‘Architecture,’ as Exhibited in, Ice Age

02.12.27 / 05.08.09

Just the other night I viewed the movie, Ice Age, with my family. One thing that struck me about the film was an instance of Architecture in the film. Near the beginning of the film a mother holding her child is chased by a saber-toothed tiger. She is cornered at a rock that extends out into a river. She has no where to go other than attempting to return along the same path which led her out to the tip of the rock outcropping.

The director could have had the tiger overtake the woman in so many ways. She could have been hunted down in a field. She could have been mauled in her sleep. She could have been taken down on a road or been cornered in a cave. But the outcropped rock so perfectly signified her life at that moment. She had run down the path along the river, had just round a large bolder, and headed up the incline of this outcropping, only to realize that it ended and did not proceed over the river. Just as in life, she had proceeded along a path, recently her life had taken a sharp turn, and come upon its end. The environment thoughtfully – artfully – represented her life at that moment. This is Architecture: mere form and orchestration of movement articulated an understanding of a place, a time, an event for a person.