Brian De Palma’s 1976 film Carrie is about a teenage girl, named Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), who is sheltered and abused by her religious mother, Margaret (Piper Laurie). After Carrie learns to control her telekinetic powers, she finally stands up to her mother to tries to live a normal teenage life by going to her high school prom. By framing Carrie and Margaret in specific camera angles and positions, the film uses these formal elements the show the dynamics of fear, control, and power that exist in their relationship.
In the first scene between mother and daughter, Carrie is shown in a high angled medium shot, after her mother knocks her to the floor with a bible. Margaret is shown to the right of frame, with a close-up of her bible and her hair as she stands above her daughter. Carrie is most commonly shown from this angle, used to establish the fear and powerlessness she feels under her mother’s control.
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However, this is only temporary, as Margaret uses the moment to pull her daughter down into a hugging embrace and stab her in the back. Carrie is then sent tumbling down the stairs and the control is placed back into the mother’s hands, as Carrie crawls away in another high angled, loose medium close-up. In the end, this angle and position of Carrie pushed against the floor not only displays the character’s fear, but also the feeling of being trapped and unable to escape from her