Time Bandits - what's the ending about ?
- Thread starter gsv
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Lynn Walker
New Member
I can't believe nobody got the ending. Kevin's still got his photo of the map! Seeing the fireman reminded him of Agamemnon and the way to get back. It's a happy ending, folks!
Reno
The In Kraut
The ending of Time Bandits first makes you think it's going to be a The Wizard of Oz "it was all a dream ending" which the Sean Connery double role hints at. In The Wizard of Oz the actors also played double double roles in the alternate and the real world, so the film tips its head to one of the greatest children's fantasy films of all. And then Gilliam throws in another twist (the photo of the map) and goes "fuck that" and blows up the parents, so I'd say the ending is playing with audience expectation of how a children's film should end.
People seem to not like ambiguities anymore in films. They want everything neatly tied up and explained for them. That's why American remakes of foreign films make everything obvious the originals left for the audience to work out for themselves and that's why prequels are so popular now. Nothing can be left up to the viewer's imagination anymore. That's why a lot of people now think an ending like this is "lazy" even though if you think about it for a second, it would have been so easy to wrap everything up neatly.
People seem to not like ambiguities anymore in films. They want everything neatly tied up and explained for them. That's why American remakes of foreign films make everything obvious the originals left for the audience to work out for themselves and that's why prequels are so popular now. Nothing can be left up to the viewer's imagination anymore. That's why a lot of people now think an ending like this is "lazy" even though if you think about it for a second, it would have been so easy to wrap everything up neatly.
The ending of the film is a tad preachy, and scary, and it stays with you (I have seen the film 26 years ago):
The parents, representing the rat race generation that Terry Gilliam abhors. They have no place in a world with no evil (now that god has gotten rid of all evil). That's why they have to disappear.
The rest are not evil, but not good. That's why Kevin needs to "Stay here to carry on the fight" as the supreme being is saying.
The lesson is scary, but beautiful in its own right: Even those closest to you may be evil seeking traitors. You have to fight for imagination, and goodness, and against greed and pettiness all by yourself, with just a little bit of help from an occasional kindered spirit, symbolized by Agamemnon/The fireman.
The parents, representing the rat race generation that Terry Gilliam abhors. They have no place in a world with no evil (now that god has gotten rid of all evil). That's why they have to disappear.
The rest are not evil, but not good. That's why Kevin needs to "Stay here to carry on the fight" as the supreme being is saying.
The lesson is scary, but beautiful in its own right: Even those closest to you may be evil seeking traitors. You have to fight for imagination, and goodness, and against greed and pettiness all by yourself, with just a little bit of help from an occasional kindered spirit, symbolized by Agamemnon/The fireman.
nitelyechos
New Member
http://www.smart.co.uk/dreams/bandqs.htm
Why did Gilliam kill off Kevin's parents? "A basic theme of Time Bandits [was] the notion of this little boy searching for his heroes and finding most of them coming up a little short. Napoleon is a drunken runt obsessed with height and Robin Hood is an upper-class twit who hasn't a clue about poor people. Even Agamemnon, who treats the lad well, turns him down when the boy wants to learn swordplay. Instead, Agamemnon teaches him magic tricks which he says at one point are far more useful in life. Kevin's having learned to deal realistically with hero worship is one of the reasons I left him alone at the end of the film without his parents. I felt he was now capable of looking after himself in life - not only because he had been through this adventure, but also because he had discovered that heroes are not usually what they're cracked up to be."
......Terry Gilliam is a fantastic writer and director, but as a person he's just weird.
Why did Gilliam kill off Kevin's parents? "A basic theme of Time Bandits [was] the notion of this little boy searching for his heroes and finding most of them coming up a little short. Napoleon is a drunken runt obsessed with height and Robin Hood is an upper-class twit who hasn't a clue about poor people. Even Agamemnon, who treats the lad well, turns him down when the boy wants to learn swordplay. Instead, Agamemnon teaches him magic tricks which he says at one point are far more useful in life. Kevin's having learned to deal realistically with hero worship is one of the reasons I left him alone at the end of the film without his parents. I felt he was now capable of looking after himself in life - not only because he had been through this adventure, but also because he had discovered that heroes are not usually what they're cracked up to be."
......Terry Gilliam is a fantastic writer and director, but as a person he's just weird.
Reno
The In Kraut
ska invita
back on the other side
ah, the era when people were properly dead at the end of a film, and a children's film at that.
At the end of the movie, Kevin awakens and the house is on fire. Kevin's parents "touch" evil and are instantly annihilated. Kevin is in possession of his pictures, including a picture of the map. The Supreme Being told Kevin that "someone has to carry on..." with a wink and a nod. Kevin sees a fireman who looks remarkably like Agamemnon and perhaps that reminds him of something. While with Agamemnon, he said he never wanted to leave.
Don't you see it? He hasn't had a dream. His experiences were real (at least the movie is telling us that). He has a tiny copy of the map and we know it's usable with his magnifying glass! Where do you think he's going to go now that he's an orphan? Back to Mycenae!!!!!
Don't you see it? He hasn't had a dream. His experiences were real (at least the movie is telling us that). He has a tiny copy of the map and we know it's usable with his magnifying glass! Where do you think he's going to go now that he's an orphan? Back to Mycenae!!!!!
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