Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Cat People
It is my understanding many of you did not like this film. Of course, that does not matter. It is a classic and a film that has been copied (and literally remade) over and over in the past six decades. Take a look at this Ebert essay and choose a scene in the film to analyze through 2 cinematic elements. Be sure to quote from the essay and analyze with implied meaning.
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Due to the Second World War and complete devastation throughout the world, the 1940’s was a decade of horror in all forms. Hollywood began to crank out horror films through this decade as pure entertainment, where filmmakers such as Val Lewton had to become more creative in order to compensate for the lower budgets. Lewton’s extremely influential and innovational film, Cat People, was said by Roger Ebert to be “frightening in an eerie, mysterious way that was hard to define”. The strong, dark character of Irene Reed of itself was frightening and jarring for American viewers due to her gender and the amount of power she holds inside of her. This film puts énfasis on the darker side in everyone as well as sheds light on frightening jealously as a means of entertainment.
ReplyDeleteIn a suspenseful sequence where Irene is following her husband’s coworker (Alice) home after their dinner. This scene is drawn out by the intricate choice of mise-en-scene which includes a stonewall as the background in most shots. This use of repetitive mise-en-scene manipulates time and provides the illusion that this stalking is going on forever, the audience truly experiences the fear and anxiety Alice is going through in this moment. Through the colors in the costume design of Alice and Irene's outfits we see fear manifest in the black heavy clothing Irene is wearing. Not only is Irene made to represent the dangerous panthers she uses as her muse, but because she is characterized in the color black, everytime that color appears on screen in a suspenseful scene we attach that to the frightening theory that she is an ever present entity lurking in the shadows. The sound surrounding this scene (or lack thereof) is very crucial for the execution of a terrifying scene. As the scene begins with a bright, joyful dinner the music corresponds. The light upbeat music plays under the louder dialogue, as they begin to leave the restaurant and we first see Irene the music immediately gets lower and incorporates longer and deeper notes. When Alice begins walking on her own all that is heard is the diegetic noise of detached footsteps allows for silence to occur which bring suspense in turn. The absence of noise in this scene allows for the audience to fully understand the vulnerability Alice has. The most important noise of this scene is one that became very famous after Cat People was produced. At the point after the chaotic compilation of static shots showing Alice with a large amount of open space around her (this makes the audience expect something to fill that space and allows us anticipating a jarring surprise) another static shot is shown that has a bus enter with the sound of a screech that almost sounds like a cat's call. This shot is so important because the entire scene sets up a jarring scare however when the time comes for the jump scare to intersect this scene, we are instead greeted with a false alarm that bestows hope in the audience but also makes the audience fearful for when the jump scare may occur. An interesting fact concerning this scene is that this exact “false alarm” scene/shot is known as the Lewton Bus.
Excellent choice of scene, Heidi. It is one of my favorites in horror history, as it gets me EVERY TIME. And you are correct--the sound design in this scene is crucial to the suspense of the scene. Great analysis.
DeleteWhen working with such a low budget, one becomes very limited with their opinions as to what they can do, but out of limitations breeds creativity. The scene in which Irena finally transforms and attacks the Dr. Judd after he attempts to kiss her uses heavy lighting and shadow to its advantage. As Judd is talking to Irena, they are both harshly lit with a strong back light. This is interesting as a soft back light would give them a warm, somewhat angelic glow, but the harsh lighting gives the scene an eerie feeling, because the audience already know what is going to occur after Judd makes his fatal mistake. As he kisses her, the camera cuts to a close up of Irena’s face with Dr. Judd’s directly in front of it, which casts a shadow on half of her face. As he pulls away from her, the light hitting her face is diffused, giving her an angelic glow before her transformation which one can assume was done ironically as to make the transformation more surreal. As Dr. Judd backs away in a panic, he pulls his cane sword and knocks over the lamp that is providing the room with more diegetic light. This leads to the actually mauling of the doctor depicted as a series of silhouettes projected on the wall. Not only was this a budget friendly idea, but the fact that the cat person is still not fully revealed just continuously builds the tension for the viewer. This creates more suspense, because not only is Irena not revealed in her fully formed cat, but it gives the viewer a chance to imagine what she might look like. The projections of the attack on the walls and divider that are full of cats really helps set an eerie and unsettling tone for this scene and for Irena in general, and by knowing that the budget for this film was extremely low definitely assists in the understanding of the mise-en-scene.
ReplyDeleteExcellent analysis, Sophie. Great choice of scene. Indeed, the lighting of this scene is as crucial to the action as the sound is for suspense in the scene Heidi chose. Great work.
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ReplyDelete“‘Cat People’ wasn't frightening like a slasher movie, using shocks and gore, but frightening in an eerie, mysterious way that was hard to define; the screen harbored unseen threats, and there was an undertone of sexual danger that was more ominous because it was never acted upon.” One of the best examples of the “eerie, mysterious” scariness of the movie is in the swimming pool scene. The scene is made very suspenseful through the sound (or lack thereof) and lighting.
ReplyDeleteSound is used very sparingly in this scene. It makes it seem almost like real life, no background music, no exaggerated background noise, etc. The lack of sound also makes it feel like there’s something hiding nearby, trying to be quiet. The most prominent sounds in the scene are the cat screeching and the woman screaming; they’re both yelling at the same thing, the threat of Irene. The sound spikes towards the beginning with the cat, then gradually increases until she jumps in the pool. Eventually, it climaxes at the point where she starts screaming. The sound creeping up on us in this scene builds lots of suspense and the screaming spikes are effective surprises. It shows us that there’s something dangerous about Irene and that she should be avoided.
