Breaking the Shackles: Transforming ‘The Piano’ from Script to Screen Jack Duckett 12th Grade

In Jane Campion’s dramatic and societally informative film ‘The Piano’, scenes 112-119 are key in conveying Campion’s messages around the restrained society depicted in the mid-19th century era in which the film is set. These scenes act as the emotional and thematic pinnacle of the film, bringing to fruition and building upon the established imbalance existing between two of the main characters, Alasdair Stewart (Sam Neill) and his imported, mute wife Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), and using atrocious violence in order to condemn restrained society. Throughout the film, these two characters are depicted as the antithesis of the other in terms of adherence to this restrictive and restrained society – Stewart values the patriarchal system of the time, and views women, including Ada, as subordinate, and requiring control and management. In contrast, Ada is depicted as socially deviant, evident through her state of elective muteness, but also through the stubborn nature she exhibits in the face of men. The unease existing in the relationship between these two is shown to be ultimately the result of the restrained society in which they live, and of the disparity between the two in terms of their societal views and expectations. Scenes...