Northfork - Elizabeth Roy

Northfork
Non-essay film blog
Elizabeth Roy
4/23

The movie Northfork had some very unusual use of symbols. Many of the symbols were not used in a typical way. One of the most noticeable of these was the white feather. The white feather in the movie Northfork, which is traditionally a symbol of purity, justice, or divinity, is particularly interesting in this movie because it instead appears representative of deception. The men who are helping people evacuate attempt to fool the evacuees by using white feathers that are supposedly from young angels; the men then lie and tell the evacuees that they are sent from heaven. Similarly, Irwin tries to convince the angels that he is one of them by showing them white feathers. As opposed to representing innocence and purity, it represents a lack of innocence. On the other hand, in some mythologies (such as Egyptian) the feather represents justice. In the case of Irwin, there does seem to be a kind of justice. Irwin has seen his parents die, has had to live in an orphanage, and has been rejected by his adoptive parents. Furthermore, he is now very sick and mostly alone since most other people have left. However, Irwin finally ends up with people who welcome him and care about him. Although we intuit that this means he has died, the film still presents this as a positive, well-deserved outcome.