Seven Pounds of Symbolism

In film, there are many factors that blend together to create an experience for the viewer, such as the acting, editing, producing, and writing of the film; but the most important of these factors is something that is much deeper. This factor is something that connects and resonates with the viewer at a much deeper level, symbolism. Symbolism is not something that can always be identified or pointed out with ease, but nonetheless it is the element that truly makes film an art. Symbolism is defined as an artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind. Some forms of symbolism that are common in film include things such as colors representing emotions or feelings, the surroundings of a character representing what may be going on in their life, the lighting representing the tone or mood of the film, and many other things along these lines. Symbolism is something that can constantly be found throughout all films, whether it is something as simple as a small detail in the background of a shot that represents something, or something as significant as the theme of the film, symbolism plays a key role in bringing the viewer into the film in a sense, by filling the film with complexity, emotion, and meaning. The film Seven Pounds is a perfect example of a film that utilizes symbolism to take the viewer on a journey through the life of an individual named Ben Thomas. In this film, there are many forms of symbolism present, but the three most compelling examples of symbolism in this film are the idea of the duality of life and death, the idea of Ben literally engineering his life and death, and the idea that this film contains themes similar to that of the play The Merchant of Venice.  There are a countless number of examples of symbolism found throughout the film Seven Pounds, but these are the three core ideas that are held responsible for pulling the viewer into such an intense and emotional cinematic experience.

            The first of these three vital examples of symbolism that is found in the film Seven Pounds is the idea of duality between life and death. Although by most people life and death may be considered opposites, they are two things that cannot be separated; life is not possible without death, and death is not possible without life.  Throughout this film, there are multiple ways in which the duality between life and death that are exemplified. One example of the duality of life and death being represented through symbolism in this film can be found in the extreme long shot where Ben and Emily are playing with Emily’s dog and sitting together in a field of tall, flowing, green grass. According to the director of this film, Gabriele Muccino, the massive field that Ben and Emily are sitting in is used to symbolize all of the life that they are surrounded by even though they are both people who are filled with death. Putting Ben and Emily in this massive green field by themselves points out the fact that life is not always fair in the sense that it is not giving them the opportunity to live in the beauty that surrounds them. Another example of the duality between life and death can be observed in all of the shots that contain either just Ben, or just Emily. All of the shots that contain only Ben are generally empty and dark and there is not much going on in the background, but the shots that contain Emily are always filled with light and packed with information and objects. This symbolizes the fact that when Ben is alone, he is empty and the dark lighting symbolizes the sadness and death that he is filled with. On the other hand, all of the shots that contain Emily are filled with color and light, which represents hope and life, and this symbolizes the idea that Emily fills Ben with life, and without her he is simply filled with death. Another place where the duality of life and death can be seen is in Ben’s house. Ben’s house is a very high quality estate right on the ocean, and the outside is covered with vibrant colors, flowers, and plants, while the inside is dark, and filled with boxes and things that belonged to his fiancé who was one of seven people killed in a car crash caused by Ben. The colors and vegetation that envelope the exterior of Ben’s house represent growth and life, while the darkness of the inside of the house and his fiancé’s belongings represents death and imprisonment respectively. The reason why Ben’s fiancé’s belongings represent imprisonment is because they show the burden that is still holding Ben down. One more very important example of the duality between life and death that is found in this film is the symbol of the jellyfish. In this film, the jellyfish is something that is brought up multiple times throughout the course of the film, and plays a major role in the development of the story. The jellyfish is first discussed in the scene where Ben is bringing a pet jellyfish into his motel room, and he has a flashback to the first time he ever saw a jellyfish. During this flashback, there is a long shot that shows Ben, his brother, and his father from behind looking into a jellyfish tank at the aquarium, and this shot is very powerful because in this shot, this family is directly looking at something that will ultimately be the cause of Ben’s death. In this film, the jellyfish is symbolic of both the beauty of life, and the sadness of life and death. The fact that a jellyfish is so majestic and beautiful, yet so deadly makes it the perfect symbol for the duality of life and death. Given all of these examples, it is obvious that the duality of life and death is a form of symbolism found in this film that played a vital role in successfully delivering the message of this film, and the full experience of the film to its viewers.

