Learning Goal:

1. Learning Goal: Understand the film’s depiction of characters as outsiders

2. Who is the outsider in this scene?

3. How is their ‘outsiderness’ conveyed?

4. Mise en scene “placing on stage” – conveys a ‘visual theme’ Blocking Costuming Cinematography – camera position

5. Outsider #1 - Eve Drawn to Karen as a way into the theatre world. Manipulates Karen into sympathy, appearing in a dark corner on a wet and "drizzly night”. The bleakness of her introductory monologue draws them in. It’s one hell of a performance, which they all appreciate: “What a story. Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end” “Imagine every night to know that thousands of people love you. They want you, you belong. Just that alone is worth anything.”

6. Conveyed through: • Costuming – her floppy hat and coat make her look “mousey” amongst the elitist crowd. • Blocking - In the dressing room she is separate from the ‘inner circle’, off to the side. This is more pronounced once Bill enters and stands between Margo and Eve. • Her entrance into doors acts a motif.

7. Who is the outsider here?

8. Outsider #2 - Karen Defined by her difference from the group. “To speak to just a playwright’s wife, I’m the lowest form of celebrity” She's from the elite class which also separates her. When she first enters via cab she has been elsewhere, not watching the show. All she is is Margo's best friend, she has no talent which is a chip on her shoulder and explains her later 'bright idea'. She reveals to the audience, “I felt helpless, that helplessness you feel when you have no talent to offer, outside of loving your husband” Conveyed through - • Costuming – she wears expensive fur coats. • Blocking – she is positioned towards the outside of the main group. • Cab is a motif for these outsiders.

9. Eve and Karen • Eve is drawn to her because Karen is the weak link and can act as a way into the insiders. • She soon becomes more of an ‘insider’ than Karen by working for Margo. • Karen is drawn to Eve because Eve is even more of an outsider. She brings Eve in, first to Margo, then as understudy and eventually into the role. As she does this her own status becomes precarious.

10. Who is the outsider here?

11. Outsider #3 - Addison The critic as outsider. “My native habitat is the theater… I am essential to the theater.” Necessary, but not really welcome amongst the real theatre people. Because he is the first one we hear we start to believe he is objective, helped by his cynicism, though he really longs to be an insider. Conveyed through – • His positioning alongside Miss Casswell, who is clearly not as refined as the other real actors.

12. Addison becoming an insider • Latches onto Miss Casswell because he sees her career “rising in the East like the sun” • Quickly realises he has better prospects with Eve: “In time she'll be what you are” • Because of their shared “insatiable ambition and talent”, Addison believes they “deserve each other”. • Once he uses Eve to become part of the theatre people, he no longer needs her accompaniment, and she is free to go to Hollywood.

13. Who is the unseen outsider here?

14. YOU! The audience The audience is kept at a distance from the characters. It is pretty objective and it is hard to forge an emotional connection to them. They are a breed apart, they live in their own world. They are very annoying which is sort of the point. Addison even comments to Bill that “we're a breed apart from the rest of humanity, we theatre folk.”

15. YOU! The audience Conveyed through - • The narrators who guide outsiders through this different world. • The cinematography that positions the audience at eye level (mid shot) but on the outside of the group. • The number of references to historical theatre, many of which even 1950s audiences wouldn’t have understood.

16. How is Eve’s transformation into theatre insider depicted? Blocking Costuming

17. Writing Task • Choose one of the three characters and write a paragraph explaining how the director depicts them as an outsider. • Must include at least two of the following techniques: costuming, blocking, camera angle, motif • Consider how they try to become ‘insiders’

18. Return to Learning Goal: • Understand the film’s depiction of characters as outsiders /4