Awareness of Self, Others, and the World around: North by the Northwest
Introduction
Awareness of the self and others, and understanding of the world around us, including what could happen in the future, is a complex construct that plays a major role in the performance of dynamic tasks. This is especially true when seeking interventions to deal with crisis situations and problems that might confront them. This requires a person’s ability to extract and integrate information in a constantly-changing environment and to utilize information to direct future actions. The ability to understand ourselves and the world around us is sometimes referred to as situational awareness. Indeed, the task of perceiving the environment within a volume of time and space, and the comprehension of their meaning, coupled with their status in the near future, is something that humans possess in varying ways. One popular film that shades light on the importance of awareness of the self, others, and the world around us is North by the Northwest.
Awareness of Self, Others, and the World around: an analysis of North by the Northwest
In a film titled North by the Northwest, Hitchcock features Grant, an ad man who is mistaken by foreign spies for a CIA agent. Incapable of believing what happens to him, Grant is chased across the area by the rogues towards the direction of bisexual mastermind Mason, who is involved in the importation and exportation of government secrets. While escaping certain death traps by a vehicle, a biplane, and a fall from Lincoln’s nose, Grant falls for a double agent Saint and develops a backbone problem. One of the most interesting parts of this film is where Grant, commonly a playboy ad executive, finds himself in problems when he is mistaken for a spy and kidnapped. This plunges his life into deep chaos as he plays an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse with his kidnappers and the authorities. It is only due to this game that he meets Eve Kendall, a love interest who assists him to escape the capture two times.
Gary’s experiences in this film stresses on the importance of listening to the instincts of one’s body and the world around us. Knowing how people interpret the way we dress and act in different cultural contexts can help to keep one away from trouble. Towards the beginning of the film, Gary conducts himself in a different way form the people around him. This lands him into trouble since they think of him as a CIA spy. When people are in culturally different worlds and environments, they must never set themselves apart by trying to act differently from the whole crowd. This might raise eyebrows from rogues and those who interpret their actions as weird. It is awareness that is key to understanding personal safety. This is because awareness enables an individual to understand not only his or her immediate environment and the people that they are dealing with, but also their own capabilities and limitations.
Initially, Gary had low self-awareness of the self, others, and the world around him. His low self-awareness manifests itself when he does not understand that he is acting in a bizarre way that people can mistake him for a spy. His low awareness of others is evident when he does not know the characters of those people who are around him. Eventually, he is kidnapped by them since they are criminals who mistake him for a spy that has been sent to monitor them and have them captured by the American government. One of the signs of low awareness of the self, others, and the world around us is being unaware, unprepared, and unconcerned. This is the normal state of mind when a person is in the safety of one’s home. Gary is a liberal person who does not easily decode the changing environment whenever he shifts his place of occupancy. He thinks that everywhere is safe just like his home and place of work.
However, his abduction changes the way that he looks at the world around him. This shifts his character from one naivety to someone who is cautious and wise in his dealings with people around him. Previously, Gary would be careless about things around him. Relaxed people who do not have situational awareness run their normal errands without caring about how people think about them. They are often in a normal state of mind when out in public. Like Gary, they are concerned with their career issues such as marketing or visiting a grocery shop. However, his abduction makes him not only attentive, but focused on the potential threats that stem from both humans and the geographical surrounding. As a result, he begins to plan an escape strategy. The journey to self-awareness and situational awareness begins by noticing the little things around that are often overlooked. For Gary, he is now able to notice potential threats that become concrete and imminent. Essentially, this enables him to avoid danger altogether.
Towards the end of the film, Gary becomes self-conscious. He also takes not of the small details in his immediate environment, such as escape routes and paths. This is because of his knowledge of imminent danger after his abduction. By gaining knowledge of his immediate world and immediate environment, Gary manages to notice a speeding car on time to escape from its death. In addition, his consciousness allows him to escape other deaths brought by biplanes and Lincoln’s nose.
Works Cited
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Hitchcock, Alfred, director. North by the Northwest. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959.
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