MovieChat Forums > Mr. Jones (2014) Discussion > My Explanation (spoilers)

My Explanation (spoilers)

posted 10 years ago by oxdinaxo-652-328330
11 replies | jump to latest

Ok this is my attempt to explain what the hell happened in this movie, since it seems EXTREMELY nonsensical.

Mr. Jones was a guardian of the nightmare world/realm. His scarecrow creations kept The real world and the dreaming world from colliding. I don't know why he chose certain people to send them to, but as long as they were seen and noticed it seemed to keep the nightmare world at bay.

We are supposed to think that he is a bad presence when really he is a protector.

Penny and Scott start to meddle. They meddle WAY TOO MUCH. Penny tries to speak to him, they go into his basement and his underground ceremonial area and Scott even takes a "souvenir" doll.

Very bad.

Now they have officially entered the nightmare world, where they are asleep. Penny seems to be in more control to try and wake Scott up, but since he actually took the doll and is off is meds, he has less and less control.

Penny didn't fear Mr. Jones and that is why she tells Scott to open the door when he is trying to get in. Also, she knows that when he dragged her from the forest and brought her home, he actually saved her life.

When Scott opens the door, the two worlds are breached and Mr. Jones is sucked into the nightmare realm. When Scott pulls his mask off and is left with it, he automatically inherits the job of the new gatekeeper.

That's the best I got.
What do you think?

[–] dustindemoss_7 10 years ago

I've been seeing a lot of explanations that say exactly what I saw face value on the movie itself. I'm not disagreeing I just watched it and though I would add my own side note to the explanation, or rather question/noticings (not a real word).

I for one thought I was tripping on acid when it came to the "gotta get out of the house, mr jones is dead and can't save us" bit.

I noticed that when he saw the "fake" Penny, ergo, Penny in white dress you hear a voice that is not coming from "Real" nor "Fake" Penny that says "You need to wake up, do not go into the basement, do not listen to her" (Paraphrasing of course).

This revelation leads me on a different and somewhat crazy path to believe that perchance Scott is asleep and having a nightmare throughout the entire third act and that he is lost in his dreams.

I do believe that one of the people that he had interviewed stated that the person needed to confront himself to escape (to some extent) as in the real person confronting the dream self, which Scott clearly does not, rather runs from consistently throughout the third act. Which leads me to believe that Scott is actually trapped within his own nightmare never to escape because he could not confront his dream self.

I am sure that this is completely incorrect, however, it is the conclusion I came to after the first viewing of the film. It seemed to me that the Penny that was awake was telling Scott to not return the "Idol" so that he would be forced to confront his dream self and reawaken to the "real" world.

(PS/Sidenote - It seemed shady how the "Real" Penny was acting when she was whispering to Scott in the woods, which alerted me to the fact that she may not actually be real)

[–] PforPropaganda27 10 years ago

I agree with the op , to me it seemed pretty obvious he was the new guardian and he had to stay behind. Remember when the interviewer said housewives would leave there families to live in the woods? I saw that as them being recruited to be protectors as well

[–] oxdinaxo-652-328330 10 years ago

the whole thing was pretty choppy, its possibly a combo of both explanations :)

[–] PforPropaganda27 10 years ago

Yea possibly, the last thirty minutes was way overboard in my opinion

[–] Jalopicus 10 years ago

What about this...

Scott has multiple personalities, two of which are Penny and Mr. Jones. The first act is Scott retreating to the woods to make a documentary and stop his medication. The second act is Penny and Mr. Jones having first contact (and Scott bringing back Mr. Jones lore). The third act is a dissociative unraveling where the three can't come to a consensus as to who is friendly and who is malevolent. The entire movie is how the crisis manifested in Scott's mind.

The scarecrows represent the medication that previously maintained equilibrium and Scott stopping this medication is parallel to Scott removing the scarecrow from the underground shrine. Also, Penny things they are protective and Mr. Jones knows that they are necessary which demonstrates mixed feelings toward the barrier/medication/scarecrows.

The double camera literally provides two opposing perspectives from one source which is an unreliable narrator in and of itself. Toward the end as perspective becomes increasingly distorted the double camera is abandoned altogether to the point where even Scott and Penny are watching themselves from another POV. Also, when bizzaro-Scott shows up at the end he has a still camera even though Penny is the photographer; this is also what she caught a glimpse of when she was first creeping on the scarecrows at night.

In the end Scott stays in the woods to become the next Mr. Jones, unaware that he has already been a Mr. Jones in the past. Scott was essentially the odd man out among the three.

[–] alexshishkova 10 years ago

I completely agree. The medication tidbit at the beginning, along with the characters all seeing scott with a camera when they look at their reflection gives it away.

[–] oxdinaxo-652-328330 10 years ago

I actually love this theory.

[–] abbycatt 10 years ago

I really wanted to avoid the whole insanity thing when coming up with an explanation for this film, but I think you nailed it. Every other explanation falls short, in my opinion.

[–] LordManhammer 8 years ago

I like this, Jalopicus, because it's not the same-old "he's off his meds" explanation that is way too simple. You put your finger on the perspective aspect, I think, which is clearly important--otherwise, why the "bad guy" with a camera to his face?

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[–] Singingtothestardust 10 years ago

I don't know why he chose certain people to send them to, but as long as they were seen and noticed it seemed to keep the nightmare world at bay.

My theory is that all the people that Jones sent his scarecrows too were living in areas where the barrier between the worlds was weak. Sending them to these people was his way of trying to fortify the barrier and if necessary it would have the effect of convincing them to leave and find places where the barrier was stronger.

"Rhianon rings like a bell through the night and wouldn't you love to love her?"

[–] DrmWmn 8 years ago

I agree with the OP! That's exactly what I got out of it.

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