Comparative Textural Analysis – The Most Beautiful Man in the

WorldTitle: The Most Beautiful Man in the World

Writer/Director: Alicia Duffy

Released: 4 October 2002

Genre: Short – Social Realist

Length: 05:50

Alicia Duffy’s Short won several awards including the Hamburg International, short film award, as well as the TCM Prize at London Film Festival. This could be argued because of the variety of issues and themes explored, and the several interpretations of the narrative’s meaning.

Themes and IssuesThere are many themes and issues that are explored within the short, through the use of narrative, as well as most importantly; micro elements and technical/character codes. These elements are used to create representations of events, places, groups, types and individuals in the film. But as well as this, they also convey messages and meaning with social and cultural significance to the viewer.

The highlighted themes of this short are:-Neglect -Isolation-Poverty -Danger -Freedom -Captivity-Hope -Boredom-Journeys -Stimulation-Cycles -Vulnerability

The issues addressed in the film are:-Paedophilia/sexualisation of children-The need of stimulation -Child Neglect -Vulnerability of children-Segregation-Sensory Deprivation

Textural AnalysisNearing the end of the company and production credits, before we see any picture, we are given the low-quality, sounds of the child’s TV show in the background. This immediately creates characterisation (i.e. most likely a child watching the show), but also suggests to the audience that the character being revealed is of a low-income family, therefore setting the tone, and conveying the underlying theme of poverty.

The scene then begins with a fade from black, to a slowly panning/tilting shot up a young girl’s body, whilst she is watching television. The camera movement is slowly revealing her body which can be interpreted as camera sexualisation, however her face is not immediately revealed so that the audience become curious. But because of her age, this sexualisation immediately discomforts the audience and the accompaniment of the slow camera movement build tension for the character reveal. This can also place the film in a much wider media course of discussion.

In this shot, the director has placed the girl in front of a TV, with her yawning over the top of its sounds. This was a way to communicate to the audience that this is obviously a regular or common activity for the girl, and that the lack of stimulation that it is causing, is beginning to affect her in a negative manner. The dirty, sweaty make-up that has been applied to the girl, along with the low-key lighting and dull colour pallet, helps portray this further, by which this lifestyle is causing her to care less about appearance or hygiene, possibly because of the parental neglect shown later in the film.

When someone is very young (like the protagonist), the brain is in its prime stage to develop, however it needs stimulation to help with its development process. The immediate issue addressed by this shot, is that children in the modern age are not getting enough metal stimulation to help their brains develop to enjoy and experience parts of life, possibly ruining what is considered the most important part of their life.

We are given real time in this and other scenes to communicate the tedium of her situation – her boredom – a stasis.

The next shot is of the girl lying on the floor asleep (possibly the next morning), with a dog stood over her (its head out of frame), implying a guardian status to her, as her actual mother is neglectful to her wants and needs. As well as neglect, this shot supports the theme of poverty and lower classes due to her sleeping on the floor with no blankets or pillows to comfort her.

After this, we are given another slowly panning and tilting shot of the protagonist, staying silent and with a slight emotion of distress/sadness. With this, is off-camera dialogue of two females (assumingly one being the mother) where they are talking but completely segregating the girl from the conversation, therefore relating the scene back to neglect.

The scene then fades to black and shows the title ‘the most beautiful man in the world’. However, there has not been a single man shown, mentioned or even suggested in the short yet. This can show to the audience that the girl most likely has no father or male-figure living with her, and therefore any man could be ‘the most beautiful man in the world’ to her.

The following scene has the girl lying on the floor again, with only a woman’s legs in the background of the frame. When the phone rings and the woman then goes to answer it;

yet even though there is a shot change to something much wider and higher-angled, the woman’s face is still not shown, concealing her identity, and then she almost immediately leaves the frame again. This is to show further how distant the mother is to the young girl as a parental figure and can show adults from a child’s perspective (i.e. large, frightening, powerful, controlling etc.) The mise-en-scene of the room is used to help convey the class and status of the characters and to construct the underlying theme of poverty. This is established through the old-looking items and furniture (suggesting that they can’t afford any new ones), the room’s cluttered mess and finally the dull-lifeless colour pallet i.e. grey walls, faded-brown chair, dark blue/grey carpet etc.

In the same shot, the girl then gets up and walks towards the window (with light shining through), to then stand in between them and the curtains. The significance of this, is that she has a want and a need to leave her current situation for something better, which is shown by the strong light coming from outside, and the child walking from the centre of the frame to the edge of space in the frame. This also suggests the underlying theme of hope.

