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We need to Talk About Kevin: - Coggle Diagram
We need to Talk About Kevin:
Binary Opposites:
Eva and Kevin:
She is desperate to have a good relationship with him, but he makes it as hard as possible for her.
Kevin toys with her emotions a lot - when he was sick, he made her think that she was getting somewhere with him but when he was better he went back to his old ways.
Kevin and Celia:
Celia is a mother's idea of a 'perfect child' however Kevin is a mother's idea of a worst nightmare. This may impact how Eva interacts with her children - she is more likely to be happy to spend time with Celia as she is more pleasant to be around, possibly making Kevin Jealous.
Eva's relationship with both of her children:
She looks uncomfortable around Kevin - like she doesn't know who he is.
With Celia she looks more like a mother should and it is clear that she cares for her and treats her nothing like she does Kevin.
She lacks the interactions that a mother should have with her son.
Eva and Franklin:
They constantly disagree when talking about Kevin and his behavior. Eva always tells him that there is something not right, but Franklin ignores her and only goes off of what he can see.
Key themes:
Motherhood:
How Eva acts and treats her children differently to each other.
With Kevin, Eva seemed to lack the motherly instinct needed to raise and bond with him effectively but with Celia she seemed to feel more confident in herself when it comes to raising her. She has a better relationship with Celia than she does Kevin.
Parenting:
Eva and Frank have different ideas of parenting. - it is suggested by her actions that Eva either doesn't know how to parent or doesn't want to try, however Frank is constantly shown bonding with both of his children on more than one occasion.
Nature of evil:
Since birth, Kevin has fed off of Eva's negative energy resulting in him acting the way that he did. He was deprived of motherly love from the beginning and therefore wanted to make her suffer for it.
How the film conveys meaning:
With present day Eva we see her on her bed surrounded with red lighting. multiple cross-cuts from Eva on the bed to Kevin. Every time Kevin shoots an arrow it immediately cut back to Eva looking more and more in pain.
When Kevin is a toddler and the audience see him disobey Eva, there is the sound of a guitar that makes it sound like they are going to battle for authority.
Narrative devices:
The film is shown to the audience through Eva's perspective.
As a result of this, they audience never knows why Kevin does what he does and they only see the impact it leaves afterwards.
The audience are kept in the dark about Kevin as a character just like Eva.