From Script To Screen: Investigating How Shutter Island Tricks The Audience

 In order to understand how to portray my character in a more believable way, I decided to look at similar stories in which the character is an unreliable narrator. A prime example of this is the film Shutter Island. 

Shutter Island Plot Summary

The film is centred around detective Teddy Daniels as he investigates the mysterious Shutter Island in order to locate a missing patient, Rachel Solando. Teddy is trying to deal with the murder of his wife and has reason to believe Andrew Ladus is on the island as well, the man who murdered her. As the film progresses so does the mystery of not only the missing patient but also the island itself. As Teddy continues his investigation he becomes more and more suspicious of those around him, to the point in which he turns out of control in an attempt to escape their capture. The film ends with the realization that Teddy and Andrew are one in the same and Teddy was submitted to the institute after murdering his wife. The guilt from his time served at war as well as the neglection towards his mentally ill wife, which results in her drowning their children, lead to his breakdown. It is explained that Teddy has created a world where he is the detective trying to capture the escaped Rachel Solando (an anagram of his wife's name), who drowned her children, in an attempt to gain some sort of mental control and fix the mistake he made in the past. He lives this life in cycle's while at the institute so for one final push before the institute is forced to lobotomize him, they decide to fully indulge his fantasy with the attempt of pulling him out at the end.  The film is set in the 1950's so the treatment of the mentally ill is quite negative and the ending is left open whether he chooses the lobotomy out of choice instead of through force.  

I firstly went through the film and picked out any details I noticed and then watch videos to find any I missed

It is important to note that throughout the story fire represents the fantasy created within Teddy's head and water represents the reality. Hallucinations always end with fire and water plays a key role as its what led to his downfall (the drowning of his kids). Therefore the two elements are key to unlocking the truth to the film. Whenever water is in Teddy's vision it will appear empty, this is due to him wanting to supress his past. As the film progresses however, he is exposed to more and more water through the form of rain and eventually the sea in which he must fully submerge himself in. This signifies him progressively coming to terms with reality until he no longer can ignore the signs.

Below I have listed each situation fire is used in the film to display fantasy

Teddy dreams of Andrew Ladus the man who murdered his wife, his name is an anagram for Teddy Daniels. The scene shows Ladus sitting by a fire symbolizing its not real. His face is disfigured with a gaping scratch across his face, this is an exaggerated depiction of what Teddy believes to be true as he is repulsed with himself because of what he has done. It is then further solidified that he believes in this reality by him accepting Ladus's offer to light his cigarette, using fire once again. 

Throughout Teddy's conversation with Rachel, fire is in every shot. This once again symbolizes its not real allowing the viewer to understand that what she is saying is just Teddy's unstable thoughts. She tells him to escape as the institute is evil.

When walking through the cells Teddy lights a match as it is dark. When he bumps into George Noyce, someone from Teddy's past who he trust, his match goes out. George begins to tell Teddy the truth about the whole island, which causes Teddy to get angry and relight the match. He then begins to fall back into his hallucination as he doesn't want to accept George's explanation, where he then sees his wife and children in Georges cell. 

Whenever Teddy dreams about his wife it always ends with the environment burning around him. 

Below I have listed other subtle details in the films which hint to the fact that Teddy Daniels reality is not real

Guards grip guns whenever Teddy is in the scene and look on edge. This is due to them knowing he is a patient who is free to walk around.

Patients wave at Teddy as they know who he is

'police officers' don't put any effort into finding Rachel Solando as they know she is not actually missing and can be seen sitting around and looking bored.

Guards are seen behind Teddy in all his shots in the interview scene but not behind Chuck (his partner). This is because Teddy is a threat as he is a patient but Chuck isn't.

Chuck is unable to hostel his gun in the begging scene as he is not a real police officer and so has no training with guns

Nurses, guards and doctors all make fun of Teddy's questions because they know its not real.

Overall investigating this film has helped me to understand how to trick the audience into accepting a false reality. The audience only learns things as Teddy does, making it seem more traumatic when you realise at the same time that Teddy's reality isn't real. I love how everything is done for a reason, allowing you to at any point understand that the islands conspiracy isn't real, yet the audience doesn't believe it. This puts the audience in the same situation as Teddy allowing your to relate to the character more. I can now use the information gathered to inform my own story when attempting to switch from the theatre scene to the mental institute. It also helped to see how the story uses the death of his wife to influence the characters mental struggles and motivations. This is similar to my story in which the magician looses his wife due to an accident when performing. I can use what I learnt to influence how my character is portrayed and to see how he may react in certain situations.