Group Analysis Assignment: Jacques Lacan & Spectatorship

Film: Blood diamond and Departures

According to “ Spectatorship theory emphasizes the role of the psyche-particularly the unconscious, desire, and fantasy.” The films we choose are “Blood diamond (2006)” and “Departures (2008). “

In 1999, in Sierra Leone, the fisherman Solomon finds a huge pink diamond and hides it while rebels kidnapped him and worked for them. He tended to sell it to help his young son to go to medical school in the future. While the rebels were attacked and the government army arrested Salomon, he met a commandant in jail. The commandant told the prisoners that Salomon found the stone and exchanges the diamond with his missing family. American journalist Maddy Bowen, Danny locates the wife and daughters of Salomon in a refugee camp, but is informed that his son has been recruited by the rebels. Salomon and Danny consolidate a partnership, with Salomon looking for and finding his son, and Danny looking for the diamond and finding redemption.

Most of the advertisement presents to customers that diamonds are girls’ best friend or forever love. However, diamond comes from cruel and slaughter, this shows peoples’ ugly and greedy minds. Base on the theory of Lacan; we shouldn’t evaluate things by its appearance but to figure out the reality. Although diamond brings to people welfare and fortune, diamonds brings wars and sufferings to people in Africa.

“Departures” is a really touching movie. The main character Da-Wu is a violoncello player, but since the band was dismissed, he became a funeral worker, whose job is putting make-up on the death.

At first, the people around him couldn’t really accept his job due to their scanty of awareness. He had thought to quit. However, as more experience he learnt from his job, he was getting used to it. That all made him get to realize the meaning of death. And he started changing his manner while working, so that the people around him started to get to know what he is doing with his job.

Da-Wu got to face death with braveness. From the beginning with no any awareness to getting understood is the condition that he could still keep up doing his job and not giving up while the other people had negative opinion of him. And I believe that’s the right attitude that we can all learn from. And all jobs or professions are equal no matter what they are related to.

Blood Diamond: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450259/

Departures: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1069238/