"The Prestige" and How its Plot Matches Up with Slaughterhouse-Five - Milan, OWA2

 Slaughterhouse-Five is unique in its various facets and the messages that it attempts to shed light on in order to enlighten readers is truly a unique experience. However, that is not to say that it cannot be relatable to any other piece of art in the sense of its chaotic and non-linear storyline progression. The movie "The Prestige", with its alluring plot of magicians and their rivalries is more than meets the eye, literally. It's an excellent film that compares with Slaughterhouse-Five in some fashion, but goes completely the other way in others.

The movie begins with no sense of direction as Christopher Nolan spins a concoction of events in an attempt to primarily draw in the audience. At the same time, he creates an atmosphere of mystery. Soon, the film begins jumping through scenes in various timelines as it warps between different events. Much like Billy Pilgrim's time traveling, the movie does indeed do the same thing. The two main characters (for each are each others antagonist), Angier and Borden, host their own magic shows in an attempt to outdo the other and make their claim to fame, so to speak. Over the course of the movie, one slowly begins to piece everything together until the film's culmination; its final enlightenment.

This movie instantly reminded me of SH5 with this kind of plot. However, there are some stark contrasts between the two, primarily being that The Prestige ends with a clear-cut cliffhanger (leaving one to think a little), while Slaugterhouse-Five's ending leaves a reader with a completely open-ended finale and no way to discern with complete confidence what the author intended. In a way, this matches up with the novel's existentialist themes (among other messages).

But, the similarities for the most part end there. Whether or not there is some kind of internal message within The Prestige is up for debate as it's a movie made for entertainment. SH5 definately has messages hidden whose discovery falls on the individual reader. And while Billy is not a character one can relate to, Angier is definately the character that is portrayed to be more likable in the movie. Character development is also present in The Prestige, while in SH5 it's completely absent in Billy. Speaking of characters, SH5 is completely absent of any love interest while The Prestige has a number of them. In addition to these lovers, the people in The Prestige have well-defined goals while Billy has none. All of these factors make watchers feel sympathetic to The Prestige, while Billy is simply used as an eyehole to look at society. In this respect, the two pieces of art are completely different.

It is true that in each case the character contributes in either bringing across the message or being the main proponent in progressing the storyline. I feel that in both cases the character choices were justified as they achieve (what I believe to be) their intended goals, whether it be their own or the author's. Both The Prestige and SH5 are similar, yet they are different. Indeed, quite like apples and oranges, they are both fruit; yet they both have different tastes, colours, and textures that set them apart. That is, in the end, what makes any one thing different from anything else and enjoyable in its own way.