Ideology in Captain Fantastic 2- Rituals

 The first funeral scene in Captain Fantastic is very traditional, specifically to Christians. Personally, I would say that the film presents this funeral as very neutral. We are not made to feel any particular way about this ceremony at first. However, when Ben and his children enter the funeral in very colourful, eccentric attire to contrast with everyone else wearing black, this quickly changes. Though it is left up to the audience to interpret how they feel about this. Some audiences who have a more traditional view on death and funeral services will find this uncomfortable and disrespectful. However, others who are less traditionalist and see death differently because of this, as well as people from different cultures with different traditions around death may have a different viewpoint on this scene. This is reinforced by the scene's use of film form. As they walk into the funeral, the camera cuts to different reactions around the room, and while some reactions are very clearly disgusted, such as the reaction of Jack, we see Harper, a character who we had previously sided against smile at them, symbolically giving her approval and appreciation that they have arrived. Also, the way the doors swing open as they walk in a way that is dramatic, grandiose and almost arrogant in a way, it is up to the audience to see this how they like. Some may feel positively about this, as  the characters they have sided with up to this point have finally arrived. Others may feel negatively about this, as once again, this can be seen as highly disrespectful, especially when Ben reads his wife's will, essentially crashing the funeral. I feel that the allegiance between the audience and characters in this specific scene is even, however, the majority of what we have seen before this point, the allegiance is not even, as we are made to side with Ben through the use of film form up to this point. So while out of context the allegiance is even, within context, most audience members will have already sided with Ben. Personally, this scene makes me slightly uncomfortable. This is because while I strongly disagree with the extended family not following Ben's wife's will, I find Ben's attempt to crash the funeral, rather than bringing it up beforehand extremely immoral and immature.

The second, more unusual funeral is portrayed as the much more meaningful and positive event. The lighting in this scene is very high-key lighting and a much more vibrant colour palette than the other, more conventional funeral, which is very dull in comparison. This is accompanied by a performance of Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns 'n' Roses, which as a very upbeat song in major key, which makes this event feel much more hopeful than the previous funeral ceremony. Due to this, everyone in this ceremony appears much happier than in the other one, making the audience feel that this is more authentic. However, due the techniques used, the allegiance in this scene is not balanced and leans in the favour of the family. However, the tone of this scene is very contrasting with the content. The content of this scene is that the father and his children stole the mother's body from her grave to cremate her andflush her ashes down a public toilet. I personally find the content of this scene very uncomfortable and disturbing to watch; however, contrasted with the tone of the scene I see it as darkly comedic.