User:Señor Rodriguez/sandbox

Summary and analysis:

The meaning of the word belonging varies from person-to-person. A person’s life experience, childhood, culture, social setting, and self-esteem can all shape how they experience “belonging”. A sense of belonging allows one to feel connected to individuals, places, communities, and the world. On the contrary, not feeling a sense of belonging can cause a person to feel isolated, depressed, and worthless. The need for belonging is a valid and essential feeling. An inner sense of belonging can externally push us to connect with others.

Loneliness

The director of Belonging, Pierre Ieong, gives us the point of view of a young Syrian refugee named George Gabonian. As a child, George enjoyed discovering the outdoors with his boy scout brothers. But after the violent death of his father during the Syrian war, fleeing Syria, and relocating to Paris, George felt isolated in such a big and foreign city and yearned to feel a sense of belonging. To illustrate his feelings, the director contrasted George’s memories as a boy scout to the new memories that he is making in his international class at school and how they both helped to bring balance during a chaotic time. As a boy scout, George was surrounded by boys from different backgrounds and they all shared one common objective. In George’s international class, all the students came from different countries and all share a common objective as well. Now that George is part of this class, he feels a sense of stability which was similar to his experience as a boy scout. This stability brought him a level of comfort and happiness.

A sense of belonging to a community improves your inspiration, wellbeing, and confidence. This is proven when George comes to the realization that “[w]e all come from different places, united here with a common objective.” Being accepted by others will help you realize that all individuals experience similar struggles and emotions. There is comfort in knowing that you are surrounded by other people who genuinely accept you and care for your well-being. In addition to the stability brought on by the familiarity of his new classmates, being connected to a community, helps to validate his sense of belonging.

As people, we crave and need to feel like we are part of something, and that feeling is the thing that connects us to the numerous experiences and relationships we create. A connection between individuals can help build love, inspiration, spark fear and challenge us. At the end of Belonging, George concludes that “[a]lthough we’re out of our homes, in the wild, we’ve got each other’s backs.” He is commenting on the reality that we all live in somewhat of chaos and the connection to others and sometimes places is what balances us. That sense of comfort when we realize that we have others around us who share our objectives and fears--that’s belonging.

Pierre Ieong has published five short films from 2014-2019. Ieong uses specific mises en scène to aid us in visualizing the emotions that his characters are feeling. In Belonging, George narrates his story while the director uses shots of landscapes, weather, and objects to symbolize his emotions. Specifically, in this video, the director uses the contrast between the natural world versus the urban world. The clash between the city and the nature shots are descriptive and help to tell George’s story of loss, change and eventually, belonging.

Urban VS Nature

Some examples of these are: when George said that he felt scared, the director showed a shot of a crane that was very high in the air to symbolize fear of heights; this gave the viewer the impression of George’s fear caused by the chaos in his home and the traumatic change that happens when his father is killed. When George mentioned that he felt lost, the director showed a scene of him being surrounded by many people walking in different directions---surrounded by people but still feeling lost. The image itself strongly suggests the isolation felt by George. Other examples include, scenes of George laughing and eating with his fellow boy scouts reflected the happiness that George felt when he was part of a community versus scenes of George alone on the subway and walking the streets in Paris demonstrated his feeling of isolation although he was surrounded by lots of people.

To further illustrate the loss felt by George, leong takes us to his experience with his mother at a kitchen table and it strikes as sadness, while his meal with his friends is full of laughter and joy. The sharp contrast displays the pain of loss. The scenes that follow, with his boy scout and new friends, full of lights and vivid scenery displays the happiness that balances his loss. Throughout the film, leong pushes these stark differences in scenery that help tell the story and takes the viewer on the emotional ride of George’s life.

Critical thinking questions:

1. Relationships and experiences can shape an individual’s sense of belonging. To what extent does the film support this idea?
2. In the film, there is a major contrast between the shots where George is surrounded by greenery and nature versus the traffic and the big city. Towards the end, the scenes of George and his classmates are shot outdoors. How does this contrast in scenery represent George’s outlook on life?

Further reading:

To read about the social psychology of belonging, check out these articles:

·       https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-need-to-belong-2795393#:~:text=In%20social%20psychology%2C%20the%20need,others%20and%20be%20socially%20accepted.&text=The%20need%20to%20belong%20to%20a%20group%20also%20can%20lead,and%20norms%20of%20the%20group.

·       http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/interpersonal-relationships/need-to-belong/

·       https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-cultures/201704/belonging

·       https://www.discoverwalks.com/blog/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-paris-refugee-crisis/

·       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War

·       https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts

To learn about the United Nations PLURAL+ Film Festival, view other award-winning films or submit your own, check out their website:

·       https://pluralplus.unaoc.org/#

More short films by Pierre Ieong:

·       L’Amour Invisible | I Saved The Fish:

·       Skin to Skin

·       Maledictus Tormentum