Film Analysis: Bad Day At Black Rock

Bad Day at Black Rock

Kathryn Abbott

October 29 2015

DRAMA 3030

The unexpected arrival of a stranger to a small, Midwestern town creates a feeling of scepticism and suspicion, and through this the explicit meaning is revealed: Fear of the unknown and the moral and physical deterioration of a town left to its own devices. The film exemplifies these concepts through the use of mise-en-scène, and vivid cinematographic elements. The blood red coloured train stands out against a muted background. Much like the train the suit Macreedy wears makes him a contradiction in the surrounding environment. There is a heavy use of the wide lens which keeps the characters at a distance and draws attention to the isolation. The townspeople are an extension

We can imagine that the eye lines of the two characters are being directed to off-screen elements that support the feelings of the townspeople's shock and awe. Macreedy states he will only be in town for 24 hours even though the conductor says that “staying in a place like this, it could be a lifetime”. This is a direct foreshadowing of the inevitable struggle of Macreedy's escape. He is framed here as he faces the town and we are not given his vantage point till later in the sequence. We create allegiances with Spencer Tracy as an actor because he is a character type. He always plays the good guy so right off the bat we are given sympathy for Macreedy because of Black Rocks Dualism. A Bad Day at Black Rock is structured like a western in that there is a binary opposition between Macreedy and the people of Black rock. As well as the modern world versus a world unchanged by time. We get emotional pleasure from the use of a hero character type because we know what Spencer Tracy is capable

He is cold and abrasive the two characters stand across from one another as if to symbolize the contrast between these two figures. In regards to classical narrative Macreedy would be considered a round character whereas the telegraph worker is flat. Macreedy a clean cut man from the city versus a man who has no dimensions or depth. The telegraph agent remains static, he is motionless as Macreedy is free to take in his surroundings. This is a closed frame the two characters are locked into this confrontation finally as Macreedy takes a step forward do we see the telegraph agent almost mechanically move aside, as if unwilling to let him pass. Now that both are freed from the confrontation. Macreedy is free to walk towards the town and we finally see him framed as part of the story. There is a stark use of contrasting color between his black suit and the surrounding town as he is a contradiction to the surrounding environment. Again we can relate this the western genre in that the filmmaker calls attention to the dramatic standoff between the elements of