Life is a state of mind

~ irigitte fardot , 6/02/2008 3:36 ÖS

May 2008, Bus. Comm. Response Paper
Movie Report

“Being There” is the story of a clueless man, Chance the gardener, who has spent all his life in isolation in the house of a wealthy man – the man who raised him since he was a little kid. When this man dies, Chance is forced to get out of the house. Having got educated only by television (if you can call it an ‘education’), this simpleton is faced with the life ‘outside’ – with no awareness at all. After getting struck by a limousine, he finds himself in the mansion of a rich and sick businessman, Ben, and his wife, Eve.

The wealthy couple confuse him with someone he has never been, Chauncey Gardiner. His virtuous look, his good-looking suits, and his blank stares along with his speeches on gardening make the people around him think that he’s a man of many talents. After becoming close friends with Ben, Chance gets to know Bobby, the President of United States. When asked about the economical difficulties US is dealing with, Chance impresses Bobby with his ‘spring and blossom’ talks and he is once again misunderstood. The conversation they have influences the President’s next speech and he starts getting invitations for showing up on live TV shows.

All these cross purposes lead to a point that is unrecallable. Even Eve, Ben’s wife, gets romantically involved with Chance. As a man whose only interest is TV, Chance doesn’t (actually, he can’t) give Eve what she wants, she takes it herself. Practically, he doesn’t give anyone what they want, but eventually everybody gets what they want from him. Because, he is just there.

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In my humble opinion, the movie is about perception and the patterns in our minds. We love to categorize people, this is for sure. Also, we like to think inside the box, as it’s the easiest thing to do. I mean, there are some certain templates in our minds (we inherited them from our ‘instructors’, whoever they are) which we use to decide if a person is wise or not (or some other characteristic, you name it). In the movie, Chance seems suitable for the model of a wise man with all of his tailored clothes and his professional talks on gardening. Any strangeness in the conversations wouldn’t bother those who became friends with Chance, as he looks way too good for a stupid man. So all of his words are taken as metaphors.

Another reason for the series of misunderstanding is the need of being approved. With a person like Chance, there’s nothing to feel uncomfortable; because he would never judge you. Anything you do or say is approved by Chance without questioning. And you think that he did it just because he is a well-mannered person and whatever you do or say is just good to be approved.

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Overall, the movie gives this message: Life is a state of mind. Originally said by Jack Warden (the man who plays Benjamin Rand in the movie), this sentence has all the meaning to explain what the movie is about. Everything is happening in the hedge of our perception, nowhere beyond. Nothing ever crosses over the circle of our minds. Even we can’t get out of this circle. And we live our lives the way we give meaning to things inside this circle.

People around Chance are the living examples of this aphorism. But Chance is out of this theme. Because he doesn’t use his mind at all. He doesn’t get anywhere – he is just there. (“Getting there is half the fun, being there is all of it.” – movie’s tagline)

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As one of the audience, I play my part deciding whether Chance was walking on the water or it was just a small mound under his feet. I’m also trying to find out some things that Kosinski (the writer) or the others (director and his staff) were telling through the symbols (like the masonic one, the all seeing eye, which appeard on Ben’s grave, towards the end of the movie) or some other aphorisms. Wait, I’m getting there…

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