The Upside Of Anger

The Upside of Anger tells a story that is credible.  It has externally observable truths because people will leave their loved ones in one way or another.  In this particular film, Terry thinks that her husband, Grey, has left her for his younger, swedish secretary. In the end, she finds the truth, that he had fallen into a abandon well and died.  The story has a strong emotional effect present.  Viewers can relate to times in their own lives when their world too has come crashing down around them and the emotions they themselves felt.  When Terry assumes her husband has left her for another woman she sulks at first and turns to alcohol for comfort.  As time goes by she becomes angry and bitter. Each character is true to life the first born child, Hadley, kick you while you're down as a way of dealing with her own issues? Or eager Andy, wanting to skip college, get to work and get ahead—possibly by any means necessary.  Emily, as the good girl, a ballerina craving mother's approval, dancing as fast as she can. Or the youngest child Popeye, the voice of the family but no one listens to the youngest, whose conversation with herself provides the real upside to this lesson in living.

The significance of the title The Upside of Anger is told at the closing of the film, by Popeye the youngest of the four daughters.  As she is narrating the film she says,"Anger and resentment can stop you in your tracks. That's what I know now. It needs nothing to burn but the air and the life that it swallows and smothers. It's real, though - the fury, even when it isn't. It can change you... turn you... mold you and shape you into something you're not. The only upside to anger, then... is the person you become. Hopefully someone that wakes up one day and realizes they're not afraid to take the journey, someone that knows that the truth is, at best, a partially told story. That anger, like growth, comes in spurts and fits, and in its wake, leaves a new chance at acceptance, and the promise of calm. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child."

The film has a nonlinear structure.  It begins in medias res with a few of the main characters in the back seat of a car after a funeral.  It does not tell you who's funeral they were attending.  Then there is a flashback that takes you back three years to tell the story, and bring you back to the time and place the film began.  There are also a few scences in the movie that are not actually taking place, but are the imagination of Terry.  For example, when they are eating dinner at the table and Schepp's head explodes. The important characters in this film, are developing characters.  Developing characters are deeply affected by the actions of the plot(internal, external, or both) and under go some important changes in personality, attitude, or outlook on life as a result of the action of the story. (The Art of Watching Film, pg 68)  All of the main characters in this film are greatly affected by the sudden absence of Grey, and again in discovering his death.  The discovery of Gray's death gives the film, irony of tone.  In essance, irony of tone involves the juxtaposition of opposites in attitudes or feelings. (The Art of Watching Film, pg. 82)


 "People don't know how to love. They bite rather than kiss. They slap rather than stroke. Maybe it's because they recognize how easy it is for love to go bad, to become suddenly impossible... unworkable, an exercise of futility. So they avoid it and seek solace in angst, and fear, and aggression, which are always there and readily available. Or maybe sometimes... they just don't have all the facts."