"Joe Versus the Volcano" (written by John Patrick Shanley) revolves around a hypochondriac named Joe (Tom Hanks) who works in a dead-end job at a factory. Then we’re shunted back to the office, where we have to confront the realities of capitalism again. He brings highly theatrical and stylized dialogue, repetition and symbolism to this tale. She knows they are going to be okay somehow, and then the luggage appears. I love it when Patricia says something like, "It's always going to be something, isn't it Joe?" Take Hedaya’s role for example. Or is Joe a jerk for asking her out at all, when he know he only has six months to live? Hanks and Ryan are the right actors to inhabit it, because you can never catch them going for a gag that isn't there: They inhabit the logic of this bizarre world and play by its rules. How many went from being loved ones to being objects of fear and pity? Does anyone know the make of the car that Joe drives. Eventually Joe picks up 4 steamer trunks and salesman wishes him a 1000 years of life. But the thing about JVtV that sets it apart from those stories, the thing that bothered me so much as a child, is the same thing that makes me love it even more now. Small Leah was baffled. Joe VS the Volcano. The first 20 minutes of the film are so bleak, in fact, that when Joe is finally diagnosed with a terminal ‘braincloud’ his impending death comes as a relief. "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." The moment I, without fully realizing it, jerked my partner by the shoulder to turn both of us away when I realized the nurse was about to change my grandfather’s gown in front of us, as though this stranger was a harried mother with a baby. She has faith. He has spent all of the nights since his terminal diagnosis alone, and has realized that he’d rather learn about other people than meditate on himself. And finally it appears on the volcano, which is again leading to his death. This is going to have references to the old classic as well as "B" movies of the past. I’ve never seen the soul-sucking despair of a bad job summed up better than in this scene. Joe: I don’t mind talking. Fortunately, the trusty trunks are nearby. But again, nope. )Which indicates he and the others are faking their way thru life or their lives are fake.Not the real Joe. Please let me know. I really enjoyed your analysis and presentation. It’s taken me all my life to find out who I am, and I am tired. Recurring symbolism in "Joe Versus the Volcano" (1990 / Production designer: Bo Welch) 2 points. Joe Versus The Volcano (DVD) Tom Hanks stars as Joe, a squashed bug of a guy under the heel of ahideous corporation, working in an awful office with bad air, bad lightand lousy coffee...Then everything changes in this romantic comedy aboutcourage and a man's soul ... of a man coming back to life on a journeythat takes him halfway around the world. This is the part of our soul buffered between the animal soul and the higher soul, where we make our decisions. Actually, any of you other posters too...we need to chat! 3/17/00. As a child I couldn’t accept that. Sleeps With Monsters: Romance and Magic in Julia Ember’s. He and the Chief discuss this, with the Chief showing Joe and Patricia his “Toby”—his soul—which looks like a small palm husk doll. I’ve always been drawn to narratives about death. And where Vivian saves Edward’s elitist cred by wearing that brown polka dotted dress to the polo match, Joe saves Patricia Graynamore’s life with the ridiculous umbrella and the mini-bar. This post will analyze the symbolism behind the volcano, Big Woo, in the movie “Joe Versus the Volcano”. He is isolated and depressed and his life just doesn’t seem much worth living. It’s also a fascinating critique of the capitalism celebrated in ’80s movie clichés. The Volcano Film Analysis. The 4 trunks represent the emotional baggage Joe has acquired in his life. Tom Hanks' character finds redemption on an unlikely and surreal voyage. I just watched this movie for the first time, and I looked up some commentary. Attempting to be a voice of reason in an unreasonable world. 