I was watching the Michelangelo Antonioni documentary “The Eye that Changed Cinema” that comes included with Criterion’s L’eclisse Blu-ray when Antonioni said something that intrigued me:
What’s the difference between the human being who does one job and the human being who does another? Between the person who has money and the one who doesn’t?
I’ve taken Antonioni’s questions a little out of context, but the point remains, what about the differences in how rich and poor are portrayed on screen? Whether it’s just in the color treatment of the film or the vibrancy of the characters’ surroundings? Do you think they are treated equally and fairly?
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When it comes to black-and-white films, the portrayals of a lavish lifestyle were frequently defined solely by a person’s means — the car they drive, the house they live in, the clothes they wear, etc. Certainly in some situations the lights shine brighter, but I think the lack of color puts the two economic classes on something more of an even playing field.
However, add color and the divide becomes even greater. The car is now waxed, polished and shining in the sun, the tires gleam, the granite entry way to a home has a visible glow and the garden out front is a vivid shade of green. Clothes are crisp and perfectly creased, accented by a Rolex wristwatch or diamond earrings. Meanwhile, a person of lesser means is depicted with drab clothing, a dusty and faded old car and a home where the walls are the same color they’ve always been, not to mention the film color has likely been treated to bring all of this down even further.
Is that an honest portrayal of the classes, or is that merely a portrayal of economic means? Does the heightened appearance of a character’s economic status — because it is heightened — effect our opinion of them to a degree that is almost unfair? Do today’s films lack a certain level of honesty as a result?
I don’t think there is any right or wrong answer to these questions, at least not on a broad level as it depends so much on the film we’re talking about. Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby was never going to feature a toned down color treatment, but I do wonder, did some of the richer nuance of Jay Gatsby get lost in the lavish lifestyle that was portrayed?
Also look at a film such as Precious, where the color treatment was almost so harsh it heightened the poverty the characters were living in to such levels many people considered it “poverty porn”.
I understand why filmmakers make these choices and reality is hardly the intended world most films exist in, but I just couldn’t help but think how we may pay closer attention to the characters if class-based films weren’t so interested in heightening and focusing on these characters surroundings… just a thought.
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