Inasane Mise En Scene in Elia Kazan's East of Eden

Insane Mise-En-Scene

Elia Kazan’s representation of John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden,” although widely repudiated by critics upon its inception in 1954, took off about six months later, fueled largely by the death of James Dean, the star of the movie, who died at the young age of twenty-four.  In Steinbeck’s 20^th century depiction of the biblical Cain and Abel story, James Dean plays Cal (Cain).  He is a troubled youth who has been overshadowed by his brother Aron (Abel), played by Richard Davalos.  One of the rich themes in the movie is that Cal is “bad,” and that Aron is “good”.  The simplicity of this theme and their representative traits is contrasted by complexity in regards to dealing with one another.  Both of the boys live on a lettuce farm in Salinas Valley California with their father Adam Trask (Raymond Massey).  His father’s recent idea of using ice to refrigerate lettuce on train cars has failed, and the family has lost a lot of money, but this is not the focus of the story.  Aron possesses that which Cal has never had:  Respect and love from his father along with the admiration of Aron’s girlfriend, Abra (Julie Harris).  As Cal vies for the positive attention of his father, he must undergo a moral and psychological struggle that defines his indefinable and constantly changing character.  Kazan uses a variety of methods to portray the tension between the characters, including his brilliant use of mise-en-scene.  Kazan further employs shots with a tilted camera angle to influence the perception of his audience, and to make them feel the pins and needles of the Trask family and Cal’s place at the height of the anxiety.

Elia Kazan is known for being an “actor’s director,” and is noted as being largely responsible for the discovery and early influence of both Marlon Brando and James Dean.  Kazan uses the standard Stanislavskian practice using this motto:  “The key to defining a character’s spine is to use an infinitive word or phrase, usually with an object on the end” (Jones, 140).  Kazan spent time with his cast outside the realm of the particular set of the movie in order to learn their mannerisms in real life, and to use that to enhance their stage performance.  Throughout “East of Eden,” James Dean as Cal has a few possibilities in the definition of his spine:  “to find out why I’m bad,” or “to gain the respect of my father,” or “to give something to my father to make him love me.”     

The scene I have chosen to analyze is a 15 second clip, about one fifth of the way into the film, from 20:56 to 21:11.  This scene takes place directly after Cal, in a fit of anger, has just deliberately thrown multiple massive ice-cubes down the chute of the farm elevator into the back of a dump truck, causing the cubes to break apart, and probably costing his father quite a sum of money.  Adam forgives his son Cal, but prompts Cal to read a section of Psalm 32 so that God will also forgive him.  This is where the scene starts.

Cal is the sole character in this shot, although the viewer knows that his father and brother are also with him at the table.  Cal is presented with a medium close-up shot.  He is near the center on the screen, but slightly off to the left side.  He is sitting at the end of a table, his head pointed down to read from the enormous Bible in front of him on the table.  To the far left of the screen there is an open door to another room in the house.  The only thing visible in that room is an unoccupied wooden chair that is just above Cal’s shoulder level relative to the view from the camera.  In the top center of the screen, barely above Cal’s head, is a crystal fruit bowl that looks to be comprised of apples.  On the table, in front of Cal and directly in front of the Bible is an oil lamp stand with three glass wicks protruding out the top of it.

That Cal is the only character in this shot is significant, as are the use of the props he is surrounded with.  Kazan is ostensibly using the props to relate the conflict happening within Cal’s mind.  It is possible Kazan used the Bible in front of him to illustrate the influence of his father, who (although out of the shot) is seated in front of him.  The chair sitting empty in the separate room is potentially used to show his inherently evil conscience speaking evil over his shoulder.  The bowl of fruit on Cal’s other side seems to be a reminder of the fall of man, described in Genesis 3, the chapter right before the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible.  The oil lamp with three wicks is possibly employed by Kazan as a way to describe the family situation for the man and his two sons, and the fire that Cal has started among them through his backward ways and antisocial behavior.

The lighting used in this first shot is predominantly to the front of Cal.  Cal’s light grey shirt is a contrast to the background of brown in the majority of the shot.  Grey is often used to depict indecision, or a character that is unsure of his surroundings, which is Cal’s case.  The white pages of the Bible reflect the light from the overhead light onto Cal’s downward-looking face, showing the forces of “good” presenting themselves or trying to get through to Cal.  This lighting also slightly illuminates the crystal of the fruit bowl, bringing this to higher attention.  There is only a small amount of light anywhere else in this shot, and it comes from the other room with the empty chair in it, signifying the forces of evil that are also constantly at work in him.

