Shutter Island analysis

The film has a linear structure, it runs smoothly and in a straight line and it is not broken up despite there being flashbacks the structure remains linear. The film is shown from the Di Caprio's point of view - we follow him through every scene and, because he is unaware of his real identity so is the audience. This works towards a twist ending. Shutter Island follows the classic Hollywood narrative structure as explored by theorist Pam Cook. She believes the standard Hollywood narrative structure should have; linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution with a high degree of narrative closure (a resolution). Furthermore, the film meets Todorov's theory, it has clear plot points. The equilibrium is when the detective is asked to investigate the disappearance of a patient in the prison. The significant event is when the detective realises there is a twisted plot by the hospital doctors and the disequilibrium is when he investigates. The climax is when he solves the enigma and he discovers reality, the new equilibrium is he begins his road to full recovery. Barthes' theory also relates to Shutter Island, as the the enigma is developed with the increase in tension which results in a resolution to the plot with a linear narrative. Furthermore, Propp believes that regardless of differences in the plot, characters and settings share common structural features. The hero in Shutter Island is Leonardo Di Caprio, the villian is the institution, the escaped prisoner and Di Caprio himself, the donor is the main doctor and therapist. There is a dramatic twist at the end of the film where the detective finds out he was being role played the whole time he was thinking he was the investigator, and his partner was in fact his therapist. Di Caprio realises reality at the end, but we are left to two possible endings:

• Teddy asks Chuck whether it's better to live as a monster or die a good man. He stands up willingly and goes with the orderlies, as he would rather choose to continue his fantasy than accept the horrors of his reality

• Alternatively, he has accepted his reality, but still cannot live with the horrors of it. So now at the end of the film he is acting out the fantasy, rather than living   Effectively, he is cured. However, he still can't live with his memories so he knowingly forces the doctors to take the decision for physical intervention. He wants to end his life as a good man 

Shutter Island meets the common attributes associated with the thriller genre, the film is set around an enigma which is only solved by the hero, it is based in an establishment with a strong theme of violence, the hero is dragged into something deeper than what he intended.