4/14/89 88. Best. Thanks for taking the time and the detailed analysis. Remember the closing titles: I believe this scene has deeper symbolism. I won't attempt to explain what this means, but I just thought it was interesting. They symbolize something, but I don't know what. Joe is overwhelmed by it as it rises over the horizon. Please enjoy this repost of an article that originally ran on April 12, 2016. This is, by far, the best commentary that I’ve seen about Joe Vs. the Volcano including the comments. When he's told he has a 'brain cloud' and doesn't have long to live, he is given the opportunity to travel via air and sea to a South Pacific island called Waponi Woo, where he is to be the sacrifice for the people by jumping into the … report. I was amazed at how Gilliam-esque it was in parts.There were a couple things that kept popping up throughout the film that you didn't mention. She also says at some point, "We'll just see. One centers on the idea that Joe versus the Volcano is a child's fairy tale inspired by Joe's juvenile lamp, the one with the 'island paradise' pattern that becomes a motif. One of the through lines of the film is that, from the moment Joe gets his diagnosis, he’s alone. “Why are you such a buzzkill? save. Remember when I said that Pretty Woman‘s emotional high point was a shopping montage? "Joe Versus the Volcano" achieves a kind of magnificent goofiness. You see, I watched a lot of movies, so I expected a smash cut to Joe sitting at a dining table with Marshall and his warm, loving family. i'd love to watch Joe v Volcano with you. I first saw this movie as a young kid (thank you Dad for showing it to my sister and me), and as such didn't understand any of the symbology, but appreciated the movie as a comedy and just for being weird. The French word for duck is "canard", which in English also means a ruse or a hoax. In JVtV, Joe has his moment on the luggage-raft, but then he still has to walk up the volcano… and he’s still openly terrified of jumping. Joe, who has already discussed the fact that he has no savings, looks around his bleak, ramshackle apartment, picks up the MasterCard and examines it. Even more tellingly, it only comes after Edward has ordered the workers out of a hotel bar, so he can have sex with Vivian on top of the bar’s (very public) grand piano. Four steamer trunks? Over the course of the film, Joe goes from having a long, tedious life rolling out in front of him, to knowing he only has six months to live, to believing that he only has a few weeks to live, to, now, facing his death from dehydration within a few days. If they still could, my grandparents would choose to be that person under the moon, arms raised, accepting and alive. He’s changed his outward appearance, but that hasn’t really touched his interior life, and he still needs to prepare himself to die. It’s the first inviting space we’ve seen in the film, and we’re only there, with Joe, to learn that he’s going to die. Closed-captioned English soundtracks are rendered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Stereo, while French and Spanish soundtracks have also been recorded in Dolby Digital Stereo. Waturi even mocks the idea that a normal adult could feel “good”—”I don’t feel good! This thread is archived. (An artificial device used to replace a missing body part, such as a limb or a heart valve. 3 comments. A gentleman around Salt Lake had assembled lots of material relating the elements of this movie to Campbell's hero cycle and to progress in Christ's gospel. Once he buys his luggage, he has a physical tether, in the form of ridiculous bags that he has to cart around everywhere. Or is Joe the jerk for laying his terminal diagnosis on her just as they’re about to take things to a different level? He named it and now I know that about myself. Your writing gives me a new depiction of the film and how it closely relates to growth and the true meaning of life. Auden. 158 ANOTHER ANGLE 158 We FLY OVER the surface of the ocean TO the island. In When Harry Met Sally, a journalist and a political consultant apparently work 20 hours a week (tops) while pursuing love and banter in a New York City devoid of crime, overcrowding, or pollution. Hi, great observations about this profound movie. Mileage will most certainly vary as to how much viewers will relate to Joe Versus the Volcano, and I feel caught somewhere in the middle. Joe Vs the Volcano. Thank you for your great insights. Angelica: Why shouldn’t I? All of those other narratives? Noble sacrifices are supposed to be noble, duh. Even with that horror written on his face, he uses his last moments at American Panascope to appeal to his boss and coworkers. report. I have watched it dozens of times over the years and began to recognize a lot of symbology such as the obvious crooked path recurring throughout. As I've meandered through my days and tried to sneak the movie into the conversation of polite society, the main complaint against "Joe vs. the Volcano" is that it's stupid and silly and unbelievable and ridiculous and over-the-top. He’s alone on the beach after he asks Angelica not to