The Violence in Modern Society Is the Key Thematic Concern of Witness

887 Words4 Pages
‘The violence in modern society is the key thematic concern of Witness’ Do you agree with this assessment of the film? The violence in modern society is the key thematic concern of Witness and the other thematic concerns are designed to support this. Weir emphatically makes it clear in Witness that violence and is antithesis, pacifism, is portrayed as the main focus. The city is the main focus of the violence and the Amish community is the balance in the setting where the pacifist views are shown. The other concerns of the film are woven around the violence and its implications especially the themes of power and good versus evil. Violence and its implications are portrayed constantly through the course of the film and its central theme. This focus resulted in a film that shows us the results and evil of violence. No good comes from any of the violence in Witness and the Pacifist position is portrayed sympathetically. Witness shows in a darker and more serious way, the depressing reality that lies behind the facades of society. The violence is integral to the lives we see in the city, it is shown by Weir to be bloody and cruel and in no way noble. People who use violence emerge as tarnished and shabby whilst the city comes to symbolize wickedness and evil. Schaeffer McFee are good examples of this aspect in the film and Mcfee’s casual murder typically of the callous nature that violence creates. Violence is shown to be evil and those that oppose it are portrayed by Weir as basically good. Book uses violence because it has become second nature to him. This begins to change when he stays at the Lapp Farm but as soon as he is placed back in society he returns to his violent ways. Rachel dislikes his violence and tells him. This is conveyed through the line by Rachel, “I just don’t like my son spending all his time with a man who carries a gun and goes
Open Document