Badlands Opening Scene

Badlands

Opening scene

04:00 minutes

 The first thing we see int he shot is a large bed, and a large dog in comparison to a young girl. The disproportionate contrast suggests that she’s out of her depth, or naive in some way throughout the story  - or in what she’s saying. The monologue talks of her past, the absence of a mother, and the un-fatherly father she grew up with. this may relate to the sense that her femininity was always overshadowed, and she never fully grew out of childhood because of this. The music in this scene is childish, and sounds like a nursery rhyme which reinforces this point. The low key lighting in the room despite the window being open and the decor representing the ideal ‘American Dream’ suggests that this girls idea of the ‘American dream’ does nit fit in with her ideologies, relating to the premise of the film as a whole, how she doesn’t fit in. I feel that the pan around the room was effective in illustrating the short development of the character. As we gradually saw more of her surroundings, we learned more about her background. The fact that She speaks of her father and her leaving the past behind them and starting afresh, relates to the story also, in the conventions of the ‘Road’ genre; She leaves behind her problems and runs away somewhere else.

 There’s a jump cut from This room to a long, straight dirt road, strewn with ‘garbage’ cans. This illustrates the ‘long road’ ahead of Holly (the road trip), following her monologue. the cinematic shots show the quiet and empty suburbs they live in. The fact that theres nobody around portrays Kit as a lonely Character from the start, showing conventions of rootlessness already. The first time we see Kit he’s next to a dead dog, this contrast between Holly and her live dog and kit and the dead one not only illustrates the polar oppositions between them, but also associates them, tying them together before they even meet. We see nobody else in the neighbourhood except Kit and Holly at the beginning, suggesting that they’re in their own world, foreshadowing that they need nobody but each other.

 The fact the Kit goes through the rubbish, making comments like “This lady never pays her bills” Suggests that he regularly looks through peoples things, and that he makes judgements on people, this theme is continued throughout the film with Hollys belongings, and various people they meet on their trip. This tell us a lot about his character, that he’s intrusive and rebellious, and perhaps not fully sane. Kit is seen in an establishing shot walking along this long road from the beginning, kicking rubbish around and smoking. The first shot of his face is a mid shot/close up of him with a cigarette in his mouth. This is the first time we actually see his face properly and his expression is that of bewilderment as it’s the first time he see’s holly. She is in white and blue clothes with red hair. this is a connotation of the American theme, and associated with Kits character as white trash, which is another link between the two.

531 words

Willow Collins