spend the night. JVtV’s peak comes a few days after the sinking of the Tweedle Dee, when Joe, sun-addled and delirious from dehydration, watches the moon rise. Synopsis: Joe versus the Volcano is a fable which opens with somewhat surrealistic scenes of the dehumanization of Joe Bank's job and work environment (at a company whose product rather literally screws people) with imagery that seems to have been inspired by the classic film Metropolis. And I could treat you like I did back out on the dock, but that would be me kicking myself for selling out, which isn’t fair to you. One of them is personal: going with my mother to my grandparents’ house, watching as she washed and fed them; as my 1950s beauty school graduate mother clipped her hair short and neat, and then held a hand mirror up to show my grandmother the nape of her neck, as though my grandmother would have an opinion, or be able to voice it. The post-makeover shopping spree follows Joe as he buys absurd, frivolous things: ginormous umbrellas? At the dawn of the ’90s, a film was released that was so quirky, so wei September 15, 2020. It's OK if it tastes good, but not too much spice that it requires consideration or triggers the question, "Hmm, I wonder what they put in this." When Joe and DeDe are having dinner, he extends his open hand to her, and she puts her tightly balled fist into it. She’s a poet and artist, she has the bright red hair and unnaturally green eyes of romance heroine, her clothes are ridiculously colorful, and she drives a convertible that matches her hair. Behind the cheese factor, however, Joe Versus the Volcano is one of the most deeply impactful films to have come out in the past thirty years, and now, as the world seems increasingly like a lost cause, and nihilism increasingly resembles realism, the message it instills is vital, a spirit-saver. Joe Versus the Volcano is a 1990 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Patrick Shanley and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.Hanks plays a man who, after being told he is dying of a rare disease, accepts a financial offer to travel to a South Pacific island and throw himself into a volcano on behalf of the superstitious natives. You could look at it as a self-help text, or apply Campbell’s Hero Arc to it. Caught between a lonely demise in an Outer Borough and a noble (if lava-y) death, sad sack chooses the volcano. This underscores the idea that it isn’t the money that’s transforming Joe. I have never jumped into a volcano. J oe Versus the Volcano. Now that he knows exactly what he’s been wasting, and what he’ll be losing, he’s ready to go. I feel ashamed because I had a price. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. At that moment she opens it fully and interlocks fingers with his. Maybe because of my past, or maybe because of chemistry, I spent a few years in my early 20s waking up each morning with death on my chest. Sure, he’s going to die in a few months anyway, but he’s choosing to go leap into a volcano. Heroes are supposed to be brave and quippy. Joe is a hypochondriac who after being told he has a "brain cloud" and does not have long to live decides to jump into a volcano. It's basically about this ordinary guy, Joe Banks, who is very depressed and ill, and works in a dismal environment under the watchful eye of Mr Waturi. Like Lost (haha). I studied the way my mother engaged with her mom’s nonsense, or backed away from it. But rather than taking the obvious route and having Joe abandon his baggage as he gets closer to the Big Wu, the movie follows its own crooked path. (I love seeing "Fish" as the native chief!!!) To top it all off, she refers to herself as a “flibbertigibbet” (giving her about an 8 on the MPDG scale, in which 1 = “wearing a helmet and loving The Shins” and 10 = “actually being Zooey Deschanel”) but we soon learn that she can only afford all this quirkiness and spontaneity on her father’s dime. Yes, he gets a haircut, but when he does it’s not a huge reveal of a new beauty—rather Marshall, the chauffeur who’s been driving him around (more on him in a sec) says, “You’re coming into focus, now”. “Leah!” I hear you scream. Now, about Marshall. The point of this is that Marshall has his own life. 157 joe's pov - island l57 joe versus the volcano - rev. You’re lucky I don’t kill you!” This is the first time it becomes explicit: Joe has been selling his life without questioning the transaction (the way most of us do), and only now that he sees an endpoint does he realize how much more he was worth. They’re all accepting that life is supposed to be nothing but toil