Visual Cue- The Life Aquatic

This is a screen shot from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. To me this visual que marks loneliness and indeference. In this shot Bill Murray (Steve Zissou) is smoking a cigarette alone sitting next to an award given to him for his latest film. He is sitting on the red carpet and there is a crowd of presumably fans standing behind a gate watching him. Throughtout the movie smoking is established as something he does when he is looking for relief from stress. The fact that he is at an awards show where he obviously did well and is still smoking conveys a very sad feeling like perhaps there arent any experiences that would fix his depressed state of mind. The whole scene seems very out of place, on the red carpet that we know we would never see a famous award-winning actor or director sitting on the ground smoking a ciggarette ignoring everything around him. It would not be socially acceptable. Having Bill Murray do just that makes him look indiferent to fame obviously showing something troubling on his mind grasping a much firmer hold on his attention than the circumstances around him.