A Dissection of Mise-en-scene for John Carpenter's, "The Thing"

 

I decided to comment on the mise-en-scene of the John Carpenter movie, “The Thing”. I decided on this film because I wanted to how crucial setting, costumes, lighting, and blocking are in building an overall mood and evaluating the scope of the narrative. I also decided on this film because it is my personal favorite horror movie, and since this post will be made so close to Halloween it’s a great companion to the spooky mood were already in.

 

One of the biggest factors that contributes to this film’s overall sense dream and doom is its setting. The entire story takes place in an isolated science base in Antarctica. The base is cut off from any trace of humanity due to the encroachment of winter and the frigid temperatures that await the crew, couple that will radio malfunctions and you have a team completely cut off from the rest of humanity. The frigid and unforgiving environment outside of the base also gives the feeling that that the crew is almost on another planet, which further increasing the science fiction element of the film.

 

In a plethora of scenes, you will notice Carpenter’s deliberate choice of blocking and character placement. The scene where that’s the most prevalent would be during the group blood test at the end of the second act of the film. In this scene Carpenter pits Macready on one side of the screen while the crew groups together on the other. This use of blocking is made to show the groups growing uneasiness towards Macready and how no one trusts his actions. Bocking is also made to show Macready’s control of the situation, with the authority granted from the Flamethrower the rest of the crew is powerless against Macready’s actions due to fear of the deadly weapon.

 

Costumes are another critical aspect of the film. Whether it be Clark’s flannel button down, Macready’s leather Jacket, or Naul’s headband; Carpenter uses costumes in order to make the characters more distinct and recognizable. With such a major aspect of the film being based around paranoia and knowing who you can trust, Carpenter realized that the characters must each wear unique clothing so that they don’t blur into each other. By having recognizable character’s, the audience can begin to build a connection with the crew and become more invested in the drama.

 

One last thing that builds the overall mood of the film would be lighting. Throughout the beginning and first act of the picture the film has fairly standard three-point lighting, but as the film progresses and uneasiness slips into the characters mind’s the lighting switches to a more Low-Key style. The harsh contrast between the light and dark signifies the conflicting perspectives of the crew and adds to sense of dread that the subjects are feeling in the narrative. One scene where this is the most prevalent would be the aforementioned blood test scene. In this scene all of the human characters are drenched in a somewhat minimal amount of low-key lighting, while the soon to be revealed imposter (Palmer) is drenched in much heavier amount of low-key lighting before he’s revealed to be a Thing. This use of lighting is meant to foreshadow Palmer’s betrayal of the group and signal that he’s the most suspicious when compared to the rest of the crew.