            The next crucial example of symbolism that is found in the film Seven Pounds is the idea that Ben Thomas literally engineers his death. Early on in Ben and Emily’s relationship, they are discussing Ben’s life when he mentions the fact that he has an engineering degree from MIT, and he quit his job as an aeronautical engineer to become an IRS field agent. The fact that Ben is an engineer reveals a lot about his character. It shows that he is always finding a mathematical and logical answer to problems, even if the problem may not have an answer. Throughout the film, Ben is engineering both his life and his death. Ben puts a great deal of time and effort into researching medical and financial files, records, and documents, in an attempt to find individuals who truly do need his help, and he stalks their lives in a sense in order to decide whether or not they are truly good people, and deserve a life changing gift. This life-changing gift ranges from anything to the right part of his liver that he donated to a woman named Holly, all the way to his house that he gave to a woman named Connie. The common theme that each of these gifts have is that they will change permanently change, or even save the recipient’s life. One instance where Ben was stalking one of his potential recipients is when he call’s a man named Ezra, who works at a meat distribution company, and he mercilessly ridicules him for being a blind vegetarian, and Ben tells him that he is probably a virgin, and through all of this Ezra remained calm and did not get angry.  Ben did this to see if Ezra truly was a good person or not, and he did things similar to this to ensure that the recipients of his gifts were people who deserved them, and this was just another part of the process that Ben used to engineer his death.  Another instance where Ben used engineering to plan his death was through the planning of how he was going to deliver his organs to their intended recipients. There are multiple shots of Ben’s house that show stacks and stacks of medical books and documents, and this show the high amount of research that Ben did to make sure his plan went along as desired, and all the intended recipients got what they deserved. Ben also engineered his death by making certain that everything worked out mathematically. Ben counted the number of steps and time that it would take for Emily to reach the hospital from her house, the amount of time that it would take for an ambulance to reach his motel room, how long his heart would stay alive after he passed away, how to prevent his heart from being damaged during his suicide, and many other important factors along these lines. In the scene where Ben takes his own life, he calls 9-1-1 and notifies them that he is committing suicide, and kills himself by letting a box jellyfish sting him while laying in a bath of ice. Ben had a timer while he was doing this to make sure that he executed the suicide at the correct time, and he filled the tub with ice in order to keep his heart from dying which were both great examples of Ben engineering his own death. Also, in this scene of the film, there is a strong influence of symbolism.  While laying in the bathtub, there is a God’s-eye shot of Ben laying in the bathtub full of ice, slowly dying. In this shot, the tub itself represents a coffin and the ice resembles the broken glass from the car crash, which shows the link between the two events. Also, the lighting in this shot creates an eerie greenish-blue color, and the shot appears to be very empty, which both represent death and loneliness. One example of a problem that does not have an answer that Ben tries to solve anyway is just the burden that he carries from the car crash that he caused as a whole. Ben killed seven people, including his fiancé in a car crash that was caused by him reading a text message while driving, and overcorrecting and hitting another car head on. In Ben’s mind, this accident put him in some sort of debt, and he believes that he needs to repay it by saving the lives of seven other individuals, that is why he goes to these extreme measures to engineer his death in a way that will potentially save the lives of seven other people.