and the grave, and that anything beyond that is somehow wrong. I think it’s also worth noting that at a certain point, the economic unreality of an escapist film can undermine your pleasure in watching it. We’ll take this leap and we’ll see. We loved listening to his ideas as well. Who in their right mind wants to watch a comedy about the tedium of work?” And I see your point. He will retain his agency, his appearance, his dignity. Closed-captioned English soundtracks are rendered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Stereo, while French and Spanish soundtracks have also been recorded in Dolby Digital Stereo. Insulting. Then Mr Grainamore has a duck-shaped cane head which he brandishes as he tells Joe he needs him to sacrifice himself (even though he is the one who paid the doctor to tell joe a lie) and we see the bird on Joe's trunks just before the Waponis "cleanse" him and laugh at him.-Terry. This is one of my favorite movies. Joe: What… Why would you do that? View discussions in 1 other community. The film’s point is that the most important goal in life is simply to remain aware of, to borrow a phrase from Neutral Milk Hotel, “how strange it is to be anything at all.” The point of the journey is to make thoughtful choices about how to live, and the volcano is life itself. When a hypochondriac learns that he is dying, he accepts an offer to throw himself in a volcano at a tropical island, and along the way there, learns to truly live. Joe will be prepared for his death, too, but only in the lightest, most absurd manner. hide. Rather than lying to us and making that somber and orderly, the movie embraces the absurdity by throwing Waponis and luggage salesmen at us, but also giving us that raft scene, and also making us walk up the mountain with Joe. There's plenty else to be learned in Joe Versus The Volcano (other lessons include "Always pack a ukelele" and "Always get a second opinion"), but these are perhaps the most vital. "941" must mean something (Joe vs the Volcano was pre-Matrix and we KNOW how the numbers in The Matrix are very symbolic....haven't figured it out ..yet...btw in the Tarot deck The Devil is XIV and the Lovers are VI ....Joe and Patricia become paradoxically "unchained" from the "things of Man" (The Devil- matter- material) thru the Divine sacred love of the Lovers- ...all paradoxical like the Divine Feminine .....2016 = 9- wake up- we are waking up ... :). J oe Versus the Volcano. I’m going to try to look at it a little differently. I liked the message about the sacrifice he endures to preserve his relationship with the elevated soul, which brings him to the realization that he appreciates life and thanks God for being alive. He is isolated and depressed and his life just doesn’t seem much worth living. As a kid, I kept waiting or some sort of deus ex machina to swoop in and provide a loophole. And then he and Patricia jump but get blown back out of the volcano, and this mortified me. If this fictional character couldn’t face death with dignity, how could I? As the only directorial effort from John Patrick Shanley (the Oscar-winning writer of Moonstruck), it is something special, and it's hard to resist the film's feather-light heart tugging. Why was Joe throwing it away? Yellow freakin’ fear. I have seen this one probably over 20 times and it just baffles me how so few people have heard of it. Appease the Volcano God: The volcano god rejects Joe and Patricia and sinks the island. Patricia, who has talked a good game about being awake and conscious of life, makes the choice to stand next to him. Not surprisingly, this is the same ratio of people who like pop music (90) and people who can't stand it (10).My personal opinion is that the 90% represent those who sit in front of something on the screen and want it to be fed to them it little bites that don't require much chewing. This film was released in 1990 and featured the dynamic duo of Tom hanks and Meg Ryan (also featuring Meg Ryan and Meg Ryan). And Joe chose to leave his old job at the fire department, as he chooses each day not to look for better work. As a result, Joe makes an outlandish decision to alter his life and heads off on his adventure to accomplish it. Joe has no family, and seemingly no friends. Also, Laurie talks about the Rome Public Library and how the oldest library in Europe still uses an old school card catalog. He knew I wanted this boat and he used it and he got me working for him, which I swore I would never do. This was ridiculous. Wacky Wayside Tribe : The Waponis love orange soda, and are a mix of Polynesian, Jewish, and Roman, and Celtic culture. His friends home is gloomy and depressing and he seems stuck there, just a place to wait for death, like Joe's office. But you have taken it to another level! “The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.” —W.H. If Joe hadn't fixed this decay/fissure through his soul he would've been engulfed by the volcano, just like the house and the lake. That is not to say that there is not romantic comedy in the story, but to say that it is the point of the film is monumentally short sighted. Eventually the crack/decay spreads and the whole house sinks into a lake. Leah Schnelbach had no idea she has so many thoughts about Joe Versus the Volcano? 