Photography Essay

            Photography is a catalyst to film. Through a cinematic shot, the director and cinematographer collaborate to visually create images in the film which capture its essence and symbolism. As Dorothea Lange has said, “ Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.”  Cinematographers work to capture the form of an image to symbolically represent its content in order to “alter life” in the context of a film. Through the utilization of photography, filmmakers have the ability to explore ethical implications by the presentation of cinematic shots. In this manner, highly debated issues of ethics are introduced to a wide audience in the creative outlet of film. Ethical dilemmas such as morality, love, and honor are questioned within The Usual Suspects, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Gladiator, in order to utilize various photographic techniques to convey each film’s ethical message.

        

Within The Usual Suspects, morality is questioned through the 
success of the villain justifying immoral 

actions and is demonstrated through the photography within the film. From the opening shot, the overbearing dominance of the villain, Keyser Soze, is introduced in order to establish his persona. Through the usage of low camera angles and close up shots, Keyser’s height increases as the camera pans upward on him urinating on the fire from above. Low key lighting establishes the film noir through the usage of shadows and darkness to further showcase the villainess behavior of Keyser. High contrast lighting of the fire surrounding the characters adds to the hell/devil metaphors, which Keyser emulates. Flames in the background surround Keaton entrapping him in high angle eye level shots of him glancing upward at Keyser. The photographic techniques are used to add to the mystery of the film and cause the audience to piece together their own predictions of Keyser’s identity. This is crucial in establishing the backwards-moral code which this film showcases. Having the audience question Keyser’s identity causes sympathy to play out for the other characters of the film making it easier to justify the opening scene later on. Keyser’s dominance causes the audience to glorify his immoral actions by the end of the film instead of fear them because of his revealed identity changing the perception of the scene. Film student Adam Clowry shares this perception of justified immoral actions by the statement, “ While the plot of The Usual Suspects is important, even more important is the manner in which it is told” (The Usual Suspects: An Analysis). Having a non-linear plot ensures the unpredictability of Keyser’s identity allowing the audience to sympathize with the other characters, especially Verbal. Verbal is characteristic innocent. His meek mannerisms, limp, and fear throughout the film cause him to appear the least likely of evil. As such, the audience believes in Verbal , the all trusting narrator of the film, and as Clowry says , is essential to the “manner in which it (the story) is told” (The Usual Suspects: An Analysis). The audience cheers for immorality because the audience falls in love with Verbal not Keyser. Furthermore, the scene when Keyser’s identity is revealed the audience’s identification with Verbal justifies his unethical actions. As Verbal limps down the steps of the police station, the long shot follows him down the street as characteristics of Verbal disappear. When Verbal passes the camera, the shot switches from eye level to low angle amplifying the understanding of Verbal’s identity as his limp disappears. The following scene is essential in the evolution of the film. It causes the audience to glorify Verbal’s actions as intellectual and epic. Although Verbal has killed, manipulated, and caused harm to many in the process, his immoral actions are forgotten because he is not Keyser the villain, but Verbal the character the

audience has grown to love. Naturally the underdog, the realistic/classical cinema element used in the film causes the audience to identity more with Verbal because he is so characteristic of the everyday man. Realists shoot the film without much manipulation in order to capture Verbal in a more relatable context to justify his immorality by the end of the film. Through the use of various photography techniques within The Usual Suspects, morality is questioned and immoral actions justified.

            Within Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, photography techniques are used to question ethics through manipulation of love by technology demonstrating how all relationships, even the painful ones, are worth having. Through the loss of Joel’s memories of Clementine, the audience sees how Joel has the unique ability to fall in love with the memories all over again. By having the opportunity to view a relationship backwards, the audience sees the importance of retaining the memories of lost loves not only for the bad, but for all the good. When the house crumbles around them, Joel’s final memories of the two fall apart as well. The conflicting forces of Joel and Clementine are shown in their cool and warm colors. Joel’s calmness, tranquility, and boring qualities are contracted with Clementine’s passion for life and love, impulsivity, and anger. The realist lighting has a symbolic importance of the memories slipping away as darkness in the background contrasts with the spotlight following Joel in the foreground which he is unable to escape. The light suggests there still is a hope of love even when darkness comes to take it. A blurred filter begins to fill the screen as the memories fall apart with the house. Medium shots pan to Joel’s feet then face emphasizing his remorse and nostalgia over their relationship. Through this scene, the audience sees the unethicalness of losing the memories of love through the regret and closure which the two possess. Expressionists use the formalistic cinema of the house crumbling around Joel and Clementine to portray the importance of having a relationship even if it ends. Love is worth saving even as a house crumbles around it. The audience feels the closure and doesn’t want the relationship to end proving the unethicalness of manipulating love through technology. In an analytical essay, Ph.D. student Kelley L. Ross states, “Much of the power of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is that the process of forgetting itself appears to reveal that there was enough there, that there always was enough of an affinity, that even a great deal of work would be worth the effort to renew the relationship”(Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).  Through brining up

