Reflection: John Q (2002)

The scene in which John and Denise Archibald are hearing the news about Michael from the hospital employees stood out for me.  The setting of the scene is a conference room with a rather large table for five people.  When they first sit down, we can see the tension that is about to arise because of where they sit: the Archibald's on one side and supervisor Rebecca Payne, Dr. Raymond Turner, and Dr. Ellen Klein on the other.

Dr. Turner straightforwardly tells the Archibald's what is wrong with his heart, "There are septal defects here, here, and here, which have induced a myopathy resulting pulmonary edema, and malignant ventricular ectopy."  Clearly, the Archibald's are not going to understand those medical terms, and John even asks him to rephrase in layman's terms.  The ethos in this scene is overwhelming.  Two doctors are telling John and Denise that Mike is dying. John and Denise are going to believe the doctors that have professional background knowledge about health.  The pathos hits the audience when we see Denise break down into tears and John's eyes start to water.  The audience can relate to this scene because everyone either knows the pain of losing a loved one or they can imagine how painful it must be to lose someone they love.  When Payne tries to convince the Archibalds that they should accept Mike's short future and say goodbye, the tension builds between the Archibalds and the hospital.  The audience also feels some frustration with Payne because of her lack of sympathy and consideration towards the Archibalds and their nine year old son.  But even though she is trying to make them let him go, John asks Dr. Turner what he would do if it was his son instead, which brings back the ethos of the scene.  Given the two options, both with very high risks of death, John turns towards the doctor for advice because of his status and education.

xkcd: Surgery

Reflection: Philadelphia (1993)

One particular scene that stood out to me was when Miguel gets frustrated with Beckett when they are alone.  He throws the notebook Beckett was writing in and says, "The least you can do is look at me, and give me a little bit of your time."  It's a rather short scene, but after watching it for the second time I noticed that during the dialogue, the camera is looking directly at the speaker as if the audience were in the recipient's shoes.  The whole movie focuses so much on what AIDS is, how AIDS is transmitted, and AIDS discrimination that I was genuinely surprised to see this snippet of Miguel and Beckett interaction.  It's a very subtle dose of pathos, but the scene does have an emotional appeal to it.  You realize that the victim of AIDS is not just Beckett; it also impacts those close to him as well -- his lover and his family.  When Miguel is speaking directly to the camera, you notice how scared he is of losing Beckett.  Even though Miguel understands what Beckett is going through and is trying to support him, he is frustrated with Beckett because of his lack of attention to their relationship.  Beckett replies to Miguel/the audience, "You are worried...we don't have very much time left, now aren't you?"  These are precisely the thoughts that Miguel has in mind, or anyone who knows someone with AIDS.  It plays on the emotional appeal because of how the audience can easily relate to the two characters in the scene.

xkcd: Positive Attitude