Debbie Carmona
Professor Catherine Perry
English 2100 Rhetorical Essay
December 20, 2022
Divergent is a movie about a young girl discovering how she is in danger due to her being different. Tris is a sixteen year old girl that is stuck in a society that categorizes you into one thing. In this dystopian society, there are different groups called factions. Each faction is different. Erudite is the faction of intelligence. Amity is the faction of peace. Candor is the faction of the honest. Dauntless is the faction of the brave. Abnegation is the faction of the selfless. There are also the factionless which are those who don’t fit in a faction. In society, they are the homeless. Tris is a part of abnegation but she knew that she didn’t really belong there. After taking a test to see which faction she belongs in, she learns that she is divergent and is immediately told to not tell anyone. Being divergent is rare. When they do pop up, people want them killed because they can’t be controlled and are seen as a threat. This is an example of the marxist school of thought. It shows the class differences and how people are being outcasted.
Choosing to write about this movie was perfect for me because I like how they pinpointed the outcast as cool, heroic people. People tend to not look at outcasts as cool people. They are usually the complete opposite. We look at them as weird people that can’t fit in. Divergent makes these outkasts brave and enforces them to fight for a change that we never see in the world around us.
Tris’s faction, Abnegation, are the leaders in this society. They were chosen as such because they are selfless and think about the wellbeing of others at all cost. They are simple people. People that wear dull colors and don’t even season their meat to emphasize that they care about others more than pleasing themselves. The intelligent faction, Erudite, believe that they should be in control just solely because they are intelligent. They are greedy for power and to control everyone. In order to control everyone, they chipped the faction of Dauntless (they are the police and strong people of society) and made them attack Abnegation in order to obtain power. Erudite knew that Abnegation wouldn’t fight back because they aren’t violent people. Though these factions are deemed as equal, Erudite was always one step ahead of everyone. Erudite would represent the capitalists in the real world. Abnegation would represent the people who are always trying to help those in need. Those two groups always clash. There is no middle ground for them and in the end, we always see one group having the ultimate power.
Divergents fit into all factions. They have all of the qualities that are looked for to be in each faction. They think differently than everybody and that scares the leaders of all factions. Controlling someone divergent is difficult as they aren’t affected by serums like regular people. All leaders no matter what faction don’t like divergents because of the gift they have. Any divergent that was discovered would be killed right away. This was something hidden. Many people didn’t even know that divergents were a real thing so when they discovered they were and told someone, they would be found the next day dead. Erudite’s hunger for power made its main goal to kill as many divergents as they could. Ironically, many people that are factionless are divergent. They are at the bottom of the totem pole. Society is prestigious against divergent and the factionless. There is no pity for them. The factionless are seen as disgusting and the divergents as dangerous.
The clothes in the film separates groups of people from each other. The factions each have their own colors. I believe that these colors are linked to the power and jobs they hold. The peaceful faction known as Amity, wear the color orange and yellow but in a softer tone. Their jobs are to farm and provide food for each faction. Abnegation has white and gray clothes that look very dull. They give back to the factionless and help whoever needs help. Dauntless wears all black clothes. Their job is to protect society. Candor wears black and white. They are the justice system in society. Erudite wear royal blue. They are behind all of the technology that society has. The strongest color out of all of those is royal blue. This is the brightest color you see someone wearing in the film. It’s such a powerful color when put next to the rest of the others. The directors of the film did this on purpose to highlight the dominance Erudite had over everyone.
The movie was reviewed by the NY times and it wasn’t positive. The NY times critic, Manohla Dargis, believes that it is a dumb stereotypical movie where the strong, warrior female lead falls in love with the male warrior. The critic just saw it as a teen movie and didn’t dig deep into the problems that the characters face. The only part they could grasp was the teen love instead of the plot. The film revolves more around being divergent, compared to falling in love.
The film, “In Time”, starring Justin Timberlake, shares the marxist school of thought. In this society money is time. But time is your life. There is a clock counting down in your arm. Physical money doesn’t exist. You pay for everything with that time, including food. The downside is that the amount of time in your arm is how long you have to live. If you have to get home and gas costs ten minutes but your clock only has thirty minutes left, you would have twenty minutes to live. The only way you could get extra minutes is by working and getting paid, or by having someone transfer some of their time to you. The movie is seen with the main character working in a factory and not getting paid enough. Many people are in his situation and struggling. The rich are seen with twenty plus years on their clocks. The extremely rich even have a hundred on their clock which means that they can live all of those years. The main character is seen trying to steal more time throughout the movie. These people are constantly living on edge trying to survive. This is a prime example of marxist school of thought. The people higher up hold their times close to them without thinking of the harm that they are causing other people. This shows how selfish these people truly are in society.
Works Cited Page
Purdue Writing Lab, “Introduction to Literary Theory // Purdue Writing Lab.” The OWL at Purdue, Purdue University, 2018, owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_critism/index.html
Kriston Lewis, “Movie Review: Divergent”, The New York Times, March 21, 2014, Movie Review: ‘Divergent’ – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Woodley, Shailene, performer. Divergent. Directed by Neil Burger, Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate Films, 2014
Elena Pougin, “Movie Analysis: In Time (English)”, elenapougin.com, April 19, 2019, Movie Analysis : In Time (English) – Eléna Pougin (elenapougin.com)