emotion | Introduction to Literature ENG 131

Tag Archives: emotion

by janellewhit | September 5, 2013 · 5:33 pm

Let’s talk about Mise en scene

I know the film is quite different from the reading, but I want to talk about the actual film itself and how it does something a book can’t.

I took a class called Wring on Film last year in high school. Since then I have always thought it was interesting to look at the small details and Mise en scene. The short story “Sonny’s Blues” was filled with many great examples of Mise en scene. When the film begins Sonny is playing the piano. He makes it sounds awful and it is almost painful to listen to. I think that Gregory Scott Jr. had the film open like this because it sets the mood. No characters need to say anything in order for viewers to know that there is something wrong with Sonny. Toward the end of the film the music lightens up and so does the lighting. The piano music in the background is much softer and easy to listen to. The lighting is much brighter. This is showing that by Sonny going through the “dark” phase in his life he is able to pull through being addicted to Heroine and going to jail.

“Music is the shorthand of emotion.” ~Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

When first watching the film “Sonny’s Blues” in class I found myself frustrated with quite a few of Gregory Scott Williams, Jr.’s interpretations of certain scenes from the book. I focused too much on the specific details in the film compared to the book. However, the second time I watched the film I tried my best to focus on the similarities between the two. What I found, when my mind was clear and not filled with prejudices of their differences, was that the emotion was still there. The feeling of disconnect between the brothers was strong and well portrayed, especially in the scene when Sonny calls his brother from the pay phone. When his brother hangs up on Sonny and leaves the phone off the hook, you can feel the strife between the two. At the end of the story, in the book and film, when Sonny played for his brother I could feel the overwhelming emotion of Sonny’s struggles. Hearing the music in the film made that emotion so much more real. “…There was no battle in his face now, I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go thorough until he came to rest in earth.” (Baldwin 117). His challenges in the beginning of playing resemble those he recently overcame while in rehab, struggling to get through. As he continued to play he became more proficient, as he will with his strength to stay clean as life goes on. No matter the differences between the book and film, Williams did a marvelous job of keeping the emotions true to the book in his film.

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter Eleventh Edition. New York, New York. W.W. Norton & Company (2013): 96-118. Print.