The document discusses video messaging phones that allow people to see and hear each other when communicating, highlighting the importance of seeing to understand others. It also discusses how in the film, the goal of perfecting a device is more important than the actual traveling. Typically in road movies, the journey is more important than the destination, but in this film the destination and goal take precedence. The document also examines different ways road movie journeys typically end.

1. until the end of the world
wim wenders, 1991

2. The phones both wireless and attached are
video messaging phones so that when people
communicate with one another they not only
hear each other but they can also see each
other. This is intentional because it stresses the
importance of seeing. Having video phones
shows that it is essential for people to see
one another to understand each other. Which
is the mission that Sam is trying to accomplish;
his mother to obtain sight.
-Abby

3. The one rule of the Road Movie is that the
journey is always more important than the
destination. However the globe-trotting in
UTEOTW is a means to an end. The goal,
perfecting the device, is more important than
the actual act of traveling.
-Bryce

4. In each episode, there is a challenge to
be met, although not all of them will be
met successfully.
In most scenes, a piece of the plot is
revealed - knowledge or allies are gained,
and so on.
Sometimes, as in Heart of Darkness, this
progress is inverted, and each episode
represents a loss rather than a gain.

5. Road movies traditionally end in one of
four ways:
having met with triumph at their ultimate
destination, the protagonist(s) return
home, wiser for their experiences.
at the end of the journey, the
protagonist(s) find a new home at their
destination.
the journey continues endlessly.
having realized that, as a result of their
journey, they can never go home, the
protagonists either choose death or are
killed.

6. His characters seem obsessed with polaroids,
both as hand-held devices and fixed booths. I
believe that these polaroids offered a tangible
proof of their existence amongst the chaos of
their every changing and transitive world.
As the plot and film progress at an alarming,
and arguably confusing pace, the Polaroids
serve as the physical reminder of what had
already happened. For the characters, I think
they were meant to capture and remember
their identity.
For the viewers, I believe they were meant to
illustrate Wenders contention that amongst the
infinitely undefined universe, individuals are
constantly struggling to find their vision of
themselves.
-Alicia

7. Wenders' discussion was
heavily oriented towards
the brain rather than the
eye, as the eye itself is
really just a conduit. All
of the crazy processing
and analysis—i.e. the
stuff that makes an
image an image, rather
than a random
assemblage of light
particles—is the essence
of sight, and that's
entirely the brain's
department.
-Lauren

8. The goggles proved that it was not the actual
images that were being seen that mattered, but
rather the invisible love beneath them that the
goggles symbolized and brought forth.
-Kaitlin

9. I find this disturbing. I
have little appreciation
for this “electronic
artwork” as a legitimate
form of fine art. They
appear to be untouched
by the creative mind, I
see little reflection of the
humanity I connect with
in other artwork. In this
image I see mathematical
formulas, the
confounding process of
all that is digital and
technological, the
sciences, time travel, the
mysteries of scifi.
-Noelle

11. Wenders on images...
✤ We gasp and give a start when we suddenly discover something true
or real in a movie, be it nothing more than the gesture of a child in the
background, or a bird flying across the frame, or a cloud casting its
shadow over the scene but for an instant. It is a rarity in today’s
cinema to find such moments of truth, for people or objects to show
themselves as they really are. --from the film The State of Things
(1982)