Mise-en-scene in captains scene
The Captain’s Feast establishes the nature of the fascist ruling class in rural Spain and the attitudes and values of Captain Vidal, the villain in the film. The feast is a scene of indulgence, greed and power. Vidal is a fascist brute, he is proud of his reputation and dominates the scene. The guests are hypocrites and prove to be arrogant, patronising and snobbish. Carmen, seems out of place and is represented as fragile, elegant and intimidated by the other guests, we also get the impression that Vidal does not care for her.
Carmen at the feast is acting very timid and meek, like she is threatened by the people at the dinner table. Whilst she is sat next to the captain, she doesn’t speak a lot and when she does her words are very weak and quite. This shows that whilst Carmen is at the feast she could be scared of the people she is surrounded with or is very weak from the pregnancy and that she maybe doesn’t want to be at the table with the captain or the other guests as she feels inferior and threatened.
The captain sits at the head of the table with his uniform on to show off his status to the other guests and that he wants to feel superior to everyone there.The fact he is at the head of table means he is the most important person at the table. He has a gun whilst sat down at the dinner table which makes all the guests aware that he is in charge of the situation.
The two lady guests at the table a wearing formal dress with expensive jewelery to show that they are of high status and have influence. The two woman look down on Carmen as if she is inferior and worse than them and they are superior to her in every way. The pearls around their necks imply they are wealthy and of high class, and could perhaps have power in the nearby town and be of influence to the decisions that are made.
Leave a Reply