Discuss How The Film Shirley Valentine Conveys The Concept Of Journeys.

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Every person, from the time that they are born, embarks upon a journey of self-discovery and self-enlightenment. A physical journey is the act of travelling from a departure point to a destination, an inner journey comprises of all the ups and downs of life, the tears, laughs, heartaches and accomplishments, obstacles, epiphanies and awakenings and an imaginative journey is the journey of your mind, it occurs in the realm of the mind - a realm where reality is considered, and fantasy is created In Lewis Gilbert’s “Shirley Valentine” , Shirley's a middle-aged, housewife, who finds herself talking to the wall while she prepares her husband's chip'n'egg, wondering what happened to her life. The stereotypical housewife learns the various obstacles; the true meaning of freedom and love, set in the 1970’s. Shirley’s journeys are depicted throughout the entire film by the means of different scenes, which use cinematic techniques to portray this. Shirley Valentine reflects upon one’s inner and physical person through the use of a narrator/voice. The narrator in this case, is Shirley Valentine, who is the central character of film. She compares scenes in her current life with what she used to be like and feels she's stagnated and in a rut. But when her best friend wins an all-expenses-paid vacation to Greece for two, Shirley begins to see the world, and herself, in a different light. Inner Journey is conveyed in Shirley Valentine when Shirley is with Costas on the boat in Greece. Shirley isn’t afraid of what Costas thinks of her body and is more confident and alive when Costas kisses her stretch marks and says something along these lines “…You shouldn’t be afraid of showing these stretch marks, they show that you are a real living woman, that you aren’t afraid of being alive…”. Shirley was stunned because Costas treated her like she was special, the way her husband

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