Elements Of Mise-En-Scene In They Live, Directed By John Carpenter

They Live, a film directed by John Carpenter, presents numerous elements of mise-en-scene throughout the entire film. Carpenter successfully utilized the various elements to properly convey specific functions of mise-en-scene. Particularly, setting, color, costume, hair, and makeup were used to reveal character, shape the audience’s feelings, and lastly, to reveal the subject of the film. Mise-en-scene exposed characters and molded the audience’s feelings by applying the elements: setting, color, costume, hair, and makeup throughout the film. When we were first introduced to John Nada we could tell that his character was not wealthy and he appeared to be a drifter. We were automatically able to assume that he was an unwealthy drifter based …show more content…
A prop that also revealed character and shaped the audience’s feelings were the glasses. What was revealed when John put the glasses on? The truth. John got to see things and people for what and who they really were. The glasses not only revealed who was human and who was an alien but they also revealed subliminal messages behind objects like money, magazines, and billboards. For example, the subliminal message behind money was, “this is your God”. That instantly made me think about the quote, “In God We Trust”. In addition to revealing character and shaping the audience’s feelings, some of those same elements were used to reveal the subject of the film. The glasses made it easy to decipher the humans from the aliens and as the movie progresses we see that the aliens are practically everywhere. Aliens are disguised as cops, political representatives, pedestrians walking in the streets, clerks at grocery stores, employees at news stations, they are everywhere. Another element that leads to the showcasing of the film’s subject is color. When the glasses are first put on, the only visible colors are black and white. That allows us to infer that the aliens do not care much about color or details; what really mattered to them was what an object actually signified in their world.