Similarities Between Copyshop And L Home Sans Tete

810 Words2 Pages

Social commentary is an efficient means for composers to not only criticise problems with society, but also provide their personal view on these problems. In the short films Copyshop and L’Homme Sans Tete, created respectively by Virgil Wildrich and Juan Solanas, both composers present the audience with two films portraying their point of view on social concerns. In the 2001 short film Copyshop, Wildrich critically analyses the destruction of the individual within a conformist society, presenting the idea of homogenising society as absurd. He does this through mise-en-scene, setting the Employee with multiple clones in a small apartment. However, Wildrich deliberately confuses the audience as to which person was the real Employee to represent …show more content…

He accomplishes this through the and mise-en-scene which is apparent in the scene where Mr. Phelps approaches the head tailor’s store. In contrast to the cleanliness of his apartment, the sepia filter visible when outdoors gives the environment a ‘dirty’ look in accordance to Mr. Phelps’ self-conscious behaviour which is only seen in public. Moreover, Mr. Phelps true personality is outgoing as he waltzes skillfully around his apartment. Therefore, the grimy view of the outdoor landscape represents Mr. Phelps’ oppressive belief that changing his appearance will gain the acceptance of others. Solanas further uses mise-en-scene to illustrate his social concern of misrepresentative appearances by positioning Mr. Phelps so only a reflection of his face can be observed. This positioning causes the audience to view Mr. Phelps as society sees him. However, a fine, almost imperceptible film of grime covering the mirror distorts his image symbolising how the face on the mirror is not really the face of Mr. Phelps. In addition to this, the second head that he tries on is almost identical to the storekeeper’s own head as if the storekeeper is pressuring Mr. Phelps to conform to what he thinks is beautiful. Therefore, Solanas expresses his concern that superficial appearance is increasingly associated with identity through Mr. Phelps’ gradual

Open Document