Semiotic Analysis of Requiem For A Dream

Tyrone wakes up in reveries of becoming the start for her mother while Marion struggles with dependency and see psychotherapists for the same. In his film the director, Darren Aronofsky has made great usage of semiotics which is the focus of this paper. To begin with, the film pans out a scene of extreme jubilation where Sara is shown enjoying her favorite infomercials and then receiving a call to join the show (Aronofsky, 2002). In a personification of a dream, the two scenes are juxtaposed to give the viewers this direction. Sara longs to become a star in the show, and this is shown by her consistency amidst the unsettling behavior of her son. She dreams she is n the show and her son standing by her side as a sign of accomplishment.

The visual scenes are also captured through characters such as Tyrone and Harry. From Tyrone, he waylays his drug dealers in dark alleys where the squalor if the life there represents what he wants to shed away. However, due to the harshness of the present life, he is unable to endure its horror and thus fins temporary recourse to drugs. It is only one day that his usual drug trade goes south with a violent shootout between two rival gangs. The first one communicates the minds of the directors. Both of them are raised in a good background hip-hop culture which gave them an exhilarating focus on the drug culture that is synonymous with kind of life. Although there is occasional hip-hop music that depicts the environment and the visits in this respective neighborhood, it is the soundtrack that carries the film.

The track of Lux Aeterna informed with a dexterous symphony by the Kronos Quartet carries with it constant harmonies and a steady pulse that carries the mood and the emotions of the scenes (Conde, 2017). The variations of its speed serve as an emphasis on the different aspects of the film and are clearly shown to depict even scenes bias. The pawning of his mother TV set and forcing his girlfriend to have sex for pay are allegorical references to the devastation of drug dependency (Aronofsky, 2002). If he had a choice, these are things which should have been out of his mind. He loves his mother, and that includes her happiness which is brought about by the fantasy if being a star in the infomercial.

Marrion has been loyal which makes the act of sleeping with other men especially her therapist anathema. The regrets that he harbors later is an allegorical indication of the actions that he has undertaken without his will. Also, she used to be in prime shape as the dress fitted perfectly. Its retrieval thus is a symbol of her desire to go back to her glory where love used to be her companion compared to this angst for an out of reach glory. The seasons depicted in the scene from summer, winter, and fall are a fluid indicator of the transition that happens to the characters. Each character has to face a glorious past, a violent present, and dreamy future all of which change like the seasons.

Lastly, the film has, made use of subtle analogy to indicate the industriousness of the male characters. However the end makes the whole scene of the movie tie to the title. It is all about the hope that one day they will have their dreams come true despite their current predicament (Cultural Curfew, 2018). Interestingly, Karl Marx opines that human behavior was a consequence of their economic status. This is evident in the film as the characters enter in to various pastimes to eke out a descent livelihood. They have to face the gauntlet of the law, the rich and those who share none of their problems. TICS, 946. Cultural Curfew. (2018, September 28). The True Meaning Behind Requiem For A Dream [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.