            The Camera does not move.  The camera shot of Cal is shot at a downward angle, as if the eye of the Camera is standing while Cal is sitting.  This is most likely used to represent Cal in the presence of authority, most notably his father, and also the Bible, used to remind the audience subtly of Adam as an allegorical picture of God.  To further add to the confusion, the camera is tilted to the left at approximately 20 degrees.  Kazan’s manipulation of perception adds to the general feeling that something is wrong, and it must be fixed.  The eyes of the audience try to tilt the screen back upright in their mind, and are able to sense the unease that Cal is feeling in response to the judgment from his father.  Cal is experiencing a battle going on between “good” and “bad” inside his mind, and he is represented as having little say in regards to the outcome of the battle.  Tension is achieved by the tilted camera along with the downward shot illustrate in a small way the struggle for the soul of Cal.

            The only sound at this part of the shot is Cal saying “7,” as he looks up at his father.  He paused before he said this, indicating that saying this is in defiance of what his father has just told him: “You don’t have to read the verse numbers.”  As Cal looks up at his father, the view of the camera changes to show Aron and his father sitting at the other end of the table.  The camera is still tilted in the same way, just facing the other direction.  The camera is at eye level with both Aron and Adam.           

This shot lasts for only about two seconds, and the camera remains still for its duration.  Adam and Aron’s upper body from the waist up is shown, making it a medium close-up shot.  The only light in the room if over the center of the table, almost directly above Aron’s head, relative to the camera.  Brown is the dominant color of this side of the room as well, in various shades.  Clothing of the two men is in sharp contrast with the vapid earth-colored room.  Aron is wearing a white button-up with a checkered tie and the sons’ father is wearing a black suit, also with a tie.  These clothing selections provoke the imagination to contrast of Cal, whose shirt is far simpler and less formal.  Adam and Aron are both sitting up in their chairs straight, facing forward.  Aron’s eyes are looking toward the off-screen Cal, and his face displays that he seems worried that Cal will upset their father.  Adam’s hand are folded together on the tabletop, and he leans in at Cal, slight agitation revealing itself through his look and tone of voice, and he says, “not the numbers, Cal.“
             Light is most heavily settled on Aron, who is the son in his father’s good graces.  The presence of the light on Aron is contrasted with the darkness of the rest of the shot, which is significant because of his uncorrupted, lily-white character.  Adam’s black suit could conceivably relate to his present role as the arbiter of justice, which is antagonistic pertaining to Cal.  The upright sitting positions of Adam and Aron reflect the integrity of their respective characters, and can be contrasted with the earlier shot of Cal slouching in his own chair, putting his unfavorable disposition on display in a new light.  Aron’s look of concern toward his brother Cal is displayed by a turn of the eyes, but not a turn of the body.  This may be presumptuous to assert, but I believe this is profound revelation into the character of Aron.  Aron, who has always been the “good” son, shows unselfish real concern for his brother’s impertinence to his father.  However, his consideration only extends itself as far as his propriety will let it go.  His limited moral compass and dedication to the instruction of his father roadblock him from interfering any farther than turning his eyes toward Cal.  Adam’s folding of his hands on the table seems to be a self-containment of his rising anger below the surface.  His hands rested on the table give a sense of non-combative negotiation with the capricious nature of his wayward son Cal.

Kazan employs the shot/reverse shot technique to recognize the presence of multiple characters in dialogic interaction.  The camera returns the audience to Cal, to the same slanted shot of him at the opposite end of the table, and the opposite end of the moral spectrum between “good” and “bad.”  Cal’s look has returned to the Bible, and he reads Psalm 32:7: “Thou art my hiding place, thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.  Selah.”  There is also an extremely subtle but nonetheless noticeable wavering of the camera’s position during this line.

