Paris, Texas

The film Paris, Texas heavily utilizes camera work, symbolic perspective of characters, and guiding lines to translate the journey of the characters. The movie opens with a bird's eye view, using an actual bird to guide the path of this shot, and eventually this bird lands. We see a solitary man in the dry, red expanse of a dessert. Against the dusty background, the color of the man's red had, yellow tie, and blue on his water bottle stand out. The man seems to be wandering aimlessly in this expanse; this loss of direction is emphasized by the lack of paths. The next scene drastically contrasts with the red expanse, cutting to a vivid and overwhelming green of a grassy expanse. This contrast heightens the experience of the previously seen dessert.
Through this movie, the man from the dessert, Travis Henderson, is on a journey to find his wife. His journey at first seems aimless and he seems very far from reality. We begin to see hints of intention in his journey, however, when we realize he is following routes of communication and travel such as the power lines and railroad tracks. This sense of Travis's direction is strengthened with a point-of-view shot that shows him gazing along these power lines. Again with the railroad his direction is shown with the clever use of the sunset to indicate the West. These routes of communication and travel are repeated throughout the entire film. In one scene, Travis and his son stop for lunch between a highway interchange as Travis explains that he must leave; this interchange acts as a reflection of the new path he must take.
The three movies we watched together, Bunny, Harold and Maude, and Paris, Texas all show a theme of guidance, directing a stubborn, cold, confused character back to life through love.

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