Explore how stylistic choices contribute to the representation of the urban experience in the films you have studied for this topic.
In both of the texts stylistic features play a vital part in representing the urban experience of each character. In La Haine, the urban lifestyle is often explored using camera angles and mise en scene. In the escalator scene, the stereotypical middle class ‘le pen’ voter comes down the stairs, showing a visual decline down to the character’s level. The binary opposition between rich and poor is explored as the camera is looking up at him, just as the character’s are looking up at the rich in society. As well as this, they can not go up the escalator, showing the ‘glass ceiling’ effect of urban experience. This visual conflict is also explored using mise en scene. Vinz is pictured looking through a railing which shows how he is imprisoned by society and therefore imprisoned by his urban lifestyle. It is these stylistic choices that represent urban experience as being a place in which the character’s can not escape : they are looking up at the rich and judgmental in society and have no way of ‘rising up’ to the top of society.
Sound is also a key factor in La Haine that subsequently creates an accurate representation of the urban experience. The ticking sound shows the passing of time, and how the character’s are forced into doing nothing by the society they live in. This compares well with ‘City of God’ which also uses a ticking sound, showing the passing of time as a negative aspect of the urban experience.
This compares well with the use of stylistic features in ‘City of God’. Similarly to La Haine, City of God uses a visual binary opposition to show the lack of escape from the ‘favelas’. In the final scene, Rocket is standing between the gangs and the police and the camera pans around to show he has no escape. On one side of him are the police and the other side is the gangs.
Stylistic features are also used in the editing of the film. During the scene in which Lil Ze rapes Knockout Ned’s girlfriend, the visuals fade In and out. On a literal level, this shows the fading in and out of consciousness. Metaphorically this scene shows how the weaker people in society are fading in and out, the powerful members of society ‘raping’ them and keeping them in the same place.
A stylistic technique used in both La Haine and City Of God is that they both look like a documentary. In La Haine they use news footage, and real riot footage, in City Of God they use a lot of handheld camera, at the end of the film we also see real news footage of interviews with the people the characters are based on. By doing this it represents the reality of the situation all the characters are in and real life situations and problems are captured making the film reflect contextual issues.
Another stylistic technique used is the use of colour. In City Of God the beginning of the film is very vibrant and colourful especially in the flashbacks from the 1960’s when everything was much more open and clean. As the film progresses into the early 70’s the colours are not as yellow and sunny and the favelas are much more built up and is very much a concrete jungle. This represents how hope is gradually being lost. By the end of the film when Benny dies there is hardly any colour left and everything is very dull. This shows how all hope is lost. This is supported through many camera shots being upside down showing how bad things have got and their world has literally been turned upside down. La Haine is all in black and white, this represents that the film is about race minorities. The fact that there are three characters and three colours in the French flag yet the film is in black and white represents that Hubert, Vinz and said are not considered to be French. Although the film is set in France, their attitudes are very westernised, and their culture is mixed. This is proven through the language they use such as ‘Jerk’ as well as the music they listen to and the clothes they wear.
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