Motion pictures have the potential to generate innumerable reactions and feelings in their audiences given the wide range of resources they possess to convey information. When such resources are used successfully, films can take on an almost hypnotic quality. In fact, it is not a coincidence that cinema has been widely used as propaganda by governments such as the Soviet Union and the Nazis. This is because films are able to transmit ideas and irrational feelings through subtle means that speak directly to the subconscious of their audiences. It is as if the images achieved through the mise en scène whispered to the audience a secret that cannot be spelled out. The audience might feel threaten and scared by a character without knowing that such feelings are in direct correlation with the specific camera angle, framing, and light used in the scene. This is why it is intriguing to scrutinize single segments and shots in order to understand how a director was able to convey messages and generate specific feelings in their audience’s minds.
This kind of analysis is mostly revealing when we study directors that were masters at influencing their audiences such as Nicholas Ray. In Rebel Without a Cause, he was particularly agile in creating such effects through the evocative use of color. Thus, objects abandon their mundane role as props and take on meanings through their association with either the color red or blue.
For example, the role of Jim’s jacket changes and evolves through the film, as does its color. In the opening scene, his jacket is black and somber, suggesting the inner feelings of Jim. He was enraged at his family and new city. In fact, the jacket is a symbol of such life and social status, which direct contact to his skin seems to burn him. He is constantly talking it off and throwing it away, but then putting it back on because he cannot be stripped of his identity for too long. In addition, when his family appears at the police station to pick him up, he cannot stop playing with his father’s jacket, mocking his high status and suggesting that it is no more than a costume.
However, when Jim goes to meet the group of classmates that had challenged him to prove his honor, he changes his clothes and puts on a red jacket. By wearing this jacket, Jim is always visible, standing out from the crowd. The combination of his blue jeans, white shirt, and red jacket resemble Superman’s costume. In fact, from this moment on, he takes on the role of a hero. However, as in the Russian montage, the meaning emanated by the red jacket changes according to the editing, composition of the frame, and the proximity of Jim to specific objects. For example, when he is looking down the hill with Buzz, the combination of the extreme high angle and deep focus relate Jim’s jacket to blood, thus foreseeing what will happen in that hill. However, when Jim and Judy are in the same frame, Judy’s red lips stand out by its closeness to Jim’s jacket. In these scenes, the color red of the jacket and the lips symbolize the love, passion, and sexual tension that are building up between them.
On the other hand, the jacket takes on a much different meaning when it is worn by Plato. After the policeman shot him and he is lying on the floor, there is a low angle shot from the point of view of Plato’s inert body. From this angle, the tight framing shows part of Plato’s chest covered by the jacket and a close up of Jim crying. Jim bends towards his friend and zips the jacket, which is now soaked in blood, saying that “he is always cold.” In this closing scene, the jacket becomes a morgue bag that safeguards Plato’s ice-cold body. When Jim turns towards his father crying, the only thing he manages to do to nourish his son is putting his own jacket over his shoulders. Here, this brown jacket represents a neutral comforting and reaffirming element.
Another occasion in which the contrasting use of red and blue in the mise en scène is evident is when Plato, Jim, and Judy run away to an abandoned house. After joking and playing, Plato falls asleep and Judy and Jim notice that he is wearing an un-matching pair of socks. There is a close up of his feet to show that he is wearing a blue sock on his right foot and a red one on his left foot. There are a number of meanings that can be extracted from this composition. On the one hand, they are symbols of masculinity and femininity. It might represent the lack of parents and the desire to have such figures in his life. On the other hand, it is an outer representation of his conflicts with sexuality. Throughout the film, it is obvious that Plato is attracted to Jim for reasons other than a friendship. In fact, in more than one occasion he bends towards him as if trying to kiss him. Thus, the combination of red and blue externalize his inner confusion between masculinity and femininity. It is as if he had one foot standing here and the other there, he is turned apart between his instincts and his role in society. Moreover, the fact that the red sock is on his left foot and the blue one is on his right one, are a direct reference to goodness and badness. This shows that Plato is a kid that might still have a chance to correct himself even if he has a tendency to cross to the bad side.
Directors use the mise en scène not only to evoke and furnish their films with deeper meanings, but also as reference or quotation of famous paintings and films. In the case of Rebel Without a Cause, it can be said that the scene in which the police kills Plato is a direct quotation of Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin. There is no shot showing the face of the man who detonated the gun, dehumanizing the police force and showing the state as a killing machine like Eisenstein did. Moreover, as Plato falls down the stairs of the planetarium, the camera focuses on the reaction of Jim. The horror in his face resembles the multiple reaction shots used by Eisenstein when the baby’s carriage falls down the stairs, thus creating a more meaningful reaction in the audiences. Both Eisenstein and ray used the off-camera space to leave it to the audience to imagine the dead bodies.
When used thoughtfully, the mise en scène is an effective vehicle to bring to the surface themes, meanings, ideas, and feelings that would loose their momentous if they were simply spelled out through the dialogues. Therefore, the use of a specific framing, color scheme, costumes, lighting, and camera angles can be much more suggestive and ultimately effective to deeply connect with the audience.
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