Killer Of Sheep Essay

Through black independent film, Burnett uses the mise-en-scène of Killer of Sheep to depict black female identity in these particular scenes. Burnett successfully transcends and reflects the character’s image in society through the use of everyday matter. The physical lid of the pot is a reflective item, depicting to Stan’s wife a literal image of herself in it. The doll that Stan’s daughter sings to is not only a reflection of her identity and self esteem, but of blackness in a white world. In contrast, Burnett also uses the mise-en-scène to depict black male identity. Similarly, the sheep reflect not only Stan himself and his thoughts, but a metaphor for the life of children growing up in urban South Central Los Angeles.
In the scene from Killer of Sheep, as Stan’s wife places an oversized lid onto the opening of the pot, she ultimately catches a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the lid. She uses the lid like a mirror to touch up her face. In this shot, the lid is reflecting not only the beauty …show more content…
These beings are utterly helpless and survive without control over their lives. In this scene, as “This Bitter Earth” by Dinah Washington is playing as non-diegetic sound, Stan is the one who seems to be in control as he is violently herding the the sheep to their deaths. However, as the sheep are forced to obey him, he himself is also a sheep. Stan resonates with the numb lives of the sheep through the mundanity of his work at the slaughterhouse, through the relationship with his wife and children and through economic impoverishment. His dreams dash and divide before his eyes as he, like the sheep, is imprisoned within the confines of inner city slums. Similar to the Stan’s children and the children of Watts, the sheep are unaware of their impending fate. With the children their fate is determined by their economic class, and race. They too, are round up and slaughtered by the desolate environments that they were raised