Adapted for the big screen, Stephen King’s serial novel The Green Mile (1999) tells the story of John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a man with a God-given gift, and Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), the prison guard who forms an unlikely friendship with him. Told through Paul’s aging eyes, he recounts his days with Coffey. To tell this story the filmmakers creatively use cinematography to manipulate a scene from the film Top Hat (1935) as a means of presenting the heavenly characteristics that are associated with John. Through this, our cultural expectations of death row inmates are also thrown into question.
From the very start of the film the audience registers the diegetic elements that make up the story’s world. From the withering wallpaper to the rusting chairs we can infer that the retirement home is older. This idea is reinforced by the tiny television which runs the film the patrons are smiling at as they sway to the pleasant music that underscores the television. They are enjoying their time.
From the very start of the film the audience registers the diegetic elements that make up the story’s world. From the withering wallpaper to the rusting chairs we can infer that the retirement home is older. This idea is reinforced by the tiny television which runs the film the patrons are smiling at as they sway to the pleasant music that underscores the television. They are enjoying their time.
The homeliness that accompanies the diegesis is immediately juxtaposed when the director of photography David Tattersall’s use of camera tricks begin to tell the story. One of the first shots that introduce Paul is a slow dolly in as he sits in the middle of a throng of elderly patients. From the wide frame we sense the distance and isolation he feels. There’s physical and emotional distance between him and the residents. This is further implied as the camera pans forward, his face becoming clearer as it nears, his pained expression juxtaposed with the cheery faces of those around him.
Seeing his expression compared to the others during the push in leads the audience to wonder why Paul looks distressed. With a quick point of view cut, the audience finally sees what Paul’s reacting to. It’s the film Top Hat starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The scene is the dance sequence Cheek to Cheek (I’m in Heaven). With the camera still focused on the TV screen it dollies in, constricting the TV to the frame just as it had done to Paul moments before. The only difference is that with the point of view shot the push in derives a different connotation than isolation. It’s used to get into Paul’s head. The audience is seeing what he’s seeing and feeling what he’s feeling. We are allowed into Paul’s world during the 10 second duration as the scene brings him back to a time that he has struggled to cope with.
Tattersall quickly sets up a pattern where the camera cuts back to Paul, the push in moving quicker than at the opening of the scene to signify the intensity of the emotion Paul is feeling as he watches the film. It’s obvious the film strikes some kind of chord with him. The camera then cuts back to the TV where the last shot leaves off. It is closer and still pushing in on Astaire and Rogers until they are the only images in the frame. After that the brief pattern is broken and instead of cutting back to Paul the camera cuts to Paul’s elderly friend, Elaine. She asks him what’s wrong as the unfocused Paul in the frame finally breaks down in remembrance.
Seeing his expression compared to the others during the push in leads the audience to wonder why Paul looks distressed. With a quick point of view cut, the audience finally sees what Paul’s reacting to. It’s the film Top Hat starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The scene is the dance sequence Cheek to Cheek (I’m in Heaven). With the camera still focused on the TV screen it dollies in, constricting the TV to the frame just as it had done to Paul moments before. The only difference is that with the point of view shot the push in derives a different connotation than isolation. It’s used to get into Paul’s head. The audience is seeing what he’s seeing and feeling what he’s feeling. We are allowed into Paul’s world during the 10 second duration as the scene brings him back to a time that he has struggled to cope with.
Tattersall quickly sets up a pattern where the camera cuts back to Paul, the push in moving quicker than at the opening of the scene to signify the intensity of the emotion Paul is feeling as he watches the film. It’s obvious the film strikes some kind of chord with him. The camera then cuts back to the TV where the last shot leaves off. It is closer and still pushing in on Astaire and Rogers until they are the only images in the frame. After that the brief pattern is broken and instead of cutting back to Paul the camera cuts to Paul’s elderly friend, Elaine. She asks him what’s wrong as the unfocused Paul in the frame finally breaks down in remembrance.
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Another fine example of Tattersall’s cinematography revolves around the same Top Hat scene that causes Paul to break down. The day before John’s execution Paul asks what he and the other guards could do make his last days somewhat peaceful. John asks to see a flicker show. There is a cut to the empty theatre where the guards take Coffey. The movie they see? Top Hat. With the camera facing John it slowly pans away and focuses on Paul who is sitting behind him. That slow pan establishes the audience understanding that the reason Paul cries in the beginning of the film is because the first time he sees the Cheek to Cheek (I’m in Heaven) scene he is with John. He remembers that day and it prompts him to tell their story. As the movie plays there is a cut to John, the expression on his face is of child-like wonderment. The camera slowly pushes in on him from a low angle which, along with the established wide-eyed expression on John’s face, gives the illusion of innocence. It gives the idea of a child who is gazing up at something they have seen for the first time which is exactly what John is doing as he sits in the movie theatre.