In the next scene the girl is outside, riding her bicycle alone in circles. This is indicating of cyclical nature of her events, and a repetitive single trajectory, which shows confined behaviour (fish in a bowl, animals in a zoo). Also the shot is very wide, to convey her significance, relating to vulnerability.

She then contemplates going into this area of ‘wilderness‘, across from her house. She looks behind her to see if anyone is looking which raises the stakes, however there is no one there. She’s about to do something she knows she shouldn’t, yet there is no one to stop her, which is significant for the raising issue of her neglect.

The next shot is of the girl walking towards a spiked fence, with the wilderness and a motorway in the background. This jaggedness of the fence is indicative of danger (e.g. unknown area exploration), and the motorway is symbolistic of the barrier that is stopping her from moving onto better things i.e. the art direction conveys an emotion of captivity to the audience. The girl then leaves the frame and walks back into it, on the other side of the fence. This is to suggest her ‘re-birth’ and a new phase of her existence as she is moving away.

The hand-held shots that follow are used to hint that someone is watching her, and slightly builds tension for the audience; fulling the spikey fence’s foreshadowing.

The next few shots have a very artistic editing style, to suggest the characters sense of wonder and awe as she is experiencing new things (such as wildlife, nature etc.) The clip is jump cut back and forth in time, to help suggest this magical/mystical tone to the scene. These micro elements convey the idea that this new place is her own, as an escape from the reality of her current existence – it is her way to escape.

After the second time she leaves the frame completely, visual symmetry of the man’s body is being revealed. This camera movement creates a connection between the girl and the man possibly as a father figure (again relating to her isolation and neglect). The importance of this shot is that the mother was never on her level, but the man is immediately given the same eye level.

However, when the man gets up and looks down upon the girl after she says “that’s my dog”, his facial expressions towards her look menacing and off-putting for the audience. Then the next few shots, relates this direction to the subject of paedophilia, as her puts his hand on her collar bone and grabs a bud that was underneath her shirt strap. Another sexualised panning/tilting shot of the girl’s body follows this to portray the meaning further.

As the man bends down to her eye-level and smiles, he stops and looks into the distance, where a side-shot of the girl’s mother is then shown (the first time we see her face). After they both realise, we are given a shaky hand-held shot following the girl as she is running back to mother. This is to show the power and authority her mother has over her, and the worried/frightful emotions associated with this.

Finally, we are given shots of the girl inside the house again; one of a slamming door from her mother, another looking forlorn on the staircase, and the other back in front on the TV.

This is to convey further, the cyclical nature of her events, as she ends up in the exact same situation as she did in the begging – in front of the TV, lacking any sort of mental or physical stimulation.

The tone of this film, is very monotone, static and long held. However the short in some respects can be seen as a Haiku as the small stretches of film explodes with several different meanings. For example everything in the domestic space is denying the character’s want for stimulation, so therefore her need is to find a way to allow her to reach her goals.

Through evaluation, it is fair to say that the meaning of the film is that there is a very significant importance of this time in a child’s life where they need stimulation, to let them reach their potential and to enjoy/experience life.

Marilyn Milgram’s techniques of successful short filmmaking have also been accounted for and applied into the direction and writing of Duffy’s award winning short. Firstly, Milgram states that a dramatic story requires three basic elements; a world, a character and a problem. Duffy’s ‘The Most Beautiful Man in the World’ fills all three of these, by placing the narrative in an outer-city, lower class area of the UK; as well as showing a young girls problem of neglect and lack of stimulation.

Milgram also states that a short film should focus on one moment or event in the life of the main character / protagonist (preferably in ‘real time’). This is also reproduced by Alicia Duffy, by which the narrative of the short is based around the one event where the girl meets a topless man in a field near her house. But not only this, the story is played out in real time for most of the short, to communicate the tedium of her situation.

Milgram suggests that it can be useful to have a literal journey as a setting for a short film. Alicia Duffy’s story is both a physical and a metaphysical journey for the young girl – as she leaves the house to explore (moving), but she also has new experiences to open her mind. However, the girl’s journey in this short is cyclical, so she ends up exactly where she started.

In her research, Milgram also states that the director or writer should consider one of three things to drive the characters through the story; a want, need or obligation. In ‘The Most Beautiful Man in the World’, all three of these are implemented. For example; the

child’s want is to explore and leave the house, her need is to achieve stimulation of any sort, and her obligation is to stay at home with her mother.