Riposte to Cal with the same medium/close-up, camera-tilted shot of him reading the Bible brings more observation of Cal’s position in the midst of the forbidden fruit, the devil whispering over his shoulder from the empty chair, and the Bible in front of him.  The juxtaposition of the respective images of the fruit, chair, and Bible are in reference to Cal’s present choices.  The Bible tells him to listen to his father, who is allegorically God.  “Hiding place,” spoken of in the psalm, also has special meaning to Cal.  Up till this point in the film, he has been constantly in the background, behind hedges or looking through cracks in the barn.  Cal has not been confrontational up to this point.  The devil tells him to take the fruit.  As before, he is slouched in his seat, and is also sitting at an angle in it, inclined slightly to the way of the fruit.  His body being turned already toward the fruit is a subtle precursor of the choice he will make.  His predisposition to be “bad” is only being strengthened by his father’s fatalistically pragmatic propensities.  While the camera’s wobbling may have simply been a mistake, it seems arrogant to suppose that an artist such as Elia Kazan would use the shaking camera without an intentional meaning.  The camera’s instability is probably representative of the building tension between father and son, and Cal’s subsequent struggle to keep his anger from boiling over.  Cal’s reading of the word “Selah,” from the psalm, may also be an indication of his unfamiliarity with the Bible, as “Selah” is traditionally left out of the oral reading.  However, the meaning of “Selah” taken from the Amplified Bible is ”pause, and think of that.”  Cal pauses from his reading.  He keeps his head turned down, but looks up at his father, (probably) in the eye, and with a look of rebellious depravity, he says, “eight,“ delivered deliberately with an over pronunciation of the word.  Cal’s unpolished rebellion is predeterminately used to raise the ire of his father, and Cal’s allegorical tasting of the forbidden fruit is complete.

The following shot is a long shot in which the entire room is visible.  The camera is slightly above the seated characters, looking a little down on them.  Cal is on the left side of the screen with the fruit bowl situated just behind him a little higher.  Aron is in the middle of the screen and at the center of the table, and also in between Cal and his father.  Adam is on the right side of the table, now unfolding his hands.  The table, now fully visible, is a rectangle, with the camera shot taken from one of the longer sides.  There are four chairs at the table, but the one nearest the camera is empty.  The light is in the top center of the shot, creating on ovaloid of light that encompasses the three characters, but moves barely outside of the oval of the three family members.  The light is directly situated above the head of Aron.  The only sound is the exclamation of Cal’s father:  “You have no repentance!  You’re bad!“

  Exclusion of the fourth chair around the table is an allusion to the absence of Cal’s mother, who is where he supposes he got his “bad” genes from.  Her would-be chair is in the middle of the table, making her presence the intermediary force between Cal and his father.  However, since she is gone, and Aron is instead the one who sits as the only one in between Cal and his father.  He is right above her empty chair and right below the light that overhangs the table.  These two items are in conflict.  Aron is in the light of his father’s good will and pride.  On the other hand, his dedication to his father cripples him from doing anything in defense of Cal, and he looks down at the table in impotence.  The empty chair that would have been Cal’s mother is a representation of a balance that is not there.  Cal is lost, and his lifeline to his true identity, his mother, is lost as well.  His definition of himself is one of a fragile and changing identity.  The imbalance is portrayed through the tilt of the screen on the previous shot, and by the “bad” being outnumbered by the “good.”     

As Adam speaks his outburst at Cal, he unfolds his hands and is on his feet by the time he is finished saying:  “You’re bad!“  Kazan is probably using the father’s departure from the table to depict the end of the diplomatic negotiation between father and son.  Adam’s consternation has been triggered, and his authoritative statement is the final piece of his acknowledgement that his son is a lost cause.  

Adam slams his fist on the table simultaneously with, and to emphasize the word “bad.“  Also at the same instant, the oil in the lamp sloshes around visibly through its glass.  Three wicks of the lamp could have been used to mean the three remaining Trask family members together at the table.  However, it also could have been an allusion to the three chances Cal got when he was reading the psalm.  Each time, against the wishes of his father, he obstinately proclaimed the number of the verse.  Now that his chances are over, the oil is threatening to boil over as both Cal and his father’s tempers have.  One could venture to guess that through this particular scene, Cal’s character spine can be characterized as:  “To show my father the reality of who I am,” or “to hope that he can still accept me,” or “to find my place in relation to my father and brother.”

This is simply a clip from this film.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, one has to ask about the quality of the words.  One further has to ask the value of film, given the constant fluctuation of image coupled with the dialogue in context.  Kazan has mastered this art, and this much is evident simply by observing a few pictures among the thousands wrought together to make up this film.  Elia Kazan uses a variety of objects, lighting, character positioning, and relative places on the screen to produce a stunning perceptual effects.  The subtleties of his work seem endless, when one looks to the smaller details put into the production, and each one of his little props is there to signify something of importance in relation to the characters and plot.  He meticulously paints a canvas of relationships that is rich with significance and meaning.  Kazan’s use of mise-en-scene to depict the psychological and moral struggles of Cal in “East of Eden“ is hardly something that can be put into words.  His manipulation of the audience’s attention, perception, and imagination is such that one can feel the tension in the characters, and wants to help them make choices.  Rich imagery rivals the beauty of the lilies, only Kazan gives the lilies a touch of the bad.