Describe a significant incident in a visual/oral text you have studied.
Explain how the significant incident contributed to your understanding of a character or individual.
Significant incidents often shape who we are as people. Steven Speilburgs Catch me if you can prove this through the incident of Frank Snr and his wife’s divorce and how Frank Jnr later responds to it. It helps the viewer understand Frank more as a character, Steven portrays this through key quotes, camera angles and music.
Frank’s parents divorce is such a significant incident that it reinstates the fact in the viewer’s mind that Frank is still only a child. An example of this can be the intense close up on Frank Jnrs face when presented with the choice of who has guardianship and the build up of frantic music played in the background. Being given such a big decision at such a young age could have been the most stressful moment of his life and him deciding to run away helps me understand that Frank is still young and just scared. The significant event of Frank’s parents divorce contributes to my understanding of Frank Jnr tremendously as it showed how young and afraid he was.
The divorse also helped my understanding of just how lonely Frank was in the later years of his life and the effect that significant event had on him. An example of this being the phone call Frank and Carl Hanratty traded on Christmas where Carl stated “you’re lonely, you had no one else to call” and proceeded to laugh. Frank calling Carl on christmas eve was almost a cry for help as he had no other close family or friends due to the divorce which highlights further how lonely he really was. After such a significant event such as a divorce it helped me understand why Frank didn’t trust a lot of people.
Lastly, the divorce helped me understand how scared Frank was during his con period. A couple examples of this being the quote “Then tell me to stop dad” and “Help me” when he was inside a prison cell. Although he was confident and untrustworthy Frank was still incredibly scared, not only of the consequences but the reality of what he was doing and how wrong it was. The significant event of a divorce scared him which I think stuck with him for a long time coming afterwards.
In the film Catch me If You Can, directed by Steven Spielberg a Significant event was the divorce of Frank Jnrs parents. It was significant as it helped me understand the individual Frank Jnr as it displayed how young, lonely and scared he was. Steven did this through key quotes, camera angles and music. He showed that although someone may seem strong on the outside you never know what’s going on inside of them and that significant events shape who we are as a person.