Comparison Of Double Indemnity And The Night Of The Living Dead

The films Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder, and The Night of the Living Dead, directed by George Romero, both feature female characters in subordinate roles to their male counterparts. Double Indemnity features Walter Neff underestimating his lover Phyllis’s power and continually patronizing her, calling her “baby” almost exclusively. The Night of the Living Dead features Helen, who is constantly put down by her husband who never values her opinion. Both films use elements of mise-en-scene to reveal the abhorrent way that these women are treated by the men they value. The use of contrast lighting, framing, and costume reveal the women’s suffering at the hands of the men they trust and the dangers this has for them. Double Indemnity …show more content…
In her entrance, she is in the middle of the frame, prioritized and emphasized by the lighting and the framing. This reveals the way men in her life fall for her before they turn around and begin to loathe her much like the way Walter does with her: loves her and then disposes of her as soon as he realizes he must. After Phyllis’s introduction, she comes down in a dress and settles in the living room with Walter, sitting in an armchair pressed up against the side, as though inviting him to come and sit next to her. She is squished into the right hand side of the frame, sitting uncomfortably pressed into the side of the armchair as though she’s trying to make room for Walter in case he comes to sit next to her, or as though she has to make room for a man as proper etiquette. This reveals that she is willing to do whatever it takes to fit another man into her life no matter how uncomfortable her life becomes because of it and that she has been taught to prioritize the needs of men over her …show more content…
Helen is dressed in stripes throughout the film, a striped dress with a trench coat overtop that she often uses as a blanket for Karen, and her hair is perfectly coiffed but slowly becomes more disheveled as the film goes on. The stripes of her dress symbolize bars and the way she is hidden behind the bars of her husband’s view of her. She is an important person willing to sacrifice for her child whereas her husband sees her as irrational and does not give any merit to her ideas. The stripes could also symbolize the opposing views she and Harry have of Helen; Helen thinks highly of herself and tries to be assertive at every point possible whereas Harry holds her in a lower regard, seeing her as nothing more than an obstacle he must manoeuver