Richard: Mosquito Coast--Fanaticism and Imperialism

Act 1: In Act 1, the example of Allie Fox showing fanaticism is when he is telling his son about all the bad of America.  Many people do this, but I do not think it is to this extent.  He was saying some very radical comments.  It almost made it seem as though there was no reason to live in America.  This led to his decision to move his family to a whole different place outside of America.  This is considered fanaticism because he is only considering what he wants and not what will benefit his whole family.  He believes this is the best thing for his family when in reality it only ends up almost killing them in the end.

Act 2: In Act 2, the example of Allie Fox seeing the village of his new home and thinking he can turn it into something worthwhile.  His wife’s expression says that this is not at all what she felt she was promised or expected.  Allie tries to convince himself at this point that it will all workout.  He has the local people doing all the work and convinces them that he knows what is best for that society.  Allie is almost on an entirely different page because it seems as though he is in his own zone.  In one scene, he sits down next to his oldest son and asks if he thinks he is doing a good job.  I think this just demonstrates the type of power he has over his son and family because his son agrees with him without thinking about it for himself.

Act 3: In Act 3, the example of Allie Fox setting the church on fire demonstrates his fanaticism to the extreme.  It shows that he is willing to do anything without any limits to ensure that his soul is satisfied.  He refuses to get help from the missionary because of pride and endangers his family’s life because of that.  He is also seen as being irrational after he gets shot and asks his family if they are still going upstream.  This example shows that even after getting shot, that he still did not realize how irrational he has been.  He never came to reality in the end of this film.

Allie Fox uses the materialistic imperialism to get what he wants.  An example of this is when he first gets to the island.  He takes over and makes the natives do what he wants in order to create this new world he envisions.  This is similar to what happened to the Native Americans when the Europeans came over.  Allie Fox has become the nation he claimed to hate.

Reverend Spellgood uses a religious imperialism.  He uses religion as a way to get what he wants which is power and control.  He uses the ignorance of the natives and enforces a new idea on them by force.  This makes it seem as though he has power over the people of the land.