At this moment the audience is also given a glimpse at the heavenly characteristics that have resonated around John since the beginning of the film. If the fact the Top Hat scene is titled, in parentheses, I’m in Heaven, then Tattersall’s use of lighting helps to reinforce that idea of John. Shafts of light coming from the movie projector silhouette John’s head from behind, illuminating the darkness and creating a halo effect. As the lights continue to create a halo the camera dollies in until John is the only focus of the frame. From this instance John’s dialogue about angels also reinforces the heavenly ideal as he is shrouded in light, the camera looking up at him from a low angle.
Throughout the film the audience is forced to question the stereotype that all prisoners are bad. John gives us no reason to believe this is completely true as presented through all the heavenly connotations the filmmakers establish as well as Paul’s reaction when he remembers John. He is essentially the proxy for those people who still carry some, if not much, good within them. However, they are forced down by the society that created them as they are pigeonholed into one category: criminal. John Coffey is unfortunately one of those kinds of people.
All of these subtle cinematographic nuances provide a reason to question our cultural stereotype of inmates as well as Paul’s breakdown as he remembers John as a miracle of God’s.
Refernces:
Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan . Trans. Array Looking At Movies Fourth Edition. . Fourth Edition W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. Print.
Darabont, Frank, dir. The Green Mile. Prod. Valddes David. Warner Brothers, 1999. Film. 16 Jan 2015.
"Heaven, I'm in heaven (The Green Mile 1999)" YouTube. Google, Jul 6, 2013 . Web. 16 Jan. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0iYCUmsOsk
"Green Mile-I'm Tired/I'm in Heaven Scenes" Youtube. Google, Aug. 13, 2011. Web. 16 Jan. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSo5dDoXYAM
Another fine example of Tattersall’s cinematography revolves around the same Top Hat scene that causes Paul to break down. The day before John’s execution Paul asks what he and the other guards could do make his last days somewhat peaceful. John asks to see a flicker show. There is a cut to the empty theatre where the guards take Coffey. The movie they see? Top Hat. With the camera facing John it slowly pans away and focuses on Paul who is sitting behind him. That slow pan establishes the audience understanding that the reason Paul cries in the beginning of the film is because the first time he sees the Cheek to Cheek (I’m in Heaven) scene he is with John. He remembers that day and it prompts him to tell their story. As the movie plays there is a cut to John, the expression on his face is of child-like wonderment. The camera slowly pushes in on him from a low angle which, along with the established wide-eyed expression on John’s face, gives the illusion of innocence. It gives the idea of a child who is gazing up at something they have seen for the first time which is exactly what John is doing as he sits in the movie theatre.
At this moment the audience is also given a glimpse at the heavenly characteristics that have resonated around John since the beginning of the film. If the fact the Top Hat scene is titled, in parentheses, I’m in Heaven, then Tattersall’s use of lighting helps to reinforce that idea of John. Shafts of light coming from the movie projector silhouette John’s head from behind, illuminating the darkness and creating a halo effect. As the lights continue to create a halo the camera dollies in until John is the only focus of the frame. From this instance John’s dialogue about angels also reinforces the heavenly ideal as he is shrouded in light, the camera looking up at him from a low angle.
Throughout the film the audience is forced to question the stereotype that all prisoners are bad. John gives us no reason to believe this is completely true as presented through all the heavenly connotations the filmmakers establish as well as Paul’s reaction when he remembers John. He is essentially the proxy for those people who still carry some, if not much, good within them. However, they are forced down by the society that created them as they are pigeonholed into one category: criminal. John Coffey is unfortunately one of those kinds of people.
All of these subtle cinematographic nuances provide a reason to question our cultural stereotype of inmates as well as Paul’s breakdown as he remembers John as a miracle of God’s.
Refernces:
Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan . Trans. Array Looking At Movies Fourth Edition. . Fourth Edition W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. Print.
Darabont, Frank, dir. The Green Mile. Prod. Valddes David. Warner Brothers, 1999. Film. 16 Jan 2015.
"Heaven, I'm in heaven (The Green Mile 1999)" YouTube. Google, Jul 6, 2013 . Web. 16 Jan. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0iYCUmsOsk
"Green Mile-I'm Tired/I'm in Heaven Scenes" Youtube. Google, Aug. 13, 2011. Web. 16 Jan. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSo5dDoXYAM