What is the importance of mise-en-scene and/or sound in creating meaning and generating response in the films you have studied?

The City of God uses mise en scene within many of its shots to generate meaning and create response. This is used in the scene of The Story of the Apartment. In this we are able to see the effect that drugs has over time through the decay of an apartment. This can be viewed metaphorically, with the apartment symbolizing the home and the slow destruction portraying their loss of any stabilization or safety due to the result of drugs and the want for power.

At the start of the scene, the apartment is owned by a woman, Dona Zelia. The mise en scene used in this portrays an un-threatening environment, through using warm colours combined with tidy mise en scene, to create what appears to be a stable home. The mise-en-scene within the shot combined with the voice over creates a strong juxtaposition to what is happening there and what the environment looks like, creating a sense of impending doom for what is to come through selling drugs.. Towards the end of Dona Zelias held over the apartment, we see Big Boy dragging her out of the apartment whilst she rips of the table cloth. This destruction of the mise en scene sparks the erosion of the apartment. This could also link to social issues within the film, surrounding the treatment of women, as towards the end of the shot, we see Big Boy dragging Dona Zelia out by her hair, generating response within the audience surrounding social and cultural issues.

As Big Boy takes over from Dona Zelia, we see a big change in the mise en scene in the shot. We are able to see drugs and alcohol displayed on the table. The could link to the idolisation of drugs, as Dona Zelia sold drugs to support her daughters after the death of her husband, Big Boy uses it for power, which sparks social and cultural issues surrounding gender representation and the ideology within Brazil. It could also represent the erosion of using drugs, portraying the ever heightening need for more money and power. In the background of the shot, we are able to see the mise en scene of the posters of naked women, which again can be viewed in the sense of power, by the men using this to place themselves above women, through derogatory pictures. The apartment has also become messier through the transaction of Dona Zelia to Big Boy, through the mise en scene of miscellaneous boxes and clothes being carelessly places around. This references gender, through social and cultural issues of the juxtaposition between male and female respect and care for their home. We also see a loss of many of the mise en scene shown through the transaction of Dona Zelia to Big Boy. For example, the curtain, the chest of drawers and also the photo frames on the walls, which are later replaced with pornographic images. This loss of mise en scene is used to represent the destruction of the apartment and its slow transaction from a home into a gang hide out through the result of drugs, creating a response from the audience surrounding the constant underlying issues within this film.

 

 Carrot, Big Boys favourite drug seller, then takes over. We see a slight change in mise en scene on the table, with more alcohol and drugs being displayed. This again links to the ideology of power and also the obsession and destruction caused by drugs. The apartment also shows signs of physical erosion, through the ripped wallpaper. This shows a lack of care for the apartment, and instead of seeing it as a home, (like Dona Zelia) they merely see it as a place for drugs. The apartment also begins to look bare, through the result of slowly loosing mise en scene. This changed the appearance of the apartment, making it appear more like a factory, rather than a home. We then see the transaction between Carrot and Blacky. The mise en scene for this shot proves the effect that drugs have, through the slow erosion and decay of the apartment. We are able to see the wallpaper torn off and various miscellaneous boxes in the background, showing a disregard for their environment.

 

Through-out the flash back of the apartment, the one piece of mise en scene which remained stable was the table and chair in the fore ground of the shot, used for the placement of drugs and alcohol. This is used to represent the similarities of the effects of drugs, therefore portraying that the people change however the story remains the same. I feel that this scene showing the story of the apartment uses mise-en-scene to create meaning and generate response within the audience surrounding the effects of drugs and show the underlying issues caused by drugs within the film, through the erosion of a home.