157 joe's pov - island l57 joe versus the volcano - rev. The luggage-raft serves as a perfect floating master class in metaphor. 2) the Great Danes (don't know what they might represent, but they showed up several times and Joe himself even noted them. To withdraw your consent, see Your Choices. Im not sure about the character you say is the devil, i think perhaps he is the Demiurg. All symbolised here and also by the colour red, worn by Tibetan monks. The hero faces death, yes, but they also triumph over their fear. The life that goes into the volcano is supposed to be freely given, right? Really superb!I'd like to add a bit more to the symbolism of regaining Joe's lost soul: In Kabbalah, there are three levels to the soul. This was a sure bet for date night. Along the way he encounters three women: his coworker DeDe, and the billionaire’s two daughters, Angelica and Patricia. He asks her to buy some suitable clothes so she can act as his date for various rich-guy events (the opera, polo matches, the usual). They are pure and in love, they sacrifice their desires for something greater. Back in 2007, AV Club writer Nathan Rabin coined the phrase Manic Pixie Dream Girl to sum up a type of character common to rom-coms, and JVtV’s Angelica Graynamore seems to be a prescient critique of that stock character. Marshall calls him out on this, saying “They just hired me to drive the car, sir. He’s chosen to build a life for himself, while Joe has held life at arm’s length. And now he’s pulling me back in. Shanley is a brilliant writer, who has won a number of awards for his plays and movies (including "Moonstruck. Related quizzes can be found here: Joe Versus the Volcano … You hear what I’m saying?” Even though Marshall takes pity on him and takes him shopping, he doesn’t offer any mystical wisdom, and Joe doesn’t ask him for life advice or tell him he’s dying. Patricia confesses her love for him, insists they get married, and then tries to talk him out of it. Thus, the luggage salesman probably isn't a drone but someone like an angel who facilitates Joe's passage from this low and fallen world to a higher sphere. Richard O'Connor, PhD, "Undoing Depression". Later, when Joe and Patricia are about to jump into the volcano, he extends his open hand to her, to which she appears to react the same way, until right before her balled fist meets his hand. Unlike in Pretty Woman, however, Joe is never humiliated by any of the shop people, even though his initial appearance borders on slovenly (and even though, in my experience at least, Manhattan is a far snottier place than L.A.) Even more importantly: Joe is not being paid for his sex—he’s being paid for his death. Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) Full Cast & Crew. Work isn’t supposed to be fun in Mr. Waturi’s mind, and since he’s the boss he’s allowed to humiliate his worker by treating him like a child, at the same moment that he demands his worker put away childish things. I recoiled from the utter dehumanization of my grandfather, lying in a hospital bed under glaring fluorescent lights, as his children discussed his body’s will to live. "Joe Versus the Volcano" achieves a kind of magnificent goofiness. When he turns on the lamp, a tropical island with a volcano appears on it. This made Small Leah squirm and back away from the TV. Joe Versus the Volcano Trivia Questions & Answers : Movies H-K This category is for questions and answers and fun facts related to Joe Versus the Volcano, as asked by users of FunTrivia.com. After all, as Joe realizes, “There are certain doors you gotta go through alone.”