today we're going to take a look at Chloe Zhao's Nomadland and how it builds and then breaks a
universe
the world is about to blow up it's a nuclear holocaust ah that's a monster rampaging
across the planet again and so on and so forth high stakes movies have always been
a big hit at the box office but how often do you feel satisfied by the outcome of the movie
in fact how many of those movies would you call a masterpiece how many movies can you think of that
revolve around a character and their universe and how many of those would you then classify
as a masterpiece like Nomadland not the same thing right no surely we should care more about
the world blowing up than a woman going to live in her van right right and this goes
back to something that's incredibly primal in us as human beings as a tribe based animal our
brains are finely tuned so when we enter a room we are instantly able to read social dynamics
i i don't want to disagree with you but i have to say i do so what does that really mean for film
well film is a form of storytelling and storytelling has been used for pretty much
all of human history to hand down information information on what we should eat predators we
should avoid and how we should act what our morals should be the ten commandments i mean
hey that's a biggie right there each of these stories are exactly the same thing as a film we
look to these stories to learn how to better be a human being you gave me a light back in quartzite
you still have it no that's long gone but i do have this for you
what should happen we can relate to one person's journey and deeply empathize with them
more easily than we're able to empathize with a thousand people simultaneously it's just
less relatable what this means is quite often we're more moved by when a character loses
their pet parrot which had learned the one line that their father used to tell them every day
than if an entire city blows up to be honest i kind of feel choked up about the parrot now
so going back to Nomadland how has Chloe Zhao set up Fern's universe for us to actually care
about her journey so at the start of the film we meet Fern as she's sealing up all of her worldly
possessions apart from what she's fit within her van and she is an incredibly cold and harsh
environment in this moment we are told through very clever framing that she is isolated that she
has no one and this sets us up to immediately empathize with her feeling of loneliness
because most of us have felt a sense of loneliness at some point in our lives
we're able to empathize immediately with Fern even though many of us have never had to put all of our
worldly possessions in storage before the act is not what Chloe's going for it's the feeling
of isolation you take care of yourself
so as Fern has chosen this nomadic lifestyle well one of the most precious items to
live this life is her means of transport is her home on wheels her van so when the van eventually
does break down this beautifully challenges Fern's life up until this point earlier in the film
we learned that Fern is incredibly independent and proud she doesn't ask anyone for help so when
the van breaks down and she's faced with a bill that she can't possibly afford she's stuck in a
situation where she has to face her own pride or lose the universe that she's creating for herself
taking that money and putting it towards a different vehicle no well i can't do that
i can't do that see because right um i spent a lot of time and money building the inside out and
a lot of people don't understand the value of that but um it's not something like we can i live
in there so when she goes to visit her sister to borrow the money to fix her van she's challenged
by one of her sisters dinner guests to the way she lives her life challenging her own concept of her
universe and she pushes back quite forcefully i mean we're not all in a position to just
chuck everything and hit the road oh you think that's what i've done George i chucked
everything to hit the road is that what i did all right i'm sorry you can see that she
truly believes in this way of life but we also start to understand that maybe she's running away
from her past by constantly moving constantly being on the road so we asked the question
is the van really a means for her to avoid her past what the nomads are doing is not
that different than what the pioneers did i think Fern's part of an american tradition
i think it's great believe it or not another incredibly important element of Fern's universe
are her plates so early in the movie we learn that Fern has put some plates in her van which mean a
great deal to her they were gifted to her by her deceased father and so they have pride of place
inside her deceased husband's tackle box my dishes that my dad gave me he collected these Linda May
from yard sales and when i graduated from high school he gave me the whole set oh isn't that
great and brilliantly Chloe Zhao has put the moment in which the plates are broken dead smack center
in the middle of the movie this is the first time that Fern is truly challenged to
let go of her past but we are in the middle of the movie so she shouldn't
be ready just yet and so said so done she ends up super gluing the plates back together again
so what this means is Chloe is arguing that many of the items that we keep hold
of for sentimental reasons can also act as an anchor holding us back in our lives
what's beautiful here is Fern's entire universe is a result of a deeply relatable human emotion
this is a story exploring grief and how it affects us what we do with it and how we can move past it
are you sure you don't need any of this stuff no don't need any of it i'm good
i'm not gonna miss one thing so as we join Fern on her nomadic life we also witness
a person who pushes many people away she's also chosen a life on purpose to avoid
creating more bonds and connections as a form of protecting herself from more
pain and hurt that she still hasn't dealt with from her previous life you want to come with me
maybe i can visit sometime
great bye night
so when we see that she's formed deep and beautiful bonds with other nomads
and they give her the chance to move back to a more traditional life to give up being
a nomad and she pushes them away she pushes that opportunity away we realize that she has actually
found what she was looking for she's found a sense of purpose and community within this nomadic life