An overwhelming sense of unease and inquietude is put out in this opening scene, with Scott Frank establishing a disequilibrium in the mood and also in the narrative. The audience are positioned in a place of sadness too, to see their beloved protagonist suffer from alcoholism, being difficult for them to watch and also for some, sadly, easy to relate to. Frank achieves positions the audience in this way by using various different types of mise-en-scène, camera shots, and by very good editing.
The medium shot of Beth vomiting into her trophy has a huge significance, insinuating that she is metaphorically sick of all the fame and all her successes and sadly would rather be in a downward spiral, suffering the effects of loneliness and an addiction to alcohol. Moreover, Frank pictures her trophies next to the bottles of alcohol in the shot, which demonstrates to the audience that her alcoholism and her successes, her ups and downs, are all indelibly linked and have been at the consequence of the other.
We can also see her disconnection from the world and the people around her by there being a large gap between her house and her neighbours house, demonstrating her loneliness and also her wealth and her success to buy such a house. This could mean that despite her wealth, it has not helped any of her problems and she still suffers the effects of her troubled childhood. The fact that Beth and her neighbour are never seen in the same shot symbolises her poor relationship with her surroundings and the fact that she is seen as an outcast in this setting.
In the beginning of this clip, Scott portrays a sense of unease through the handheld camera tracking shot. This is used with the intention to put the audience ill at ease and to demonstrate to them that Beth is unwell. It also creates a greater sense of immediacy for the audience towards Beth, positioning the audience in a position of sadness and allowing them to empathise with her. The shaky hand held camera could also demonstrate she is intoxicated due to her suffering from alcoholism.
To conclude, Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze is very apparent throughout the beginning scene, as Harmons mental health continues to decline, her beauty is even more exaggerated, her hair and her makeup not changing throughout the scene despite her obvious “downward spiral”. In this tracking shot in the beginning of her walking into her living room, the camera is composed towards her skirt's hemline. Suffering from depression and alcoholism, she is still overly- sexualised, suggesting that the male gaze is always present. The male gaze is deeply ingrained in media types, and it is defined as “the heterosexual perspective where women are depicted as sexual objects for the pleasure for the male viewer” I believe Frank’s sexualisation of Beth Harmon was a huge mistake, muddling up an exciting narrative with a pioneering femenist. Moreover, Franks and Scotts emphasis on the male gaze imposes an unreasonable standard upon young women. This male gaze is not only seen at the start however, the birds eye view shot looking down on Beth Harmon towards the end, demonstrates how many men look down on women, heavily objectifying them and dehumanising them, and it symbolises the inherent divide between the genders in 1960s America.
Comments