Nicole McLellan - "Northfork" Angels

I thought the portrayal of the angels in this movie was very interesting. I really liked the fact that they did not look like the classic idea of angels, which usually views them as dressed in all white with wings and a halo. This portrayal of angels was very different and very original, and I thought it fit into the movie quite well. I noticed that each of the angels corresponded with one or more of the items found on the boy’s bedside table. For example, two of the objects on the table were a comic book about Hercules, and a glass vase in the shape of hands with a flower in it. The angel called Flower Hercules incorporated the flower and the Hercules comic book, and the angel named Happy incorporated the glass hands, although he had wooden ones as well. Also, one of the angel’s names was Cup of Tea, while another was Cod. These names incorporate the cup of tea that was on the bedside table, as well as the bottle of cod liver oil. The plane that the angels and Irwin flew away in at the end of the movie incorporates the toy plane that belonged to the boy; the plane was also on the bedside table. I can’t remember how the glasses that the angel named Happy wore fit in, but I believe there may have been a pair of the priest’s glasses sitting on the table. I also thought the creature or dog that led Irwin to the angels corresponded with the priest’s cane, and represented the priest himself.

I found these parallels between reality and Irwin’s reality very interesting. It was almost as if the angels were Irwin’s own interpretation of what he thought angels should look like. I also thought the correspondence between the objects and the angels was interesting because it kind of shows “I, it” and “I, you” relationships. Irwin had an “I, it” relationship with the objects when he was awake, but an “I, you” relationship with the angels when he was asleep. I’m not exactly sure what to make of that change, but I just thought it was an interesting parallel.