The Man in the High Castle Re-genre Project
In my project of the first season of Man in the High Castle, I will be using different methods to express themes I have come by in the episodes I have chosen to display. The episodes that I chose were Episodes 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10. For episode 2, the themes I chose were torture and loss, and my projects include an obituary for Laura and her children, as well as a collage of torture scenes. In episode 3, I chose the theme of hiding/keeping things secretive in which there is a diary entry for Carl, the bookshop owner in Cannon City and a found poem about hiding. Episode 4 has the theme of revealing which will include a gallery of reveals as well as a list that Frank will use to follow through with his idea of killing the Japanese Prince. Episode 5 will include an image of a machine's gears with the quotes used by John Smith to describe how the Reich works as well as a picture of the heart to show how it functions to keep the human body together and the quotes spoken by the doctor of the Japanese Prince to signify the theme of function. I decided to do a theme that I found in both episodes 8 and 10 which is deception. For episode 8, I will use the quotes said by Lemuel when he was teaching the disabled boy he takes care of, how to fish, and episode 10 will have a personal letter from Joe to Juliana about his feelings which he stated in the last episode before he took off on the boat to Cuba.
Episode 2: Sunrise/ Obituary for Laura and Torture Collage
"Laura, John, and Emily were the joys of many, lost too soon. Lived on by Laura's husband and the father of Emily and John, is Bill. Also, Frank, who is the brother of Laura, and Uncle to the children. This accident was an unfortunate fate to the family. The Pacific States send their condolence to the remaining family. Please, in respect, come view the memorial of this family."
A major theme in episode 2 was loss, Frank lost his family due to the fact that they had Jewish ancestry, luckily, the Japanese found other information that forced them to let Frank go at the end, unfortunately, it was too late for his sister and her children. Since the Japanese did not want to make bad blood, they held a memorial for the lost ones, and this obituary would have been something that the Japanese would have done to show they cared without revealing too much information of their deaths and the secret ancestry line. This is just a minor show to how the government influences personal lives. In addition to this loss, there were many other losses in the episode, such as when Juliana almost lost her life, instead she lost the illustration of her drawn by Frank.
Another theme in this episode that seemed to stand out was torture. Frank was being tortured continuously by the Japanese about Juliana's whereabouts. The Japanese captured Frank and locked him up. They beat him up every time they would enter his cell to see if he would divulge any information. They even went down to finding his sister and her kids to force Frank into telling them about Juliana. When he would not give the information they wanted, the Japanese put Laura, Emily, and John into a gas chamber and ultimately killed them. As the Japanese were about to kill Frank at the shooting ground, they found a lady who had captured the "films" that Juliana had and deemed them to be counterfeit, freeing Frank from almost being shot.
Episode 3: The Illustrated Woman/ Found Poem and Diary Entry
In episode 3, we find out many secrets about the many people in the series. The most prominent were Carl and Joe. Carl was a concentration camp escapee from the New Berlin camp in New York after Hitler's takeover. In addition he was secretly selling Bibles which was neither legal nor illegal in the Neutral Zone. The Marshall was looking for him, and when he found him, he killed him. The found poem attached to the image above was a part of their exchange before Carl was killed. Although the image does not portray the secrets of Joe, he was also hiding something. We found out Joe was hiding the fact that he was part of the Reich from Juliana. Down the road, Juliana and Joe were hiding their killing of the bounty hunter from the Marshall. Even Frank was hiding, with his plot to kill the Japanese Prince.
Journal Entry: Carl
"Escaping from the concentration camp in now, New Berlin, was hard to do. I am making so much less in my book shop, selling bibles, and I miss my family. I do not know from one day to the next whether I will be caught for who I was, but that is all in the past now. I am alive and making some money to get by. I often wonder if and when the Neutral zone will be taken over by either the Japanese or the Reich, would it be safer to go to Cuba? In the event that the Neutral Zone is taken over, I am faced with the same predicament of escaping, because I am Jewish. As for now, I have these journal entries, and if I am to be caught and killed, I hope that one day we will be a peaceful world, and these entries will be a scar to that peaceful world, to avoid what the world is faced with now. I hope to be David once again from my true origin."
In this letter, we see a vision of Carl's life as a concentration camp escapee. Carl is a Jew and was meant to be gassed at some point, until he escaped in 1954. Carl does not really enjoy his life, because before he had to leave to the Neutral Zone, he had a better source of income and better life. Now he lives off selling books, if he's lucky because the economy is not the greatest in the Neutral Zone. He does see there can be a possibility of being found and killed but he hopes that his letters will be found in a later time when times are hopefully better. As we see in the episode, Carl ends up being killed even though he is in a safety zone. This signifies the theme of hiding, as Carl does. He sells bibles secretly, and when the Marshall comes to question him about the whereabouts of his bounty hunter and the girl that may have been the reason for his disappearance, he realizes that Carl is Dave, the escapee of the concentration camp, from his card list.
