{"id":4484,"date":"2011-03-30T16:59:46","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T15:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=4484"},"modified":"2011-03-30T16:59:46","modified_gmt":"2011-03-30T15:59:46","slug":"shutter-island-day-twenty-one-40movies40days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/shutter-island-day-twenty-one-40movies40days\/","title":{"rendered":"Shutter Island – Day Twenty One – #40movies40days"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shutter-island-dicaprio\"

I finally caught up with Shutter Island <\/em>last night. \u00a0I wasn’t interested in the movie when it was released. \u00a0Something about the trailer turned me off or was irritating. \u00a0I can’t remember what that was. \u00a0But I’m preparing for my Thriller Workshop<\/a> in New York City and thought I should see it. \u00a0I’m glad I did.<\/p>\n

I liked the movie a lot. \u00a0It’s a classic Power of Truth<\/a> story asking: Who can I trust? \u00a0Do I see what I think I see? What’s really going on? \u00a0What does it all mean?\u00a0** SPOILERS AHEAD **<\/p>\n

Shutter Island<\/em> reminded me very much of\u00a0Memento<\/em>. \u00a0In both films a man’s wife dies in the aftermath of a violent act. \u00a0Each man constructs an elaborate narrative about what happened and who is responsible. \u00a0Each man searches for his wife’s “killer.” \u00a0After the shock of being confronted with the truth, each man retreats back to his fictional narrative.<\/p>\n

The film is an interesting follow up to What The Bleep Do We Know<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0That film and my interpretation of it argues:<\/p>\n

I am who I say I am. \u00a0I am the story I tell about myself\u2013 to me and to others.<\/div>\n
I chose my story and I continue to chose it consciously or unconsciously every day.<\/div>\n
Events in the past do not create or destroy my character\u2013 my reaction to, attitude toward and interpretation of those events is what creates or destroys my character.<\/div>\n

I am who I say I am. \u00a0I am the story I tell about myself\u2013 to me and to others.<\/p>\n

I chose my story and I continue to chose it consciously or unconsciously every day.<\/p>\n

Events in the past do not create or destroy my character\u2013 my reaction to, attitude toward and interpretation of those events is what creates or destroys my character.<\/p>\n

\"shutter-island-review4\"

At the end of Memento,<\/em> the protagonist (Guy Pearce) chooses to kill the only man who has the key to his wife’s killer. \u00a0He can’t face his role in her death. The truth is too painful so he “makes up his own truth”. \u00a0He cannot forgive himself and resolve his loss. \u00a0So he creates a mystery he can never solve.<\/p>\n

Reality is the story we choose to tell about ourselves and our world. \u00a0Power of Truth<\/a> characters struggle to define what reality they can accept and what reality they choose to ignore (or to hide). \u00a0Although they seek the truth, the person most often lying to them is themselves.<\/p>\n

The protagonists in Shutter Island<\/em> and Memento<\/em> choose a story that fictionalizes and twists the truth. Each would rather be insane\/lobotomized\/lost in a haze of distorted memories rather than face responsibility for the death that haunts him.<\/p>\n

Shutter Island<\/em> is a fascinating psychological thriller that unwraps the protagonist’s psyche in a slow tortuous fashion. \u00a0The surprise twist is extremely satisfying. \u00a0 Although the protagonist is judged insane, he makes a choice that proves his sanity in that he is fully conscious of what he’s doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shutter Island is a fascinating psychological thriller that unwraps the protagonist’s psyche in a slow tortuous fashion. The surprise twist is extremely satisfying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,45],"tags":[25,26,96,97,27,28,30,31,32,596,817,664,33,710,711,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,1051,975,976,41,42],"class_list":["post-4484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-power-of-truth","category-video-clips-television-movies-series","tag-character","tag-characters","tag-detective","tag-detectives","tag-emotional-toolbox","tag-etb","tag-film","tag-films","tag-laurie-hutzler","tag-leonardo-dicaprio","tag-martin-scorsese","tag-memento","tag-movies","tag-mysteries","tag-mystery","tag-nine-character-types","tag-screenplay","tag-screenplays","tag-screenwriting","tag-script","tag-scripts","tag-scriptwriting","tag-shutter-island","tag-thriller","tag-thrillers","tag-tv","tag-writing"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"ttshowcase_normal":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",125,94,false],"ttshowcase_small":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",75,56,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"Image Size 500x500":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",500,375,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x400.jpg",300,400,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-600x450.jpg",600,450,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Laurie Hutzler","author_link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Shutter Island is a fascinating psychological thriller that unwraps the protagonist's psyche in a slow tortuous fashion. The surprise twist is extremely satisfying.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}