“It’s not the same on film is it? I mean, you know it’s real, but it’s like looking through the lens gives you some sort of protection from what’s on the other side.”
This stream of consciousness starts with a rhetorical and vague question. The use of the word “It” to start and end the question is vague and mysterious. “It” is something that is broad and general where the viewer doesn’t really know if it is a pronoun or noun. The medium is film brought up which is an important component throughout the story. The question he poses is rhetoric as he quickly follows it up with a statement. The sentence starts with “I mean” giving a sense that he is trying to answer the question he posed. The next part is interesting in how he is literally trying to convince himself out of accepting reality. He goes on to say “you know it’s real, but…”. Following the statement with the word “but” shows hesitation and an internalized doubt. He goes on to say “looking through the lens gives you some sort of protection from what’s on the other side.” This is interesting in how the writer chose pronouns because even though he is saying “you” he is talking about his own fears of reality. This line is encompassing of a major theme in Blair Witch Projects, which is the separation between the first hand account of the characters with the audience by the separation of a camera lens. The camera acts as something that skews and distorts reality, which ironically is touched on in the quote above. It is almost like the director is leaving breadcrumbs through nuanced dialog to indicate that the Blair Witch Projects are a hoax and not reality.
Nice work, Emma! You’ve pulled good details from the text and tied them to the film’s themes well–reality vs perception, ambiguity vs. fact. I’m particularly interested in the characters use of “you” when he means “me,” like he’s trying to distance himself from what’s happening.