Real vs Illusion; Genuine vs Fake; Original vs Copy
Knives Out(2019) cleverly plays with ways in which almost all the characters confuse—sometimes deliberately—the real and the illusory, the genuine and the fake, the original and the copy. Sometimes they even prefer the illusion, the fake, the copy, the short-cut.
[Similarly, you must all have noticed in our society that there are many who prefer the movie version of a novel, or an abridged or simplified version of the original book, or perhaps even to read a short internet article about a work rather than the work itself, right?]
Some examples from the movie:
- Internet Shortcuts: Joni Thrombey is pleased to announce to Benoit Blanc that she read a “tweet about a New Yorker article” about him. How many of us today take the short cut of casually glancing over the tweet and stopping with the abbreviated version as opposed to reading the full profile, like some who read internet synopsis of a novel/film rather than engaging in the experience of reading/viewing itself?
- Emptiness of Social Media: Joni Thrombey, according to State Trooper Wagner, is all over “Insta” and is well-known as an “influencer.” This would signify to many in the audience that, like so many who have become famous merely for having a large social media following, Joni does not really DO anything but rather sells an image, a lifestyle, which we know is based on fraud and false dealing.
- Stage Prop and Set: Harlan Thrombey anticipates one of the film’s climactic moments when he tells Marta that some cannot tell the difference between a “stage prop” and a “real knife.” Is this a problem with all the family members? They cannot spot something that is genuine (person, talent, work ethic, love, etc.)? And is the entire house and household just like a murder mystery set, not real life?
Now that these examples have been shared, you might take the further critical step of refining distinctions between real vs illusion, genuine vs fake, original vs copy. For instance, are all these pairings pointing to same/similar concepts, or is there a noteworthy difference between these pairs of oppositions?
Discussion Prompt 2: Real vs Illusion; Genuine vs Fake; Original vs Copy
Carefully read the above section of the lecture with various examples the movie plays with when it comes to exploring the relationship between real vs illusion, genuine vs fake, original vs copy.
Choose ONE of the bulleted points and explore further some of the significance of that item. You are welcome to share another example from the movie not already discussed above if you prefer. Whether you address something from the lecture or a different moment from the film, you need to analyze the significance of the example in the ways we might explore the differences—or the similarities—between real and illusion, genuine and fake, original and copy, etc. How do we know what is real and whether it’s clear to differentiate that from the illusion/fake/copy? What might the film be suggesting about life in the 21st century?
The response should be at least 150 Words before citations
2. Respond to these two posts with 100 words each before citations;
Discussion 1. Rian Johnson created Knifes out inspired by Agatha Christies books. He enjoyed the details within her books and loved that she explored the subgenres, also being able to integrate them in a narrative way. Rain got most of his inspirations from many other writes, like Agatha, another mystery author he based the movie on was christie. She was the creator of Hercule poirot who was a Belgian police, who is also based on Benoit Blanc in his movie because Ryan states that both characters share the same traits. The overall on how this movie even cam about was more of a small project, it wasn’t supposed to be anything too big for Rian. Rain had just made Star Wars, he wanted to do something other than the Star Wars world. He had the ideas from Agatha and Christie, then decided to put it all together to make his small project not thinking it was going to be such a huge hit.
Discussion 2. Rian Johnson seemed to really appreciate and love our world class detective, Poirot. There was an “interview with Empire Magazine in 2019, Johnson shared that Poirot was a big inspiration for Craig’s detective”(Knight). Murder on the Orient Express has also been a big inspiration on knives out as well as the movie Evil Under the Sun (1982). Johnson had said that “this era of Poirot films was a massive influence on the Knives Out series” and that he was always thinking about the Poirot played by Peter Ustinov. It seems that Johnson has always been in love with Agatha Christie’s books as he stated that he “grew up reading Agatha Christie’s books”(Lachenal). Benoit Blanc has some of the elements of Poirot, meaning the egotistical side but he explains Daniel Craig has “a warmth to him”. This shows that Johnson’s character is attempting to be more likeable to the audience but still have that calculated detective feel that Poirot had.
