Stardust Film Essay

Describe an important moment or scene in a text you have studied.

Explain how this moment helps show at least ONE main idea.
Stardust, directed by Matthew Vaughn (2007), explores several life-changing
themes such as transitioning into manhood, the power of true love, and fulfilling
ones destiny. An important scene from the film that helps relay these ideas is
when Tristan has his final confrontation with the witches. This scene is important
because it helps demonstrate these themes from the film.
From the beginning of the film, Tristan is shown to be an insecure and nave shop
boy who had scarcely known the experience of exciting, adventurous encounters;
he even dressed too modestly which reflected back on his inexperienced
personality like his tight collar, plain, somewhat poor clothing and a bowl cut that
gave him a childish appearance. However, by the final confrontation scene with
the witches in the film, Tristan had faced several near-death encounters and
embarked on a journey for a fallen star; these experiences had helped Tristan
transition into manhood as they had caused him to risk his life with the witches
and other obstacles for something he valued and truly believed in. This shows
that Tristan was living up to becoming the confident man his mother, Princess
Una, knew he was capable of. This scene allowed Tristan to demonstrate the
sword skills he learned aboard Captain Shakespeares ship in order to defend
himself against the corpse of Septimus, controlled by Lamia via voo doo doll. He
demonstrates courage and bravery that he had grown to be capable of, but had
not utilised. He is shown to think with astuteness and became quick and nimble
on his feet like when he released the caged animals on one of the witches,
Mormo, before she could harm him. This sense of drama is one way that Vaughn
uses film techniques to demonstrate the idea of becoming a man in this scene,
as well as the change in Tristans costume where he now wears a well-groomed,
tailored, white coat and comfortable boots which give him a heroic and manly
swashbuckler appearance.
Another idea that this scene portrays is the power of true love. Through his
adventures with Yvaine, Tristan slowly and unknowingly falls in love with her and
as he does so, he starts to get over his infatuation with Victoria, who was the
reason why Tristan had ventured to find the star, Yvaine, in the first place.
Because of his love, Tristan was willing to risk his life to come back to the witchs
dreary, intimidating castle and fight them before they could kill Yvaine to eat her
heart for youth and immortality. Every time Tristan gets back up and continues
fighting valiantly when he is knocked down shows how determined he was to
save his true love despite one of the close up shots from the scene displaying his
shaking hand as he clutched his sword. Nevertheless, it showed that Tristans
love for Yvaine outweighed his fear of the witches. When Tristan and Yvaine
reunite momentarily, Yvaine is able to shine like the star she is while holding
Tristan, her light vanquishing the remaining evil witch, Lamia, before she could
reach and kill them. In this particular moment of the scene, the high-key lighting

of Yvaines shine contrasts greatly to the low-key lighting of the witches castle,
clearly defining the power of true love against the forces of evil. Yvaines ability
to shine was revealed to work only because of Tristan and his coming back to
rescue her; No star can shine with a broken heart! Yvaines ability to shine and
Tristans determination to overcome his fear, illustrated the idea and power of
true love, an idea that this confrontation scene helped portray.
Tristan Thorne considered himself to be both average and ordinary, destined to
be a shop boy and unsure of what he would do with his life. All of this is changed
after Tristan embarks on his journey and comes down to the final confrontation
between the witches. From what started out as quest to buy the love of a young
woman he was infatuated with, turned into an adventure that not only helped
him become a man but also helped Tristan fulfil his destiny as both a hero and a
king. As a hero, Tristan protected Yvaine throughout their journey together and
ultimately saved her life in the final confrontation scene. When Tristan is fighting
bravely using the sword skills he had learned from Captain Shakespeare, heroic
music can be heard which dramatises his bravery to emphasise the hero role
that he has filled in this scene. Tristan is also able to fulfil his destiny as king
when he picks up the remains of the ruby that turned red at his touch; this detail
was portrayed through an extreme close up of the ruby changing colours in the
palm of his hand, indicating how Tristan unknowingly had blue blood in him. By
the end of the scene, Princess Una informs him, The last surviving male heir of
the Stormhold bloodline. Its you, Tristan. Throughout this scene, Tristan has
proven to himself, and to those that doubted him, like the lingering ghosts of the
seven dead princes, that he was destined to be a hero and the King of Stormhold
rather than a mere shop boy from the village of Wall.
Vaughn has imaginatively portrayed the three main ideas of the plot through this
important scene. The moments and events that occurred in Tristans final
confrontation with the witches have helped show how a boy can transition into
manhood through an adventure, the sheer power of true love and what love can
accomplish. The scene has also helped show the idea of being able to fulfil ones
destiny, even if one is a mere shop boy.
By Ye Rim Won.