Mise en Scene & Cinematography Essay                        

The development of the cinematography contributed to considerable changes. In this respect, some films have played the particularly important part like Battleship Potemkin by Eisenstein, which uncovered the new, realistic approach to cinema. In this regard, it is also worth mentioning Charlie Chaplin’s Adventurer, the film which also changed the American and world cinematography and revolutionized the perception of an individual in the US society. The film contributed to the reevaluation of traditional American biases and stereotypes related to the main theme of the film, where the criminal, who escaped from prison is not a villain, but turns out to be a good person, who can change his life for better.

The artistic details and cinematographic tools used in the film contributed consistently to the effective depiction of the story. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that The Adventurer is the silent film. Therefore, the director of the film had limited opportunities to express his ideas and convey his messages to the audience because he could not use the verbal communication. This is why the director focused on the visual depiction and use of diverse tools to convey key messages to the audience and create the target atmosphere of the film to make the audience to understand it to the full extent. In this regard, the director of the film depicts hyperbolas and hyperbolization, for example, which is often comic as is the scene, when the escaped prisoner performed by Charlie Chaplin come into clashes. The huge policeman confronts the almost tiny prisoner and is eventually defeated by him. The struggle seems to be impossible at first because the giant will definitely catch the tiny prisoner but the perfectly played scene of their struggle leads to the unexpected end, as the prisoner wins and escapes from hands of the policeman.

Furthermore, costumes and decorations also enhance the overall atmosphere of the film and helps the audience to perceive the film adequately. At this point, the scene of the ‘battle’ between the policeman and the prisoner is particularly noteworthy. The policeman is in the shining, perfect uniform, whereas the escaped prisoner is in a shaggy, old, clothing, which definitely does not fit him at all and would rather suit a policeman than him in size. Nevertheless, he manages to wear it because he has no other option to choose from. In such a way, the film gives implications to his poverty and the problem of the inequality that existed in the US society in that time. More important, such costumes show that people often made their judgments on the ground of their appearance and clothing. For example, the police officer is immediately noticing the escaped prisoner, because of his clothing and look. Probably, the police officer takes him for a beggar, while he seems to not even noticing other people in the street because they look well, they wear good clothing and they apparently belong to the middle- and upper-class, in contrast to the poor prisoner.

In fact, the class difference becomes even more significant, when the adventurer comes across the rich family. As he saves the girl, he penetrates the upper-class society and he starts changing his look. However, the film clearly shows that it is not only his clothing and his look that change but it is also and mainly that the attitude of his environment that changes to him. Obviously, the police officer would have never thought to suspect him of anything, if he had found the escaped prisoner along with the rich family and representatives of the upper-class in the upscale clothing and looking virtually brilliant. In such a way, the mere change of clothing and the skillful use of costumes help to change the perception of the main character in the film. However, the change of costumes also has a considerable impact on the audience because viewers see clearly how vulnerable people become, if their look does not match the middle- or upper-class standards. Therefore, the audience definitely re-evaluated their attitude toward the look of individuals, when the film had been just released. In fact, the film made people thinking of biases and stereotypes, which prevent them from the adequate perception of individuals.

At this point, it is also worth mentioning the fact that the change occurs not only to the look of the main character but also to his social standing. The inclusion of the escaped prisoner, a marginal as the matter of fact, into the world of rich men changes the perception of this individual. More important, he turns out to be a really good person. For example, the fact that he saved an unknown girl, even though he put at risk his own life, is definitely the proof that he is a good person. However, in the time, when the film was shot and released, this was a really revolutionary message because prisoners were perceived by the public as marginal outcasts, who cannot be a part of the society, who are totally lost for the society and can never be re-integrated into the society. What The Adventurer shows is quite the contrary to traditional biases and stereotypes because the main character, the former offender and escaped prisoner, turns out to be a positive character. In fact, such a decision was apparently difficult for the director because he ruined the stereotyped view on the criminal character, who were villains only. Instead, the director makes the offender not a villain but a good guy. This was a true revolution in the US cinematography as well as in the public perception of offenders. In such a situation, it is very important to point out that the police officer evokes rather negative emotions in the audience. His angry, hostile face, his enormous figure, his unlimited supremacy in relation to the poor are bursting out and the audience develops a very unpleasant feeling in relation to the police officer. However, this is another case of breaking up stereotypes in The Adventurer, because traditionally police officers and representatives of law enforcement agencies or political power were depicted in the positive light. Instead, The Adventurer changes roles making the escaped prisoner a good guy and the police officer a bad one. This is why the audience feels easy and happy after the main character luckily escapes from the police officer.

Thus, the film focuses on the fate of a ‘little’ man in the US, who undergoes the terrible turmoil in his life, but who proves to be a good person, in spite of stigmatization and biases imposed on him by the society. Even though he is the escaped offender, he is a good person and this is the main message of the film that people should not make judgments on the ground of one’s clothing or look. Moreover, they should not divide people on the ground of their class or profession. Instead, the film conveys the clear message that all people may be good but it is the public perception that can make them behave otherwise. In this regard, cinematographic tools used by the director of the film and the perfect play of Charlie Chaplin help the audience to perceive these messages clearly and easy.

 

Works Cited:

Chaplin, Charlie. The Adventurer. Mutual Film Corporation, 1917.

Fabe, Marilyn. Closely Watched Films: An Introduction to the art of narrative film technique. University of California Press, 2004.

Montagu, Ivor, With Eisenstein in Hollywood, Berlin: Seven Seas Books, 2012.

 

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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