Bubblehead Response

My initial and immediate reaction to Bubblehead after it ended was, "Thats it?" I was expecting much more in terms of length and story development. I was shocked at how it ended so soon and was thinking that there was going to be much more to it, as if what I had just seen was only a build up. That however was from the perspective of a movie-goer whose only expectation from films is entertainment and story.

However it wasn't until I actually started writing my thoughts about the movie that I started to reflect on all its aspects and the deeper meaning that laid in the message of the film. It was then that I realized all the different layers that existed in the film and all the intentional things the director had done in order to create the "world" in the film to further the film's purpose. The film is perhaps so layered that I wont even be able to touch on the intended meanings, however I want to discuss and journal on a particular aspect of the film which did touch me personally.

The themes of conformity and individualism rang out louder to me from watching the film more than anything else probably only because of how they went hand in hand and how well they were shown. An example of this would be when the teacher corrected the students in how to properly make the sound of an animal, which is quite subjective I would assume. And after a while, when the children persisted to repeatedly say their own version of the noises, she began to reprimand them as if to drive the point home that they were in the wrong. It was interesting though because the child had no "Asian American" attributes about him besides his superficial physical appearance, yet he was being defined and labeled as that throughout the film by all his surroundings, (i.e. his parents, teacher referencing the "western ways" as opposed to his culture, the alarm clock, etc...); so he retained his individualism. The teacher, although desiring conformity from the students would single him out through blame on his identity, thus the clash between individualism and conformity could be seen interwoven through the film.

Besides that, other small things I wanted to just journal down was the impressive cinematography which gave it a very realistic feeling and I wanted to commend the actor who portrayed Cyrus, because even though he was only a child, he was very talented and his expressions made you feel what he was feeling.