Smash is a new television show about the attempt to start up
and produce a musical on Broadway. The musical features the life of Marilyn
Monroe. Even though it is in its earliest stages of production, Marilyn is
currently played by Ivy. The show purposely draws certain parallels between
Marilyn Monroe and Ivy in order to stress her investment in the musical. First,
the mere appearances of Ivy and Marilyn resemble each other. Ivy has the same perfectly
curled platinum blonde hair, voluptuous body, plump red lips, and even
mannerisms. She even draws Marilyn’s infamous beauty mark on her face. The
camera shows repeated shows photos of Marilyn in Ivy’s bedroom, dressing room,
and rehearsal rooms so the symbolism is obvious. Second, Ivy’s past is unraveled
very similarly to Marilyn’s. Both girls had difficult childhoods with detrimental
parents. Marilyn’s mother was put in a mental hospital when Marilyn was only 7,
forcing her into foster homes. Marilyn was sexually abused by her foster home
owner. Ivy does not speak to her father, but it is implied that he expressed
violence towards her. Ivy’s mother is selfish and highly critical of Ivy. Their
distressful childhoods mirror each other and bring them closer together. Third,
Ivy quickly develops Marilyn’s substance abuse problems. She is shown over and
over again sneaking prescription pills and alcohol into her day to day life.
She even gets drunk before a show and is found passed out on her dressing room
floor, just like Marilyn. These purposeful parallels drawn between Marilyn and
Ivy, the actress playing her, reinforce the fact that she has invested her
heart and soul into the show.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This week I watched Smash for the first time. It turns out that this show was full of many good film techniques. One camera technique that I noticed is that when a person is looking at someone else, the camera shot switches to the point of view angle of the person talking. For example, when one of the guys was looking at someone coming in through the door, he was doing some dance exercises at the barre. When the camera switched to his point of view angle, the viewer could see the barre and the woman walking in. Another film technique that was apparent was lighting. When Karen was singing to Derek, there were lights shining from behind her, giving her a halo effect. This backlighting causes her hair shine, bringing the focus on her. This scene happened because Derek was daydreaming of her. He pictured her as Marilyn Monroe and dreamed of her flirting to him while she was singing. After the song ends, he is still looking at her beauty and someone says “and that’s lunch,” he realizes that he was daydreaming, and Karen asks if that is it. He stutters and says yes to dismiss her, but after she leaves, he furrows his brow. Then, music plays in the background to signify his confusion at what just happened, as it quickly cuts to the next scene.
ReplyDelete