience feeling lost and out of control. The word “hallucination” also have the connotation of psychological disorders or “going crazy” which also connects to the fear of losing control. For example, there is a scene in the movie where Kaylie is changing several lightbulb while eating an apple. The camera pans down and shows her absentmindedly picking up the lightbulb instead the apple and bit right into it resulting in a bloody and torn up mouth. In reality, it was just another illusion. In this scene, the apple could be an allusion to the Bible story of Adam and Eve. The apple in this scene represents knowledge as Kaylie has done extensive research on the history of the mirror and her whole goal during the movie is to prove to the world that the