Morris- Witness/Mosquito Coast

The two movies Witness and Mosquito Coast involve the relationship between a child and his patriarch.

In Witness, this relationship is between Samuel and his grandfather, Eli. Because the characters are Amish, they are used to a patriarchal society. The older generation of men are supposed to have the most knowledge because they have experienced the most since they have lived longer. Eli tries to teach Samuel about their culture and the difference between their world and the outside world in the scene when John Book's gun is on the table. Eli's message is that killing another man is wrong.

Since Samuel has witnessed the brutal murder of a man, his experience has surpassed his grandfather's. When asked if he would take a life, Samuel says he would only kill a "bad man" and continues to explain that he has seen what bad men do. Samuel knows more than his grandfather concerning this topic.

In Mosquito Coast, Allie Fox has taken his family and moved them out of society and into the jungle to a place he created. He is the leader of the family, and he is very smart (an inventor) so he is well respected by his children, especially his son Charlie.

Charlie's perspective of his father changes when Allie says that America no longer exists. Charlie knows his father is lying and is angered by the fact. When Allie burns down the church in the end, Charlie has to come up with an idea to save his family. Charlie sees that his father can no longer take care of the family and he has to step in to lead them.

Both boys have learned how to be men from their patriarch, but because of new experiences, the boys have surpassed them in their knowledge of the world.

Koeferl- Witness and The Mosquito Coast

The scene with Samuel and Eli with the pistol illustrates the change that Samuel has experienced since he lost his innocence by witnessing the murder. The scene immediately before this one is important; Book and Rachel try to hide the pistol after Samuel finds it, but Samuel is so intrigued by the weapon that he looks for and finds it again. When Eli asks him if he would ever take a life, Samuel replies, “If it’s a bad man.” He is expanding himself beyond the teachings of the Amish and creating his own set of rules. The dominant in the beginning of this scene is the pistol, since that was the focus of the previous scene; the eye is then attracted to Samuel and Eli. In terms of character proxemics, the two are very close because Samuel is sitting on Eli’s lap. Eli is worried that Samuel will abandon the Amish code, and is trying to get him to believe that all forms of violence are bad. Although in this scene the two are physically close, they are emotionally distant.

In The Mosquito Coast, the moment where Charlie understands that his father isn’t the great man he thought he was is when he watches as the three men die in Allie’s monstrous creation. This scene rotates between the machine and the different family members, namely Allie and Charlie. The dominant is the machine itself, and it symbolizes the mental debilitation of Allie as it burns to the ground. The character proxemics show the audience that none of the family members are very close to each other; they are all just watching hopelessly as the ice machine blows up. The look on Charlie’s face suggests that he regrets helping his father kill the men, and feels bad at the same time that everyone’s hard work in building the machine, along with Allie’s hopes and aspirations, were destroyed.

This is a parallel to Witness, because John Book also has to deal with three “bad men” (although only two of them die in Witness). The difference between the two instances is that John Book had to kill the men, because if he didn’t, they would have killed him. The three men in The Mosquito Coast might not have harmed the Fox family physically, even if they were being very obtrusive. Although they were very threatening with their guns and hardened attitudes, Allie made the first violent move. Samuel lived by the Amish code for his entire life, and started to think independently from it when he witnessed a murder. Charlie lived his life believing everything that his father believed, and started to question his beliefs when he witnessed his father murder the three armed men. Both Charlie’s and Samuel’s experience learning from the patriarch and then exceeding the knowledge of the father involved violence.