Good Essay About The Greater The Struggle The More Glorious The Triumph

The short film “The Butterfly Circus” is set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. People were jobless, homeless, and hungry. People are worried about how they are going to make it each day, and parents worry about feeding their children. Hope was in short supply. The film sets up a series of contrasts in order to prove its main point, that the harder the struggle is the more glorious the triumph will be.
The film opens with a child, his father, and their friend visiting a typical carnival. The friend is actually a man names Mendez, who runs his own circus. The carnival included the expected circus “freaks”, including a bearded lady, Siamese twins, an overweight women, a painted man, and a man with no limbs. All of them have a dead look in their eyes, hope obviously gone. They do not ever see a change happening in their life, and have settled into their lot. Mendez sees the man with no limbs, Will, and sees hope for him. Will escapes the carnival and goes to Mendez’s circus, the Circus of Butterflies. There he sees people perform beautiful stunts, and an audience who revels in the beauty and triumph instead of the audiences he was used to. The performers are truly happy and satisfied with their lives. Will still feel badly about himself, and struggles to find his place.
In the end, Will realizes he can swim. In a moment of pure triumph, in his own circus act. Will jumps from a high perch into a vat of water and swims to the top. He is adored by the audience, and positively influences some young people with disabilities. It is a complete contrast to the act he was forced to play at his old carnival. The butterfly had truly escaped the cocoon.