Reflection

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is a bedtime story often read to children to express the message of unconditional love. In the story, the tree is a metaphor for parents, who give their children everything, sacrificing themselves for the happiness of their children. We thought this was very fitting for the ocean, which keeps showering us with opportunities and life even though we threaten to take theirs. After all, we call the environment Mother Nature. We were inspired by this thought to create our film. As we created this film, we were able to contemplate on a deeper level the unfairness of our actions towards our ocean. One difference that this film has from the Giving Tree is that the ocean never volunteered to sacrifice itself for us; its sacrifice is without consent, unlike the Giving Tree, and is therefore a harsher victim to man’s actions. That is why although we used exactly the same story structure as the Giving Tree in our film, the ending feels drastically different. It is because although the Giving Tree was content with giving itself up for the boy, the boy in our film cannot survive without the ocean. Our message to the viewers of our film is that unconditional love, or in this case, the unconditional shower of resources, should not be taken for granted. It may seem like we can take all we want and get away with it, but this is not true.