[thehealer]

 I think its a foreshadowing of what is to come with noah and the those we do not speak of conflict...one of the first times we see the empty chair and one of the longest shots of it is when noah almost has to go to the quiet room...it foeshadows that eventually he will still have to serve his punishment...right after wounding lucius hes seen in the rocking chair...the rocking chairs are also the same as what the elders sit in...as if noah is trying to be one of them through being one of those we dont speak of...and by taking their role in punishing lucius for taking ivy from him.

[Mr_Glass.1]

My brother and I were talking about it, and we think it symbolizes emptiness, or sadness.  Mr. Walker is sitting in a rocking chair when he finds out about Ivy's blindness, Noah is sitting in one after stabbing Lucius, before Ivy leaves there is a long shot of a rocking chair in the mist, August Nicholson spends most of the time in a rocking chair, he is one of the elders who has been his the hardest by family deaths, and at the end of the movie Noah mother is sitting in a rocking chair when she hears about Noah dying.  Just a thought. 

[srkbeno.1]

can anybody explain why IVY's father shows her the monster costume.. then when she is in the woods she is scared of it as if she knows nothing about its non existance

[okokokok]

can anybody explain why IVY's father shows her the monster costume.. then when she is in the woods she is scared of it as if she knows nothing about its non existance

Because at that point she knows that the "monsters" are just the elders dressed up.  She is not expecting to run into any of the elders/monsters as they are the ones who have sent her to get medicine.  So when she does run into something, she thinks it might be a real threat.

[srkbeno.1]

hmm i was under the impression that she knew that the person in the costume was noah.. and she hated Noa for what he did to Lucious.. so she made him fall down the pitt..

[okokokok]

hmm i was under the impression that she knew that the person in the costume was noah.. and she hated Noa for what he did to Lucious.. so she made him fall down the pitt..

So why is she scared?  Maybe I misunderstood that part.  She tried to kill Noah then?

[Unbroken]

She didn't know it was Noah. If she had known, she would have talked to him.

[Namaste]

The Village is my second fav movie of all time..ive seen it a lot of times. I had never thought about the rocking chair but i hold in my head many scenes from the film: especially about walker hearing about his daughter and noah in the "bad color" scene. Might I suggest that perhaps it symbolizes comfort? Or the things we look for when we don't know where to turn. (like the very idea of the village itself) or am i reading too much into things? (haha..like anyone could read too much into shyamalan)


_{"the world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe."}

[Namaste]

come on, people. she's scared of the monster because of the flashback we see where her father says "there were rumors that such creatures did inhabit these woods" or something to that effect.

[Namaste]

My brother and I were talking about it, and we think it symbolizes emptiness, or sadness.  Mr. Walker is sitting in a rocking chair when he finds out about Ivy's blindness, Noah is sitting in one after stabbing Lucius, before Ivy leaves there is a long shot of a rocking chair in the mist, August Nicholson spends most of the time in a rocking chair, he is one of the elders who has been his the hardest by family deaths, and at the end of the movie Noah mother is sitting in a rocking chair when she hears about Noah dying.  Just a thought. 

    ok, i just watched the film again with all the deleted scenes and bonus features and everything. And I read these comments all over again too. I think I've got it now...listen to this: The rocking chair symbolizes shame and giving up.
    Now here is my reasoning: Whenever we see someone (or hear about them) in a rocking chair, they are either ashamed or broken. (i especially point to Walker who admits that he was "so ashamed" when he heard his daughter's vision had finally failed her, and Noah who sits in the rocking chair and just waits in shame for his consequences) Also Noah's mother is sitting ashamed in the chair after finding out that her son is not only an attempted murderer, but also the person who has been killing the livestock. Ivy sits in the chair when she has no idea what she's going to do because "if he dies, all that is left to me will die with him"..August embodies both feelings when he is always in his rocker feeling ashamed that he did not do anything to save his son, and giving up on his hopes for peace.
     On the other hand we see EMPTY rocking chairs when the characters are discussing action and standing up (btw in "Bryce's Diary" she talks about standing up and facing life while scenes of empty rocking chairs are flashed in the background). For example, the chair in the background when lucius talks with his mother about Mr. Walker's fear of touching her...the famous porch scene..when the villagers "go together" to face TWDSO...and the one in the field just before the scene where Walker finally switches into action mode after Lucius is attacked and decides to encourage Ivy to go to the towns.

[Erin]

I've an idea about the meaning of the rocking chair. It's just an idea. We can note the chair is just in front the house and between the house in the village , a world of innocence and the forest representing a kind of new world, a world of violence. This position makes me think about two points :
- the rocking chair building with woods is just in front the house to show there are some things coming from the forest into the village ( the ancients)
- the rocking chair seems to look at the forest : it can represent the folk stories that ancients tell to children and  perpetuate the legend : there are monsters in this forest . But as I've just say; the rocking chair  seems to look at the forest, like it was taking its inspiration from the forest and cultivate the legend.
This is the reason why I think the rocking chair can represent the ancients and their secret.
- The, there is one scene, where you see the house, the rocking chair, Ivy and Lucius and the forest in this order. Ivy and Lucius seem to be just in the middle of two strenghts : the new world and its cruelty, and the village representing the innocence, the easiness, the love.
But Ivy will come in the forest by love, so it can link the village to the rest of the world.

[Namaste]

Thats an intresting idea, about the chair representig the elders and their stories..But I think that can be carried farther into representing secrets and fears and STANDING UP to them.

[Erin]

for me secrets are already represented by the black boxes so this is the reason why I think the rocking chairs are what I've said .

[dana]

wow.  I was just reading what filmguy450 wrote.  I remember the character Danny Glover played in or from the movie "Places in the Heart."  He said it was bad luck to rock a rocking chair with nobody in it.  That, or he was mostly trying to "make" the boy understand something deeper.

[Erik]

dana, would you mind not posting in topics where no one has posted for ages?
Thank you!