The Road:Thief scene

The Road:Thief scene

1. At first, this scene is designed to have a dominant reading of sympathising with The Man and The Boy, as a stranger carrying a knife steals their cart full of goods for surviving, in which the audience are most likely to feel sorry for the two protagonists and take a disliking for the stranger.

2. As The Man draws his gun towards the thief and the thief holds his knife, The Man pulls the hammer on his revolver, forcing the thief to drop his knife - in which he does so. Members of the audience may now experience a negotiated reading. The close up on the thief of his facial expressions that look sad and lost may encourage members of the audience to feel some sympathy towards him. He then raises his hands to surrender.

   • After watching The Road a few times, I realised the thief has no thumbs on either hand. This could possibly encourage the audience to feel sympathetic as it would mean he is unable to do quite a lot without his thumbs, such as wield a gun.

3. The audience may begin to question whether they still have a liking towards The Man as he orders the thief to strip down so he's left with nothing. The constant cuts of close ups on The Boy with a scared expression may also encourage the audience to feel more sympathetic towards the thief as they may realise that the thief is not the one scaring The Boy, but it's his father.

   • However, a dominant reading is restored as moments later, The Man and The Boy head back to where they last saw the thief to give him some food and clothing, although he appears to not be in sight anymore, so the pair leave the goods anyway for anyone passing by

4. Members of the audience may drift between a dominant reading and negotiated reading in this scene as it is understandable as to why the thief stole from them in the first place and also why The Man threatened the thief with a gun and stripped him of all of his belongings and clothing as it is the only way to survive in the apocalyptic world.