Film Techniques



Paris, Texas begins the short film in a desert which represents dryness and the unknown. This is similar to our protagonist, Travis. He is on a walk through this desert with no apparent destination. The phone lines in the film represent the connection Travis has with his wife that we find out later he is looking for her as he walks aimlessly along. Travis eventually finds his wife in a brothel after meeting up with his son first. There seem to be past hardships that occurred within the family. Travis decides to keep his identity hidden for awhile in the brothel. This is a different type of brothel with a one sided, see through mirror in it. This mirror represents the difficulties and separation Travis had for his wife. The amount of times he sees her, but doesn't make it clear it is him is another symbol of that lost connection that we see that they used to have. Also, like we discussed in class, the lunch with his son is another symbol as it occurs under a freeway overpass. This symbol of the overpass represents conflicting paths and confusion. This seems to be the case for both Travis and his son. The son is confused why Travis left and why he wants to leave again due to his age. The crossing paths of the overpass represent his parents conflicting paths that each other take in separate directions.

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