On the ledge

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=90 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="005dba33.gif"> <div> <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us/"><U><IMG SRC="13891330.jpg" border=0 width="145" height="51" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>     | <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us"><U>home</U></A> |   back to  <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us/nonlotr/id107.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us/nonlotr/id107"><U><B>"Save the life of my child"</B></U></A><B> </B></div> <div> <B>On the ledge</B>   |   <A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Twould be a miracle indeed"><U>'Twould be a miracle indeed</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id111.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Whats becoming of the children?"><U>What's becoming of the children?</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="When darkness fell"><U>When darkness fell</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="He flew away"><U>He flew away</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="b5b38273.jpg"> <bR> <div> A boy sat on the ledge</div> <div> <B>[The titles of the pages in this sequence are taken from  "Save the Life of My Child" by Paul Simon (copyright 1968).]</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="b9f6c0a0.gif" border=0 width="620" height="10" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Aaron's sanity is on shaky ground - a house of cards waiting for a bad wind to make it fall. If it hadn't been for the events in <I>Day Zero</I>, would something else have come along eventually to knock it down? Very possibly - but, of course, we'll never know. </div> <bR> <div> Immediately after he receives his induction notice, we get our first glimpse of Aaron in his bathroom mirror - we'll get more of them later. He looks concerned, but not on the verge of collapse. The slight change of expression between the first frame and the second is even reminiscent of Frodo heading into "What must I do?" He's certainly not happy, but he's facing reality. </div> <div>  <A NAME="first"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="b5d20bd0.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="445" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="b5f20bc0.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="444" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Aaron's two expressions in the first screencap (below, cropped from a "posterized" version of the picture) don't completely answer the question of how Elijah shows those perfectly tuned mixes of emotions, but the ability to make good use of facial asymmetries has to be part of it. The eyebrows and mouth are involved here. Also, much of the camera work in <I>Day Zero</I> indicates that the person behind it "gets" Elijah's face, and that's evident here. The camera angle puts the more placid side in shadow and the more actively concerned side in the light, which makes us more conscious of the latter. With his head just slightly turned, when we look at the two halves separately it seems that the calmer side is looking straight ahead, which emphasizes its more settled expression, while the other side has its gaze slightly off to the side. (As usual when showing a "split screen" version of Elijah's face, I've switched the two halves to make it more difficult to unconsciously fuse them into one image.)</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="559" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#669900" BORDERCOLORDARK="#669900" FRAME="BOX" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 HEIGHT= 570 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="b9bbc340.jpg" border=0 width="188" height="564" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 WIDTH="105"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="570" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="105" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="b9ccf340.jpg" border=0 width="207" height="564" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div>         <IMG SRC="b9f6c0a0.gif" border=0 width="620" height="10" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Aaron goes into the bar to meet his friends as if he's walking into dangerous territory. He doesn't look at the place as a whole, but is focused on locating his friends. We start to get a sense of how limited his resources are. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="ba01ec10.jpg" border=0 width="798" height="449" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> This isn't terribly profound, but it's interesting that Aaron tends to move physically in an almost hyperactive way when he's with his psychiatrist. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="b6320c20.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> This next cap, besides showing us Aaron worrying about his physical fitness, is a good example of a quality of his bathroom mirror: everything it reflects is green. The bathroom wall, the brick wall, the curtain, even the frame of the mirror. This has the natural effect of making Aaron look green, which I don't think is at all accidental. Maybe it's supposed to be "army green," but what it mostly does is make Aaron look unhealthy. This is, literally, how he <I>sees himself</I> every time he looks in the mirror. </div> <bR> <div> The first time we see him in front of the mirror is shown in the <A HREF="#first" TITLE="On the ledge"><U>first two caps on this page</U></A>, where he doesn't look too green. This is partly because I tweaked them more than I should have; I hadn't yet realized how important the green cast actually was and tried to get rid of it. But even in the original un-tweaked screencap, the green is much less pronounced. It's there, though - the background on this page is made from a patch of Aaron's beard in the first cap. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="b6520cb0.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="459" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Partly because of this next frame, I first thought it was Aaron's entire loft that tinged everything green, but that seems to vary depending on where he is. This is in the vicinity of the bathroom, and we still see the same walls and curtains: </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="b6720bf0.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="447" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Dixon gets a laugh out of Aaron's statement about being skinny and fat at the same time, but to Aaron it's no joke... </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bc420bf0.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="447" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> ...although it evidently used to be. The fact that he owns this T-shirt is evidence that his attitude toward his lack of physical prowess has gone from good-natured acceptance to a matter of life or death.  </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bc620c20.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Yeah, the bit with the exercise machine is predictable and clichéd. But it's going to pay off later in the story. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="b6920c20.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="b6d20c10.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="449" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="b9f6c0a0.gif" border=0 width="620" height="10" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> The party at George's gives us another example of Aaron's limited social network. Looking every bit the successful writer that all evidence in the movie says he is, he's still not comfortable interacting with anyone except his two friends. As with many other things about Aaron, this isn't necessarily unusual - especially for a writer. But when that safety net crumbles, along with everything else in his world, it's dangerous.  </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bb820c20.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bba20c20.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bbc20be0.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="446" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Going through my screencaps in order, I was struck by how much Aaron reflects on things. After almost every major story event, there's a scene like this one following the party: </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bc820bf0.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="447" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bca20c20.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bcc20c20.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Or a shot like this one after George and Dixon have an argument in the bar: </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bcf20c10.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="449" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="bcdeea30.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="419" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> A visible signal of trouble: using the camera lens to distort his head.  </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="b731ebf0.jpg" border=0 width="798" height="447" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 66 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="index_m.htm" TITLE="On the ledge"><U><IMG SRC="1647d3c0.jpg" border=0 width="125" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 71 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Twould be a miracle indeed"><U><IMG SRC="1657d3c0.jpg" border=0 width="125" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 66 ><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="125"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>