The Present (2014): An Analysis of Fear

In short, what is the video about?

The video centers about a boy, who appears insensitive at first, and his newly acquired dog. He brushes the dog off at first since the dog has lost one if its legs, but later sympathizes and relates with the dog and gives it the attention it wanted.

What was the boy afraid of and how did he overcome that fear?

In reality, the boy isn’t afraid of anything. At first, he tried to ignore the dog since it has lost one of its legs. Then, and as he noticed how the dog still had all the characteristics of a dog, even though it didn’t have four legs like most dogs, he saw himself in the dog. He saw how the dog was a dog even though it only had three legs and how he is still a human even though he has one leg. It wasn’t fear the boy experienced. It was self-realisation.

What is the role of self-image in fear?

A person would be afraid to do a certain something because of a certain quality he either has or lacks. For instance, the boy is afraid of leaving the house and spends his time on video games because of hid disability. However, when he sees the dog for the first time, and how it also has one less leg just like he does, he ignores it. Why would he ignore it if he’s the same? That’s because the boy is doing what he expects would happen if he were to leave the house- people would ignore/criticize him. However, when he later realises that the dog is not afraid to be itself even if it is disabled, he overcomes his fear and leaves the house together with his dog.

Name one thing that you are afraid of and say how you might overcome this fear.

My biggest fear is commitment. To me, commitment is similar to sacrificing all other possibilities to do one thing. I find commitment the same as being imprisoned for life. I despise the feeling of being chained to one thing, doing the same thing for a long time, or seeing the same people for all of my life. I find it pointless to commit to one thing while there are numerous other possibilities I can and I am free to explore. Being afraid of commitment doesn’t just make me nervous of doing the same thing for a long time, it also makes me worried about countless other trivial things. For instance, I get bored of a subject if I have the same teacher for more than a single year, no matter if that teacher is an excellent of horrible teacher. Moreover, being around the same group of friends, regardless of how fun it is, loses its taste after two years. My fear has no physical form and I can’t counter or overcome it. I can, however, cope with it by believing I would be selfish to wish to want to explore all other possibilities and that I should be grateful that I have at least a single friend, teacher, etc… while others could have none.