Analysis Of The Techniques Of Narration And Mise-En-Scène In Alias Grace
In this clip from Alias Grace (Sarah Gadon), the techniques of the narration and mise-en-scène support the idea that the protagonist suffers from mental anguish and internal conflict. Tension is maintained throughout with the contrast between her factual narration and her violent flashbacks that reveal a deeper mystery.
A poem opens the episode. This poem by Emily Dickinson, after further analysis, examines the themes of mental anguish, fear, anxiety and internal conflict. The real ghosts are our own minds and that real terror is to be found within ourselves. This can be directly linked to how Grace’s mind brings her back to her terror, the flashbacks. The poem sets the mood and the spectator can already tell that it will be a drama/thriller series. In addition, the poem relates to the protagonist, Grace because she doesn’t know herself just like the poem says that we you never really know oneself.
The first-person narrator who imparts information in the form of voice-over narration, in this case, is Grace. This helps the viewer understand the main character better and feel like he is a part of the quest of finding out who Grace is. In this voice-over narration, Grace is lost, “[…] and I wonder, how can I be all these different things at once?”. The contrast between her words also builds up the tension, she is “an inhuman female demon” or that she is “an innocent victim”.
Through restricted narration, the viewers experience the mental anguish of Grace because she is stuck in her own view of how things panned out and she doesn’t know herself, just what people say of her. This technique is employed to create a sense of mystery for the viewers, we don’t know if she is innocent or a murderer because she never talks about what really happened or how she feels. We only know what Grace wants to tell us.
We can see through flashbacks that Grace is troubled. These flashbacks keep the spectator in a continual state of tension. Mental subjectivity, which is shown in the form of flashbacks, helps the viewers know more in-depth the character. In this case, the flashbacks are meant to create mystery and intrigue the spectator. They also show the trauma Grace went through. The gruesome flashbacks are in contrast with reality which is peaceful
The specific setting portrays her internal conflict. In most of the scenes, she is alone or in the dark. The setting in her flashbacks help the viewer understand her trauma and also create mystery, for instance in the flashbacks. The screen space is balanced in half and half in most of the shots. This bilateral symmetry and the light in the scenes transmit the two sides of her personality Grace is battling with. The viewer understands there are two sides to the story.
We see Grace’s internal conflict, for instance, through the considerable amount of close-ups and tightly framed shots. The limited amount of space in the frame supports the idea that she is trapped in her own mind just like she is trapped in a small space. The low-key lighting which is meant to create stronger contrasts and sharper, darker shadows creates a contrast. One side of the shot can be dark, and Grace will have side light on her face and the other side has a backlight but her face is obscured. This conveys her battle with herself, but it also intensifies the mystery. Hard light accentuates the contrasts in her face which in turn reflect her contradictory feelings about herself.
The angle of the shots also conveys her internal anguish. The high angled shot and frontal shots show her questioning. These shots are meant to show her face clearly and to show her emotions. The mirror is a motif. A motif is meant to reveal an important aspect of the story to the viewer without being obvious. The mirror portrays her questioning herself and the dueling of her personality. Facial expressions and body language suggest that she is mental conflict. She always has the same facial expression throughout the whole clip. She is tight-lipped and stoic, this intrigues the spectator. She never talks, she is always observing. As if she doesn’t understand what is happening to her.
The limited color palette is cold, the scenes mostly contain white, grey and black colors. Dark colors show her loneliness, sadness, and confusion. The color’s set the mood of the story for the viewers from the beginning. She is struggling between the light and dark side of her. The colors are also used to create a contrast between past and present. Her flashbacks are in color whereas the present scenes are dark colored. This shows the trouble she has of relating to the present because of the cold tones but also how horrible her past was because of the vivid colors. Grace’s internal conflict can be seen in the props used such as the doctor’s tools. The head measurement tool and the bag of knives create enigma because in the scene, the viewer can tell Grace has seen these instruments before and she panics. In conclusion, Grace’s internal struggle and mental suffering are shown through the techniques of the narration and mise-en-scène such as lighting, narration and colors. These techniques are employed to build up tension and keep mystery throughout the clip. In this clip from Alias Grace the techniques of narration and mise-en-scène suggest the idea that Grace (Sarah Gadon) is unsure of her own character due to a conflict happening in her mind; she is struggling to understand what she has done and who she really is. Her internal doubts regarding the duality of her personality mirror the torn popular opinion that others have of her. Is she a murderess or an innocent girl?
The complexity of human psychology is showcased by Grace’s story, thus showing how mental health was treated in the 19th century. From the scenes opening, the viewer is introduced to the narrative by a voiceover that continues throughout almost the entire clip, immersing the audience into Grace’s mind. The voiceover describes what she heard about herself, these opinions are alternating from positive to negative: from an ‘inhuman female demon’ to an ‘innocent victim’. The voiceover works in conjunction with Grace’s facial expressions, they variate from guiltless to dangerous. This highlights her struggle to understand who she really is and addresses the doubling of her personality.
An element of narration that sustains this is the perceptual subjectivity used, since it traps the viewers in Grace’s mind, making them as clueless as she is as to what the truth really is. Various techniques from the mise-en-scène are used to demonstrate the split in her personality. First of all, the mirrors are a very important prop since they are the place where she analyses herself, questioning her doubts without finding answers. In addition to this, they represent the duality of her character, considering that they mirror her image. Besides this, many close ups and tight framing support the idea that both Grace and the viewer are immersed into the protagonist’s mind. The usage of hard lighting is also worth mentioning, considered that it highlights the contrasts in her features. These contrasts in her face reflect her contradictory opinions about herself. From a modern-psychology point of view, this duality of her persona could be described as a bipolar phenomenon. The theme of mental health emerges in this clip since the very beginning, via non diegetic text reporting Emily Dickinson’s poem One need not to be a chamber to be hunted (1924). The meaning of this text is to show the complexity of the brain and how the actual threat lies inside the human mind. A real and specific time and place help to understand how mental health was treated at that time; this is supported by the prop of the head measuring tool, that frightens Grace. This represents how mental illnesses were considered to be a physical defect instead of a mental one. Another non diegetic element, the opening credits, is used to analyze the duality of her persona: the illustrations that were placed in the introduction alternate images that belong to a sacred sphere, such as priests, to drawings of murderers. With regards to the mise-en-scène, side lighting is used to present this split in her personality.
Lighting is also used in an almost bilaterally symmetrical frame, when the doctor takes the stairs to reach Grace’s cell. The scene would be perfectly symmetrical if it wasn’t for the different lighting: one side is completely in the dark and one is extremely well illuminated. This portrays both the dark side of Grace’s personality and the innocent one. In the same way that Grace is unsure about who she really is, public opinion is torn regarding whether or not she is innocent. This is shown through another prop, the news articles that the upper class ladies are reading, since they represent what people think of her. The viewer can see that the upper class ladies are judging her from a superior point of view both by the costumes, considered that the different clothing shows that they belong to a upper social class, and by the expressions performed, as they glare at her as if she was an object of fascination.
All the aforementioned techniques support the idea that Grace has a contrast in her personality and she is trying to find a solution. The search for an answer, later highlighted by the character of the professor, could be considered Grace’s own inquiry into her mental health. In a historical context, the clip can convey the evolution of psychology during those years: from frightening torture instruments and physical brain surgery to psychoanalysis.
