In the movie, There Will Be Blood, Daniel's relationship
with HW plays a huge part in the evolution of Daniel's world. In the beginning
of the movie, HW is left alone after the death of his birth father, starting
his life with an unfortunate event. Daniel decides to take HW in as his child,
creating a start to his life as a family man and as an oil man. In the
beginning of their relationship, Daniel and HW are very close, HW helps him
with Daniel's business and they work as a team. When HW and Daniel are hunting
and searching for oil, HW comes across some oil in the ground. After he shows
Daniel, they walk up the hill and look out onto the view of the mountain range.
That view not only represented beauty, but the overwhelming power that would
follow HW's discovery. When HW and Daniel are getting along and bonding,
Daniel's oil business starts to become a success. His success officially breaks
when HW loses his hearing. HW's condition becomes frustrating, stressful, and
too much to handle, just like his business. Daniel starts to abandon HW,
causing the dedication in him to drift away. When Daniel reunites with HW and
they are having dinner, Daniel promises HW that he will no longer leave HW
alone, and that they are in this together. Just after he has a special moment
with HW, a group of businessmen from Standard Oil come storming in, symbolizing
how business will get in the way of his relationship with HW. The ending of the
movie has a very odd, quick ending. It starts as a scene with HW and Mary, and
then flips to the future of Mary and HW getting married. This represented how
unimportant and irrelevant HW’s childhood became in the movie, and in Daniels
life. Daniel and HW have a disturbing last encounter, and HW leaves forever.
After HW leaves Daniel, it is clear Daniels life is over. Daniel goes mad, and
even kills Eli. When Daniel is in his bowling alley, he looks exhausted,
chugging water as if he is dehydrated, working in the sun, just like in the
beginning of the movie. This symbolized how although he had a lot of money and
power, his life has gone back to what it was in the beginning of the movie. The
loss of HW resulted in the loss of Daniels life.
You made some great points and highlighted a lot of great connections between how HW's life drives, and also represent's Daniels life in many cases. I agree with you that when HW decides to leave Daniel for good near the end of the movie, it is almost the last nail in the coffin for Daniel's career as a business and family man. Daniel also scolds HW, essentially saying that he had been using him is whole life. But I believe Daniel actually had a much deeper feelings for HW than he lets on, which is what really sends him over the edge after HW leaves.
ReplyDeleteGood Job Remy :D
I agree with your idea that Daniel's life took a full circle. Daniel's character in the beginning of the film is very hardworking and tense, however we can see him grow happier as his partnership with HW strengthens and they gain success. Once HW loses his hearing, his relationship with his father takes a completely new turn. Now Daniel is no longer reliant on his son because he has been convinced by other businessmen that HW will only hold him back from business. This change in events only causes further stress on Daniel and the decisions he must make, while leaving HW to make decisions for himself as well. I also found the end of the movie to be a bit odd and unexpected in the way that Daniel treated HW before he took off to leave with Elizabeth, his new wife. Although Daniel experiences success and happiness earlier on in both his and HW's lives, his deteriorating relationship with his son ultimately drives him to insanity. I also agree with your idea that by the end of the film it is clear that although Daniel had a lot of money and power, he lost his life when he lost HW.
ReplyDeleteI think your interpretation of HW's relevance in Daniel's life is spot on. I didn't realize how the much events in the movie lined up with HW leaving Daniel and Daniel going crazy. I agree with how the movie ended showed that he went back to how his life used to be without HW. However, I also think it showed how aside from all this money and power, the love and dedication Daniel and HW had for each other really was what made Daniel's life so successful and great and not his success with oil. Oil brought the money, but it also brought problems in his life. The film began with the death of an oil worker and then ended with the death of Eli; HW was not in the picture in either of these scenes. In my opinion HW was the key to all of Daniel's successes and when he leaves, everything falls apart.
ReplyDeleteI think you analyzed the relationship of HW and Daniel very well. From reading your response you made me think about certain aspects of the film that I had not realized when watching on my own. When you talked about the part where HWs life just fast forwards from his childhood to his wedding day, I didn't realize it could be because his life is just insignificant in Daniel's world ever since he lost his hearing, or at least it seems this way. But once HW talks to Daniel about moving, and REALLY being out of hi life, it hits Daniel. His life is over, like you said. I completely agree with your response and think you did a good job analyzing the film.
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