"Your Walking on the Water Bit / By Far My Favorite One"

In Being There, Peter Sellers plays Chance, a gardener, whose entire existence is through TV. His life is thrown off course when the old man who employs Chance dies. Chance then befriends Eve Rand (played by Shirley MacLaine) after a limousine incident. She misunderstands his name as Chauncey Gardener and introduces him to her husband Ben (Melvyn Douglas), an older, influential businessman. "Chauncey" becomes a sort of advisor to Ben because of his "peculiar brand of optimism." Little to any of the other characters' beliefs, Chauncey merely frames his life through tv and his garden.

At the end of the film, Ben Rand passes away, and political strategists at his funeral discuss Chauncey running for president. Chauncey takes a walk during the funeral around the grounds of the Rand's mansion (which happens to be the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina--gorgeous!). The final shot is of Chance walking on a lake. the reason the viewer knows he walks on water is because he seemingly measures how deep the lake is with his umbrella (see above image).

The shot leaves me with so many questions. Could Chance believe he was walking on water because that's what he saw on TV? Could it be an interpretation of how the elite of Washington view him? As cliché as this sounds, it could be a portrayal of how we might be able to learn something from everyone regardless of their age, status, or how he/she frames what is important in life.