#thisiswater

David Foster Wallace

"Your Mind is an Excellent Servant,

"We don’t know who discovered water but we are pretty sure it wasn’t a fish!” We are all in this position, being surrounded by some environment or element that blinds us totally".

- Marshall McLuhan

"There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, 'What the hell is water?'....

...It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over:

"This is water."

"This is water".

Analysis of “This is water” - David Foster Wallace

“The most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.” David Foster Wallace breaks down the inevitable reality of the adult day-to-day, and how it becomes such a habit that we then forget we have the freedom to change our attitude towards the life we take for granted.

We are first faced with an analogy, this is a common technique used to explain an unfamiliar concept by relating it to a known phrase or idea. Three fish are used. As we watch them, we discover that the fish are unaware of the existence of water, although ironically they are submerged in it at all times. This is a nod to humans not taking notice in their own realities. David Foster Wallce manages to connect to us by using well known sayings such as, “have a nice day”. He is able to bring us into the shoes of the characters because we all know how it feels to hear such a Phrase. He then begins applying the conventions of quick repetition concerning relatable daily routines, reminding ourselves we live in a series of recurrences. Next, familiar sound effects are trinkled through. Traffic noise, boiling water, coffee pouring, tapping on keyboards and phone alarms draws our attention.

David eventually begins the process of portraying emotion. Zoom-ins on hands forming fists and eyes rolling display an unsatisfied feeling of annoyance. Stop-motion then conveys a literal perspective of Being stuck in a car amongst traffic that just keeps stopping, developing a shared frustration that is brought to all viewers. However soon a circle of light is shining from the characters face, this clearly shows that he is having a shocking realisation and the convention of lighting was used successfully.