Episode 4: Revelations/Frank's List and Revelation Gallery
To kill the Japanese Prince:
Find out the date, location and time of the Prince Speech
Make an actual gun at the factory
Obtain bullets to fit the gun
Be at the speech before hand to find a point of shot
Make sure my apartment looks neat
Have a point of exit
Have a hiding place for the gun
In the fourth episode of the Man in the High Castle, a theme that was also the title is revealing or revelation. This project is supposed to be Frank's list of his plot to kill the Japanese prince. Frank was very angry that the Japanese killed his family and tortured him, so in order to get a proper revenge, he decides he will kill their ultimate ruler. As the episode goes through, we are revealed the list of tasks Frank completed to kill the Japanese Prince. In the episode, he ends up being beaten by a Sniper who was put in place by government, but Frank was eager to commit the act himself too. We are revealed that he is seen pulling a gun out, luckily the witness that saw him said he did not shoot.
In this episode we are also revealed that John Smith has a member of the Reich who appears he is teamed with the resistance, and giving vital information. John finds out that the captive from the resistance that tried to kill him and Obbergrubbenfurher Erich had killed himself with a spoon. Tagomi is working with a member of the Reich in which he is trying to help free since his Swedish passport is taken, and Juliana is in shock about her revelation of Joe. This slideshow shows the faces of the characters in the show that had received revelations.
Episode 5: The New Normal/Machine Gears and Heart Functions Image
In episode 5, Joe escapes the Neutral Zone and returns back to the Reich. When he returns, John Smith wants to know what happened to the film he was supposed to bring back, to which he called Joe a failure. Joe mention some of the events that happened, but did not mention all of the events that happened while he was in the neutral zone, and this brings about the theme of function. John uses the quote that is in the project of the machine gears to show an example of how the Reich works. He compares the Reich to the machine, and that if everyone is in communication and keeps going with everyone, then the machine functions, but if someone decides they are going to go about their own way, the machine will break and basically come t a halt.
As we see a distinction on the German side, there is also a distinction in the Pacific states. The Japanese Prince was shot in the heart, and it is not working as it should. Although the doctors have repaired it to the best of their ability, it is not the same as it was. This theme can apply to Juliana's return to Frank as well. Their relationship is not the same, Frank lost family, and Joe's relationship in the Reich is not the same. Life is very different, and that theme sticks through these symbols.
Episode 8: End of the world/Fishing Deception Trick
In episode 8, the beginning discusses manipulation of getting fish to catch the bait in a fishing line. This is a theme of manipulation which is used throughout the series, it was prominent in this episode which is why it was used as an opening scene. During this episode, Frank is being narrowed down for the shooting of the Japanese Prince. Due to certain markings on the bullet, they think it may be a gun made from the replica factory. Frank has to leave before the Japanese catch on. Further on in the story, Frank made an American antique replica to be sold by Mr. Childan. In this same way, manipulation was used to play someone part of the Japanese Kempetai. Juliana is forced to play herself as a regular worker, working as secretary in the Japanese Nippon building, while trying to find information for the Resistance. The Japanese are hiding the fact that they know it was a German member that killed the Japanese Crown Prince. Lastly, Obergruppenfuhrer Smith is manipulating and hiding from his family and the government that his son has a disabling disease so that he can avoid killing his son. Just as the quote in the image states, each character has a story that they are using lure for to catch the attention of their enemies. These characters are hiding behind the lure, and slowly but surely trying to succeed in their complicated worlds.d more at: http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=167&t=23945&sid=0b7220ce9d16b083a25c99e1afd95c6c
Episode 10: A Way out/Joe's Personal Letter to Juliana of Deception
Dear Juliana,
Since this is the last time we probably will see eachother, if the resistance or Cuba does not kill me on that boat, the Reich may, and I want you to know that you've changed me. That film does not dictate who I am, even if I am from the Reich. I may have killed a person, but it was not for the reason that the film plays me out to seem. I guess it was a deception for the both of us. You thinking I would kill Frank in the back of the head because of a film and my associations with the Reich, and your association with the Resistance that has a plan to kill me that I know you know about. Frank is a lucky man, because you have the ability to really divert people on a new path, for better or worse. If I had met you sooner, that would have probably changed my path too, but in the long run, I am going to where I should be, I suppose. Nonetheless, I am glad I met you, and I guess I could say I will die a better man than before I met you. Thank you Juliana.
Joe
In the last episode, the end shows Joe saying that he was changed by Juliana as she was deceptively taking him on a walk to the boat they were going to leave on, because behind a door, Lem was going to shoot him. Regardless of that deception, he wanted Juliana to know that she was somewhat special to him. Through this, it shows a sort of pain he feels about her bringing him to his doom. Throughout the episode, it shows how much deception was going on.