The lighting in the scene also highlights the suspense. If the scene was well-lit, we and, more importantly, the woman would clearly see what was happening, and the suspense would be ruined. But because of the lurking silhouettes and darkness obscuring the setting, we can’t clearly distinguish what’s happening. The shots while she is in the pool make the monster seem larger than it really is, when it completely blacks out the light reflecting from the pool onto the walls. Darkness here is used just like the sound; it builds and builds until she finally breaks and it comes back to normal.
Fantastic analysis of the pool scene, Robert. I love everything you say about the sound in this scene. The sound overall in Cat People is really special. Good work.
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ReplyDeleteOverall personally the beginning of Cat People was a drag because though yet you understood she is one of the Cat People the action didn’t really happen until later in the movie. I think seeing it in segments is really what made me dislike it at first. I really actually liked the scene of the swimming pool which it is no surprise that Roger Ebert mentions that in his essay. Only a two minute scene, but it really makes a big difference in the film for me personally. The first thing you notice is the lack of sound as Roger Ebert says the movies may even be “too quiet”. That is the best thing though. You can tell this movie emphasized the sound of small movements like many other popular horror films have done. When she heard the diegetic growling there isn’t any suspenseful music played. It is all made out of sounds in the environment. In example the sound of her treading water. When she starts swimming we can hear the sound of her breathing which is something horror movies do a lot because you hear a character breathing fast you instinctively start breathing faster to. When the light turns off there is no increase in dramatic background music. You hear the sound of the light switch clicking off though. The cat growling, her treading water, her gasping creates a rhythm that your heart synches to and you expect so much out of it.
ReplyDeleteAnother element that stood out to me once hearing this “the rooms and streets that look not like places, but ideas of places” is the mise en scene. When we first enter this pool room everything is almost disjointed. The way she enters the pool in another room separate from the locker room. The pool is completely empty there isn’t any safety signs on the wall. There isn’t even a ladder to enter the pool. It is almost like the carcass of a public pool. This really adds to the suspense of the movie and to the theme that less is more. The less it is like the normal the more people are going to question it and the more feelings it is going to invoke. It makes her smaller and lost in the frame because everything around her is person she almost drowns into the blue of the water. The blank wall allows the water to reflect more once the lights turn out and it creates a lot of suspense for the viewer seeing the motion of the water, but nothing else.
"It is almost like the carcass of a public pool." Excellent description of set design, Carson! Your entire analysis is spot on--you make it personal and have nailed the crux of why Cat People is such an excellent film. Less IS more and I hope that is one thing you take away from my class! Great work.
ReplyDeleteFrom a plot standpoint, I did not enjoy that movie. However, that in no way means that it was a bad movie - in fact, I think it's fascinating to look at from a cinematic standpoint. As someone who edits frequently, the scene when Alice is walking home really stood out to me.
ReplyDeleteThis scene is fascinating both because of the sound design but also the editing. As soon as Alice leaves Oliver, it is dead silent except for the sound of footsteps. The interesting thing about this is that the footsteps almost sound like one set, when we know that there are 2 people walking. It gives the scene a dreamlike quality in which we know what is true, but can't quite get our minds to believe it because of what we're seeing and hearing. We never see Irene's face, so we know that it is her but we cannot entirely cement that feeling. The editing also provides an extremely unrealistic feeling - Alice seems to be walking by the same lamppost over and over and over again, till the cat screech and the bus breaks the cycle. We see her feet pass a lamppost, her body pass it, her pass it, her feet again, and eventually we stop seeing the feet of the woman following her. This was an established pattern, along with the same angle and width of the shots. This scene relies heavily on pattern - seeing the 2 pairs feet, seeing the same shot, seeing the lamppost, and hearing the footsteps. When that changes, when we stop seeing the second pair of feet and when we see behind Alice and when we hear a cat screeching instead of the footsteps, the viewer understands that something has or will happen. However, the most unsettling thing about this is that the viewer does not get closure. We expect the cat to jump out from above and maul her, but instead we see nothing but a few bushes rustling in the wind. This is a good micro-chasm for the movie as well, considering we don't get closure till the very end.
The 1942 film Cat People, directed by Jacques Tourneur is not the typical horror film, especially considering the era it was made. The heyday of big budget Hollywood horror was on the decline, and monster movies were probably getting a little old at this point. Instead of showing some poorly made model of a panther, or just a panther attacking, Tourneur uses lighting and shot selection for his fear inducing scenes. Roger Ebert states “The film magnifies her dread by exploiting the fear some people have of cats: They're sneaky and devious and creep up on you, and are associated with Satan.” This is very true of the film, as Irena is shot in exactly the way where her dread is magnified, and in scenes of danger, she is a point of focus.
ReplyDeleteIn the scene in which she kisses Ludd and then turns into the cat that kills him, the shot selection and lighting play a major role in making this scene what it is. The long take of Irena and Ludd embraced, leading up to their kiss, has a beautiful use of backlighting on the two subjects. The characters are ringed with bright light from behind, showing the severe importance of this scene. Then, the two closeup shots (of Ludd and Irena) also tell a story. Irena does not have a shadow on her face, while Ludd’s is covered with one. This is foreshadowing her dominance in mere moments over the doctor.