How does the film 'Let Him Have It' manipulate audience emotions?
How does the film 'Let Him Have It' manipulate audience emotions?
My overall impressions of the film are basically to the point that it was very successful in manipulating my feelings, to feel for Derek Bentley. Throughout the film, I was manipulated by many means, to believe that Derek was innocent, and should not have been hanged, as he, the film manipulates us to believe, has done nothing wrong.
The definition of manipulation is this: "With skill, to influence by unfair means or cunning, for example, to give false appearance to". Even before we watch the film, we are being manipulated, and this is by the film's cover. A picture of two men, Craig and Derek, confronts us. Craig is wearing black - this makes us think that he is associated with evil. He looks pale, as if like a vampire, which signifies the fact that he 'feeds' off Derek. He is smiling, with a style typically referred to as a gangster smile. He has a gun in his hand, which shows he has the power to kill. Derek seems smaller than Craig, which gives us the idea that he is innocent. He has a 'scared' expression, a total contrast to Craig's.
The film itself is subjective (biased) because Iris Bentley (Derek's sister) tried for years to have the sentence her brother received overturned, and his name cleared. She gave help to the film's director, Peter Medak - she will have given her side and therefore will have mentally presented her family in the best light possible. The film, in order to avoid manipulating its audience, would need to be presented objectively (not influenced by personal feelings), and just concentrate on the facts, which would not sell the film. So, Medak has inevitably been subjective in his filming process. We ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
The film itself is subjective (biased) because Iris Bentley (Derek's sister) tried for years to have the sentence her brother received overturned, and his name cleared. She gave help to the film's director, Peter Medak - she will have given her side and therefore will have mentally presented her family in the best light possible. The film, in order to avoid manipulating its audience, would need to be presented objectively (not influenced by personal feelings), and just concentrate on the facts, which would not sell the film. So, Medak has inevitably been subjective in his filming process. We are manipulated both visually and aurally via this type of medium (film).
We are manipulated visually, by way of the expressions and gestures of the characters. For example, if Derek's family weren't huddled together and crying when he was being hanged, we would not have as much of the sense of sorrow as we would if they were. The music catches us, as being dramatic and fast at tense moments in the film, so we are even more convinced. Clothing isn't really an issue in audience manipulation, except that it validates the time that the film is based in, as the style of clothing worn was the same as that of the time.
The main form of manipulation is the camera angles, as this is the easiest for the director to create. When there is an emotional moment, the camera will almost always close-up on the person's face, showing their eyes mainly.
The music plays a big part in manipulating us. As with any movie, it would be dull, and not thrilling without music. The music is the single thing that makes the difference, in reality, between a home-movie, and a 'million-dollar' movie. In 'Let Him Have It' the same piece of music is used throughout the whole film. However, we are made to believe it changes, by the way that the speed or pitch changes in certain parts, whether to define an event or not. For example, the music would sound sombre when Derek is being hanged, rather than fast and rhythmic when Craig is on the roof shooting.
I think the scenes that we are most manipulated by, are those in which Derek has an epileptic fit. The most manipulative of these is when he is in the car, and he actually breaks a window, which makes us think that he might seriously injure himself. The camera is always close up to Derek's face whenever he is suffering. We mainly see his eyes, and a person's eyes can tell us a lot about how someone is feeling. When Derek is suffering, his eyes move in a state of erraticism, and the muscles around his eyes make him 'glower'. This is the director's intent for us to feel emotional about Derek's pain, and we are manipulated by it.
I think that the two boys are presented in totally the opposite manner of the way they should have been punished. Craig murdered but was only imprisoned. Derek, an epileptic, who shouldn't have even been in the courtroom, was hanged for merely being with Craig, and was in police custody when the police officer was shot.
After Derek is hanged, the camera pans up to the sky, as though to symbolise Derek going up to heaven, and emphasising the fact that he committed no crime at all. The camera then comes down into his house, where
his family are huddle together in the front room. The clock on the mantelpiece is heard. And as the camera zooms into it, the chiming gets louder. After the clock has chimed for the last time, the clock stops. This manipulates us into thinking that Derek's spirit somehow caused the clock to stop, or that he was hanged 'in cold blood'.
Derek's epilepsy plays a major part in this film, and it helps the movie to make sense. At the beginning of the film, we see that he gets the epilepsy from being in the middle of a bombing raid during World War Two. We see him as he develops, and how the epilepsy affects his life, and his ability to live like a 'normal' human. We see him getting caught in a shed, and we see him at an approved school, which shows he is having difficulty learning, because of his problem.
In my opinion, it is inevitable that the viewer of this film will be manipulated. 'Let Him Have It' certainly manipulated me. But, we must put into contrast, the fact that all films will manipulate us, because the director controls what he or she wants the viewer to see and believe.