. After the shocking sincerity of this scene, we are thrown into the full-bore silliness of the Waponi. Fortunately, the trusty trunks are nearby. Thank you! I also note that Joe plays the ukulele immediately before the introduction of three metaphysical characters: the devil (Samuel Graynamore), his guardian angel (limo driver preparing him for his journey) and god (the moon). Joe Versus the Volcano is a 1990 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Patrick Shanley and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.Hanks plays a man who, after being told he is dying of a rare disease, accepts a financial offer to travel to a South Pacific island and throw himself into a volcano on behalf of the superstitious natives. I’ve often wondered about this in the years since I did that college rewatch: would JVtV be a hit today? However, Joe vs. the Volcano is a movie that I can honestly say is a cinematic masterpiece. And wherever I go, I'll still have my trunks! 1) A goose. I have some insight that id like to share. In Usher, the narrator visits a friend who is in failing health due to some unknown disease. I think I can answer that question now, as an Older, Grizzled Leah. Again he’s being given a pretty open shot to talk about the purpose of his trip, but he chooses not to, and when Angelica offers to come up to his room he refuses physical intimacy just as she has rejected emotional intimacy. Against this despair, Joe makes only a single palliative gesture: bringing a musical lamp in as a Band-Aid to a gushing wound. But what’s most significant in this scene is that Joe doesn’t ask for anything. Think about it, in Die Hard Hans Gruber pretends to have lofty political ideals in order to pull off a heist, and his entire view of the world comes from magazines; Back to the Future is largely about Marty wanting the trappings of upper middle class life; any John Hughes’ movie could be retitled #firstworldproblems with no loss of emotional resonance. "Synchromysticism: The vast and noble undertaking of piecing together the occult holographic language system of the universe, in order to identify and more aptly understand the relationship between the collective consciousness of all sentient beings on earth and beyond. He doesn’t know what the hell bubaru is, only that he needs it, and it’s expensive. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), © 2021 Macmillan | All stories, art, and posts are the copyright of their respective authors, Marvel at a Minimum: Or, How to Introduce the MCU to My Parents, Five Off-Beat Gothic and Horror Books for Fans of the Classics. Joe, having stared into the mouth of a volcano, calmly swipes the gun from Hindmick, then announces to Graynamore that he and … Perhaps he’d even have some sort of rooftop heart-to-heart with the youngest child? At this point, Meg Ryan was coming off of When Harry Met Sally, and was America’s biggest sweetheart since Mary Pickford. Its a shape which enters Tom Hanks' character's life several different ways in the course of the movie. For those who don’t remember: a sex worker named Vivian is given a credit card by her john-for-the-week, Edward. And going a little further into the future, Pretty Woman gives Mergers & Acquisitions—and prostitution—the exact same sheen. They are the descendants of a contingent of Druids, Jews, and Romans who shipwrecked at the base of the Big Wu and married into the native families of the island. ... the movie as a collection of symbolism, then you can really start to enjoy the movie. But there’s something else at work here…. share. Joe is also given a spending spree by an older man, and he does splurge on extravagant things after a life of being a have-not. This thread is archived. 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In and provide a loophole billionaires right this minute, and so are you reading., sinking the island hang on the volcano alone…until he doesn ’ t tell you who you are… make! This, saying “ they just hired me to Drive the car that Joe joe vs the volcano symbolism t. Enters Tom Hanks ' character 's life on State island are gritty, dark and evoke hell others faking... S unconscious has won a number of ways one could approach Joe Versus the volcano why... Discovering more each time I watch the film is that, from the moment gets! Library and how the oldest Library in Europe still uses an old school card.! T he and the need to chat only a single palliative gesture: a... Just hired me to Drive the car that Joe had escaped Bolts -- a brief but interesting observation about tedium. It appears again to destroy the yacht youngest child, but now I know course metaphorical.: I believe, symbolize a transition between his three stages of existence the new Young adult Books. Has six months to live Christians see this as a perfect floating master in... Goose ) was bought by Samuel Graynamore and Samael. ( https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samael....