Directed by Michael Patrick Jann, Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) is a film about a small town high school holding their annual beauty pageant. A small documentary crew was sent to Mount Rose, Minnesota to film the events leading up to the actual pageant. Gladys Leeman (Kirstie Ally) is the coordinator of the pageant and this year her daughter will be competing in it, Rebecca Ann Leeman (Denise Richards). Gladys is convinced that her daughter will be crowned Mount Rose American Teen Princess. Another girl competing in the pageant is Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst), who lives in a trailer park and has a part time job doing the makeup of the deceased at a funeral home. She wants to win the pageant because she wants to go to college and move out of Mount Rose in order to fulfill her dream of becoming a big-time news reporter. As it gets closer to the actual pageant two of the girls involved have died or been critically injured. Tammy Curry, the popular jock, was riding her tractor when it exploded (which killed her). This explosion was not an accident though. Another contestant, Jenelle Betz, was practicing her talent when an overhead light fell from the ceiling and caused her to become deaf (and remove herself from the pageant). Someone was trying to kill off the contestants of the beauty pageant on purpose.
At two minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the opening scene of the movie, the contestants are waiting to sign up for the pageant. They had just watched a movie about the American Teen Princess Pageant, which is where the finalist from Minnesota goes. Also, Gladys Leeman just gave a quick overview of the pageant to the contestants. The camera then cuts to the actual contestants who are sitting scattered on the school bleachers.
In this shot there is a lot to say, mis en scene wise. To start off, the color choices of the bleachers, floor, and walls used (different shades of brown) make the school seem plain and simple. These colors were chosen so the audience feels as though this is an ordinary high school in an ordinary town. There isn’t anything special about it. Also there are school banners, with school colors and mascots on them. This gives the feel of a more authentic high school because most high schools have mascots and colors. In this case, Mount Rose High school has dark red, gold, and white colors with their mascot being the Muskies.
In Drop Dead Gorgeous, the costumes and make-up were chosen specifically to represent each character. The girl sitting by the pom poms is obviously the popular cheerleader with a lot of energy. The girl wearing the letterman jacket is the sporty girl (who is only entering the pageant just for the scholarship prize). And, the girl sitting in the front row with her legs crossed, Rebecca Ann Leeman, is supposed to be the polite, well-mannered rich girl. Also, the fact that almost all the characters are resting their head on their hand or have a notebook out show that these girls are bored. They do not really care about the “history” of the pageant.
The staging (where and how the characters are placed) in this shot shows the personalities of each individual character. They could have all been sitting close together, but it would not have been realistic. None of these girls are close friends with one another. They are spaced out to create the feeling of loneliness. It also makes the whole scene more awkward for the viewers because none of the characters are interacting with each other. Also, the spacing can create tension between characters by the characters trying to isolate themselves from each other because they are competing against one another.
The overall production design of the movie is a normal public high school in a small town. In this high school there are the stereotypical high school students. The staging, costuming, and colors used show that these characters are just going through another regular day of their life. Michael Patrick Jann could have chosen this shot to have vivid colors and high angle shots, but then it wouldn’t be as simple of a scene as it is supposed to be.
My question: If this movie is all about trying to be as realistic as possible (it is a fake documentary), why is there so much symmetrical balance in this particular shot? Is it trying to create the feeling of something being “off” in this shot?
Mr. Cowlin here again. I think Julie is really getting at something with her first question here.
I think the movie, and the shot, are getting at how wrong highschool is sometimes. The eery feeling that you get when you look at the shot, questioning the juxtaposition posed by the symmetry of the shot and the lack of coherence within the student body. I think it addresses the irony within the "family" culture of a high school, yet the obvious seperation between everyone in highschools and the unwillingness of most people to make friends and be friendly in general. It's ironic; the symmetry. The symmetry is almost perfect yet the documentary (I think.. I did not see it.) is addressing the lack of perfection in highschool. The discomfort, annoyance, lack of energy and unfriendliness of all of the people sitting in the shot creates an awkward parallel to the "rightness" of the shot and how perfect it really is, demonstrating that the "perfect", "ideal", "obligatory" high school is not so perfect after all.
ReplyDeleteJulie makes a really good point when she mentions how because everyone is so seperately seated and spaced out, it shows they none of them are close and it does create a feeling of distance and awkwardness.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this shot does portray extreme normalcy and absolute boredom, there may be some mischief among some of the students it seems.
It does seem that because everything is so symmetrical, that it tries to create the feeling of something being "off". As if this shot is so normal, that it's not.
Especially the fact that all highschool students would seem to be cliquey and stereotypical, this shot really gives off that certain feeling of dislike and contemptment.