Short Term 12 Analysis

Short Term 12 is a 96 minute drama directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. Some of its main characters include Brie Larson (Grace) and John Gallagher Jr. (Mason), although these names might not sound familiar to some of us, the cast did an amazing job in portraying their characters, I think this because I would consider this movie as quite an emotional one, and I think they expressed them very well as it should make the audience feel empathy towards them.

This movie uses a variety of different visual and audio codes to appeal to a wide range of audience. While this movie is classified as a drama, it includes romance and occasionally some comedy. Additionally, this movie changes from happy to unhappy moods and events all throughout, keeping the audience engaged. This is particularly seen when it's Masons 'parents' 30th anniversary, this perhaps might be one of the happiest scenes in the movie. This is because there is very cheerful music playing while the scene shows the audience children playing around and having fun along with Grace and Mason; this then continues onto showing us them dancing, with very clear expressions of their faces to show us that they're both very happy and content in that moment, this is done by a close up. This was the perfect moment for Mason to ask "will you marry me?", and of course Grace said yes.

However this mood is drastically changed in the next scene, when they wake up in the morning and get a phone call about Grace's father being let out of prison. This once again puts a very negative atmosphere upon the movie, this is done by using very blunt language in conversations that Grace is having with Mason.

Grace: Mason, you have no idea what I'm going through right now.

Mason: Then tell me. That's how this works. You talk to me about it so that I can take your hand and fucking walk through this shit with you. That is what I signed up for, okay? But I cannot do that if you won't let me in.

Grace: I can't. I'm sorry.

The language used in the quote above is very dismissive, making the audience feel sorry for Mason as he hasn't done anything wrong; it also makes the audience lose hope in their relationship. But like most movies, everything ends well for pretty much all of the characters which can come to as a relief for the audience because they all deserve happiness after everything that they have been through in their lives. Furthermore, the ending could give the audience hope for a better future, no matter what tough situations they face.