Storytelling and Survival in the Film ‘Behind the Wall.’
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Storytelling and Survival
There is a narration of a mysterious lighthouse in the film ‘Behind the Wall.’ In this lighthouse, Katelyn’s mother disappears; she enters it only for her body to be found dead inside. When these things happen, Katelyn is quite young to understand the occurrences. After several misfortunes linked to the lighthouse occur, it is established some evil lurks within this structure. Generally, people fear telling stories on evil spirits, for fear of the same coming to haunt them later in the night. However, the eventualities in this story show the importance of telling such stories. They can mean the difference between survival and dying as Ingram observes.
Katelyn belongs to the larger Parks family, which was the custodian of the lighthouse of Hinderson Bay town (Schneider, 2008). In fact, Katelyn’s grandmother and grandfather live in the hillside of the town, the actual location of this lighthouse. They keep, guard it, and regulate the kind of people that enter the structure. There has been so much mystery surrounding the lighthouse that only very few people enter. Katelyn does not have an idea about what business is carried on there. Nevertheless, it must be an evil one if the events associated with the structure are anything to go by. Unfortunately, Katelyn’s grandparents do not disclose anything concerning the lighthouse to anybody, not even their closest relatives. As such, neither Katelyn nor her parents know anything about this isolated structure. In addition, they do not understand why the ancestors of the Parks family had chosen to occupy such a lonely place.
Long after the death of the grandparents, the management of the lighthouse comes to Katelyn’s parents. However, they fear to enter it. One day the mother gains the courage to enter the structure to see what is in there, but she never comes back. Her brutally mutilated body is collected a few minutes later by beings Katelyn does not recognize. They go away with the body that is never seen again. Here, again the importance of storytelling is seen. Had the grandparents taken time to narrate the story of the lighthouse to their children, these kinds of events would not occur. Similarly, now that this story has been narrated, through a film, at least people know evil spirits exist. Thus, they are able to interpret some occurrences in life and shield themselves from dangers such evil may pose. Even before Katelyn and her widowed father overcome the shock, the latter is arrested in connection with his wife’s murder. He is convicted and imprisoned for many years. At this time, Katelyn is too young to tend to herself; she is placed under foster care away from this town and the lighthouse. Meanwhile, the father develops a mental illness while in jail. This progresses interestingly as Katelyn digs into the mystery of the lighthouse, though he is now nowhere near it. Nobody has ever told Katelyn any stories concerning the existence and immense power evil spirits exhibit at times. Therefore, as she tries to unfold the mystery, the idea of evil is not near what she would conceive (Schneider, 2008).
Twenty years later when she has to return to the lighthouse, she still has no idea evil could be what makes bad events link to the lighthouse. The lighthouse is set to become a tourist attraction, and prior to this has to be renovated. Katelyn warns the contractor who wins the tender not to develop the abandoned house. The contractor and his team disappear, just as had happened to Katelyn’s mother. She is forced to confront whatever lurks inside the mysterious structure. She confronts the evil spirit and sets the house on fire.
This story approves Ingram’s claim that stories are told for survival. Now that this story is told, a viewer who might have been haunted by similar events can begin considering evil as being one of the things behind the mysterious happenings.