            This leads into the final critical example of symbolism in the film Seven Pounds, the idea that this film is based off of the basic principles of the Merchant of Venice, a play written by William Shakespeare. In The Merchant of Venice, the main character demands that anyone in debt to him in a way that is not repayable, must instead pay him back with a pound of his or her own flesh, hints the title, Seven Pounds. After the car crash, Ben feels that he is in debt and it must be repaid by helping save the lives of other people through donation.  There is a great deal of symbolism found through this idea. One example symbolism found in this idea is fairly straightforward, the fact that Ben gives seven life-changing gifts to seven different people as a way to repay his debt from the seven people he killed in the car accident.  The seven gifts Ben gave away were: donating a lung to his brother, bone marrow to a man named Nicholas, the right part of his Liver to a woman named Holly, a kidney to a man named George, his house to a woman named Connie and her children, his eyes to a blind man named Ezra, and finally his heart to Emily. This is how the concept of repaying debts found in The Merchant of Venice comes into play. Ben believed that the only way he could truly repay the debt of killing seven people was to save the lives of seven others.  Another form of symbolism related to this idea can be found in each of the organs that Ben donated, probably the most significant of these being the heart that he donated to Emily. Before Emily received a new heart, she suffered from congenital heart failure disease.  She was basically told that she was not going to survive because of how small of a chance there was of a heart being found that her body would not reject. Ben did the research and discovered that both him and Emily shared the same blood type, and he knew that he was probably going to be her only chance of survival. In one of the final scenes of the film after the transplant takes place, there is a God’s-eye shot of Emily laying in her bath tub, and in this scene she puts her ear underwater in order to hear her heartbeat. This may seem somewhat insignificant, but this scene actually contains multiple very important symbols. One of these symbols can be found in the God’s-eye shot from this scene. In this shot, the bathtub that Emily is laying in resembles a halo because of how it forms a ring around her head in a way, and this shows how Emily is in a sanctuary and it shows the angelic characteristics that she possesses.  Another piece of symbolism found in this scene comes from when Emily put her ear underwater to listen to her heartbeat.  This just shows the love that Emily and Ben shared, given the fact that Ben took his own life in order to save the life of Emily, and it shows how Ben will always both literally and spiritually be inside of her and does a great job at showing how life and death are intertwined. One more example of symbolism seen through this idea is found in the scene where Ben donates his house to a woman named Connie and her two children. Before receiving this gift, Connie was in a very rough financial state, and she, along with her kids, were treated absolutely horribly by her boyfriend. In the scene where Connie first arrives to what used to be Ben’s house, there is a note from Ben that reads, “I always believed this place could heal the soul, I hope that proves true for you.” (Seven Pounds).  Ben giving Connie this house symbolizes him giving her a soul, and this note just emphasizes that point. Before Ben gave Connie the opportunity to leave her boyfriend and live in a new house, Connie was basically trapped. There were bars over all of the windows of her house, which symbolized prison bars, and how Connie was basically imprisoned because of her boyfriend. The fact that Ben gave her this house essentially gave her a whole new life full of hope. Clearly, the symbolism found in the parallels between this film and Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice are one of the factors that makes this film so powerful, emotional, and truly immerses the viewer into the film.

            Obviously, in film there are countless factors that combine to create a true experience for the viewer, and immerse them into the film.  These factors range from the editing process of the film, to the scripting of the film, to the acting in the film, and everything found in between. Also, these factors can be found in very small and intricate details such as the color of a shot or the framing of a shot, or they can be found in much larger things such as the theme or storyline of the film. Having said this, it is undeniable that the most significant of these factors is something that cannot be found simply lying on the surface of the film, but instead something much deeper. This factor is symbolism. Symbolism is the single most important thing that makes a film the way it is. Symbolism is what truly portrays the emotion and the story of the film to its viewer, and it is what pulls the viewer into the film and makes them feel as if they are a part of the experience.  The film Seven Pounds does a great job at displaying the importance of symbolism in film. In this film there are many forms of symbolism present, but the three most significant are the idea of the duality of life and death, the idea of Ben literally engineering his life and death, and the idea that this film is full of themes similar to that of the play The Merchant of Venice.  There are massive amounts of different examples of symbolism found throughout the film Seven Pounds, but these three are what truly invite the viewer into the experience of the film, and capture them emotionally with such an intense cinematic experience.