Although I usually don't like to use the word "Underrated" regarding film, as it's incredibly overused as it is, Elia Kazan's 1957 film A Face in the Crowd certainly fits the criteria (or actually, "under viewed" might be a better fit. Although it receives acclaim now, Kazan's originally critically reviled film isn't seen as the classic it truly is.
The late Andy Griffith hypnotizes the audience as Lonesome Rhodes, a crazed, larger than life radio personality who takes the world by storm, only to use his huge, loyal audience for his own benefit and exploits them. Rhodes doesn't even exploit them for his own ideological gains- he seems too stupid and monetarily interested to have his own opinions.
Rather than a typical look at the film, I've decided to republish an older essay on Kazan's film, exploring the film's treatment of celebrity excess:
Elia Kazan’s 1957 film A Face in the Crowd stars Andy Griffith stars as Lonesome Rhodes, a drifter who a radio station hires to sing songs and spout “Grass root wisdom.” From his humble beginnings, Rhodes becomes a phenomenon with a rabid fan base and a national television program. Kazan uses his characters to show the realities of the media culture. Lonesome Rhodes represents the powerful, narcissistic, nearly unstoppable media, while his love interests represent the general public’s reaction to the media. A Face in the Crowd serves as a portrait of the media, the characters it creates and the general public’s reaction.
After being released from jail, Rhodes slowly begins to realize his impressive amount of power: first as an entertainer, then as a voice of the people and finally as a political figure. Rhodes’s power was always imminent on screen through his presence in the frame. When the audience is introduced to Rhodes, he is hungover, sleeping in the corner of the county jail. He is completely absent for the several minutes of the film, but after the sheriff wakes him, he immediately becomes the film’s focus.
Throughout the majority of the film, Rhodes occupies the middle of the frame, representing his massive personality and his unstoppable nature. If Rhodes is not in the center of the frame in the shot’s beginning, it seems he moves within the frame to become the literal center of attention. However, at the film’s end, Rhodes embarrasses himself on the air, mocking the audience, and forever loses his seemingly unstoppable power, as well as Marcia Jefferies, the woman he loves. The film’s final shot is of the New York City landscape: Taxis, skyscrapers, and a large neon Coca-Cola sign. The audience can hear Rhodes cry into the night, but he is nowhere to be seen: His celebrity has faded.
Rhodes’s relationship with the public is represented by two women he loves: Betty Lou Fleckum and Marcia Jefferies. Fleckum represents the mass public. Fleckum, who becomes Rhodes’s wife at age seventeen, is at first completely infatuated by him, even admitting to have a picture of Rhodes taped to her ceiling. However, Fleckum quickly looses interest and cheats on her husband after several months. Rhodes’s true love is Jefferies, who represents the more educated public. Jefferies, a radio producer, discovers Rhodes in jail, and planned to wed him, but Rhodes became hypnotized by the energetic passion of Fleckum.
Despite his betrayal, and her first hand knowledge of the artificiality and deep-rooted corruption of Lonesome Rhodes, Jefferies still loves him, and was unable to leave him until the film’s end. Jefferies directly causes Rhodes’s downfall, as she is responsible for leaking his off-air comments, where he calls the audience idiots. Jefferies felt that her and Rhodes could only be separate if she ruined his career. Like the public, Jefferies overlooked Rhodes’s unappealing behavior and focused on his status and power. Once his fame was diminished, Jefferies could leave. Ultimately, the power of media and celebrities transfixes the public and holds them captive until the glossy lights of fame are dimmed or removed.
No comments:
Post a Comment