Aspects of mise-en-scene

Aspects of mise-en-scene in the film Superstar, The Karen Carpenters Story

Todd Haynes tells the story using a recreation of the Carpenters story like a novel; short opinions of  a view persons about the Carpenters, real facts: TV-news of the 70’s involving Nixon´s Watergate scandal and war images of Vietnam. The story tries to explain Karen’s mysterious dead by giving information and causes of the anorexia nervosa.

The film Superstar was made very carefully, Todd Haynes watched out the details of costumes, fashion, props, scene lighting… to create an atmosphere that successfully evoked the time period of the 70's. In the film is also shown the evolution of the Carpenters' story from his first album in 1969 to Karen's dead at the beginning of the 80's. The setting is constructed by miniature props and costume adequate for the Barbie dolls. The props, the hairstyles and changed from time to time to evoke correctly the transformation of the fashion style from the 70's to the 80's. At the beginning of the film the costumes consists in a 70's fashion, with short T-shirts, trousers and dresses of that age. Her hair was long flat hair, she used it free or with a half pony tale characteristic of that age. The articles that the Carpenter have in their home like the TV and furniture also change giving coherence to the time periods of the story.

When she is about to die in the beginning of the 80´s there is a scene where she is dressed in 80’s fashion, with a really shiny gold dress (that reminded me Gloria Gaynor) with an afro hair style.

Todd Haynes evokes the time period in which the story took place using appropriate customs, fashion, props, setting, and facts that really happened on that time like the war of Vietnam and Nixon’s scandal

The film Superstar, the Karen Carpenters Story uses many non verbal elements to communicate and emphasize important parts of the story, which are aspects of mise-en-scene.

The choice of using  Barbie dolls to tell a story about a girl that suffers anorexia has clearly an intention of Todd Haynes, to communicate something extra to the audience than only Karen´s story. Barbie doll represent the female stereotype of beauty, all Barbie dolls are thin, with long legs and fine waste. Barbie dolls are also the most popular toy for girls since many decades. Since little girls, we are used to read Barbie dolls as a beauty standard, and in later years many girls want really badly to fulfill that beauty standard, to be accepted in society no matter if they cause damage to their body’s like Karen did. So there are many elements on Karen’s life that influence her to become ill, more than a simple physical disorder or stress symptom.

Other reason to use Barbie dolls instead of real actors is to illustrate the artificial of Hollywood and spectacle environment.

The setting has a constructed color, Todd Haynes uses black and white scenes at first, and color scenes after she starts with the anorexia nervosa.

The acting of the dolls is limited by the dolls capabilities to be moved without be seen a hand or a rope. In the full shots the dolls remained still, they walked only in MFS. The director uses MCU, CU and ECU when arms or head movements are required. For example in the music studio when the Carpenters brothers are going to close the deal Todd Haynes makes a close up to the producers’ hand. He also uses ECU to show the laxative that Karen took and the meals of salad and ice tea that she ate.

Since it is very difficult to express feelings for a Barbie doll’s face that doesn’t move it is used a changing lighting setting to reinforce emotions. For example, at the recording studio When the Carpenters brothers are negotiating, the producer wants to win the brothers confidence, but when they are negotiating the music producer is illuminated with a low key lighting accentuating the shadows in his face, making him look evil or al least not worthy of Karen’s confidence.

The illumination in the Carpenters concert in the film, the one in which she collapses for the first time is very similar to the illumination that Karen receives in one of their real music videos. It Is a MCU, all the stage is dark, and only a part of her face is illuminated (also very convenient for a scene where the actress Barbie doll, can’t move her lips).

All the music that is played in the film is from the Carpenters. He uses a lot of shots taken from inside a car to the outside when the Carpenters brothers came home or went out, setting a melancholic mood by starting one of the Carpenters soft music.

The real Carpenters music video’s are composed by the shots in a studio or concert of them playing the song, and shots that show photographs of them or short cuts of related events to them, making allusion to happy moments and good times.

In the film every time that a song started Todd Haynes cut the scene and put some photographs of the Carpenters brothers or short cuts of some other events in a real music video way. But Todd Haynes composes an ironic music video by putting, during the song, the typical happy moments, but as problems of Karen is getting stronger he  also includes Vietnam war scenes, TV-news about a Nixon’s Watergate scandal, public manifestations about the war, and scenes that are related to Karen in a negative way. For example there are scenes showing her falling into no where, or from a Barbie snapping another Barbie.

Part of the mystery of Karen’s dead was that she came from a family that is supposed to be good and carrying.

Todd Haynes shows the evolution of Karen Carpenter’s disease and exemplifies it with the scene of her falling into the ruin. The short scenes of a Barbie doll snapping the other Barbie come after she is punished by her parents or her brother, which is very often, it shows how she was repressed by her family.

She is trapped in an artificial lifestyle, in a revolutionary age of protest against war, where her profession is used by Nixon to deflect the attention from the Watergate scandal.

Her disease detonate by all the elements that surrounded her new Superstar life including family, formation, profession, and environment that lead her to dead. Todd Haynes reveal through this great directed film that her dead is not so mysterious after all, and that she isn’t the only one to blame of her situation and ending.