Carnival, Fantasy, Ritual: The Thematic Mise-en-scène in Contemporary Cinema

Abstract

字面上意味著「放置在場景中」的mise-en-scène最初是一個戲劇術語，指的是舞台上的擺放，現在已經演變為指電影鏡頭或一系列密切相關鏡頭中可見元素的組織。這種安排不僅可以傳達關於電影世界的信息，還可以表達主題、氛圍以及心理狀態甚至對現實的哲學態度。本研究將最具體類型的mise-en-scène之後稱為「主題性的」，以描述它們與所研究的電影中極端體驗的特定關係：狂歡、幻想和儀式。本研究將對六部電影進行三個比較和對比用mise-en-scène的分析，這六部電影根據上述三個類別進行了組織：對於狂歡，有Joseph H. Lewis的《Gun Crazy》（1950年）和Edmund Goulding的1947年版《Nightmare Alley》以及Guillermo del Toro的2021年版；對於幻想，有James Bidgood的《Pink Narcissus》（1971年）和Yasuzo Masumura的《Blind Beast》（1969年）；對於儀式，有Ari Aster的《Hereditary》（2018年）和同一導演的《Midsommar》（2019年）。在對mise-en-scène的概念進行介紹時，將包括早期電影的例子，這些電影推動了mise-en-scène的能力，本研究將重點關注在這些電影中的視覺和意義的特定集中，反映了它們所處時代的世界觀。Literally meaning “placing in the scene”, mise-en-scène was originally a theatrical term referring to placement on stage which has come to mean the organization of visible elements within a shot or a series of closely related shots in a film. The arrangement can convey not only information about the world of the film but also the theme, the atmosphere as well as psychological states or even philosophical attitudes to reality. The present thesis examines very specific types of mise-en-scène, which I will call “thematic”, to describe their particular relations to extreme experiences central to the films under scrutiny: carnival; fantasy; and ritual.This thesis will engage in three comparative and contrastive analyses of the mise-en-scène in six filmsorganized under the three categories listed above: for carnival, Joseph H. Lewis’ Gun Crazy (1950) and Nightmare Alley - Edmund Goulding’s 1947 version and Guillermo del Toro’s 2021 version; for fantasy: James Bidgood’s Pink Narcissus (1971) and Yasuzo Masumura’s Blind Beast (1969); and for ritual: Ari Aster’s Hereditary (2018) and the same director’s Midsommar (2019). After an introduction of the concept that will include examples from early cinema that advanced the capacity of mise-en-scène, the thesis will focus on the specific concentration of vision and meaning in the films that reflect the respective worldviews of the era of their production