the unethical nature of removing memories, the film proves the power of keeping those memories in the hope of renewing love again. The risk of love is worth taking even if it all does fall apart because of its hope. Hope in love is constant. Even if the same relationship does not resurface, there is a hope in finding love again and learning from past mistakes. Finally, the parallel train scene from the beginning and end of the film showcases how painful it is to watch when the characters no longer remember their relationship. Realism is used to capture the realistic aspect of their love before the audience sees it fall apart and come back together again. It defines the relationship as something real before creating a formalistic statement of their love. Even natural lighting, the realist light preference, is used to capture their love realistically. Furthermore, the characters find love again despite their memories of each other no longer existing. Joel and Clementine decide that although their relationship ended once in turmoil, it is still worth having. They both still have a hope in their love. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind uses the importance of having a relationship even if it does end, to justify the immoral action of erasing love through technology.

            Within Gladiator, honor is questioned in order to redefine its meaning through the usage of various photography techniques. In the opening scene, Maximus is preparing and experiencing his final battle before returning home. A deep focus eye level shot pans in on Maximus contemplating the battle he is about to engage in. Long/medium oblique angle shots follow the battle in order to capture visually the anxiety of the moment at hand. Cool low key colors of the surroundings contrast the warm high key colors of flames which surround the battle. Through the usage of slow stock, these colors are captured vividly contrasting the fast stock often used for documentary style filming. The immense amount of harm and killing showcased in this first scene is used as a comparison for honor’s evolution in the film. Maximus feels fighting is necessary in ensuring the greatness of Rome. He kills because he has to. The opening scene is grotesque and intense because the audience sees the affect war has on its soldiers. It opens the question is war worth the lives it costs? Honor appears to be the number of bodies which a soldier kills, but is killing really an act worth praising through the glorification of war? Rob Wilson compares the Roman Empire within Gladiator to Pax- America by stating, “Ridley Scott’s Gladiator is situated and decoded not just as a representation of the Roman Empire but as a blasted allegorization of the Pax Americana itself in its modes of moral innocence, Euro-civililizational ratification, soft hegemony, and hegemonic technologies of sublime spectacle” (Gladiator). Wilson points out the pure hypocrisy of killing for sport and entertainment out of a need for glorified honor which, in a different context, violence plays a role today. The people of Rome find entertainment in the gladiator games and consider it an honor to die for Rome. As Maximus soon realizes, he was killing for Rome all along only to see the city’s current state was not worth fighting for. What is honor then? A final scene of the film

occurs when Maximus kills Commodus in the games. The medium shots pan cyclically surrounding Commodus and Maximus by guards and the fans of the games. From the perspective of a man who has seen death constantly as a soldier, the unnecessary death displayed in the games seems ludicrous. The true honor is seen through Maximus knowing when to kill and when to not. He remains a good man despite his loss of family, home, and title. Commodus dying proves to the audience how crazy the games truly are, by killing the man who re-started them. Maximus’s death shows that all killing comes with a cost. It is not something to be gloried, but mourned. Within Gladiator, honor is redefined in order to make a statement on what it means to kill using photography techniques.

            Ethical dilemmas are constantly debated. Within The Usual Suspects, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Gladiator ethical issues of morality, love, and honor are questioned in order to portray their deeper meaning. Through the use of photography, cinematographers are able to capture scenes with their ethical implications. With the power of photography in film, a cinematographer has the rare opportunity to truly “alter life by holding it still” (Dorothea Lange). 

Works Cited

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. N.p., n.d. Web. 27      Sept. 2014. <http://www.friesian.com/sunshine.htm>.

"Gladiator ." Rob Wilson . N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.                       <http://www2.ucsc.edu/aparc/Rob%20Wilson%20for%20APARC/Gladiator%5B1%5D.pdf_1.pdf>.

"The Usual Suspects: An Analysis." A Lowry. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.     <http://tnlproductions.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/the-usual-suspects-an-analysis/#comments>.

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