Analysis of Western Film "Shane"  - 3/28/06

I. Placement of Camera
	A. Ground pointing up
		1. Larger then life characters
		2. Mythological characters  
	B. Looking down on Joey
		1. Shane looking down
	C. Shane almost always on screen alone
	
II. Narrative Perspective
	A. Joey
		1. Feeling of Admiration & Awe	
		2. Magnifies the Drama

III. Character Interaction
	A. Marion & Shane
		1. Marion looks in awe
		2. Marion avoids contact with Shane
		3. Joe is isolated
		4. Camera goes back and forth between Marion and Shane 
	B. Joey and Shane
		1. Interest in guns
		2. Gets Joey soda pop despite laughter
	C. Joe and Shane
		1. Taking down stump in middle of farm (symbolic of everyday obstacle)
			a. Bond through each others strength
			b. Camera cuts back and forth between two men
			c. Close up on Axes (tools)
			d. Joe needs aid of Shane (nature) to overcome stump
			e. Highly sexualized tension between both
			f. Music alters from typical film to swelling orchestral 
IV. Scenery
	A. Nature
		1. Repeated Motif
		2. Shane is Silhouetted or situated against wilderness
		3. Deer 
			a. Alone and wandering
			b. Out of place
		4. Always a balance of the mountains next to the society
		5. Frontier/Edge-like
	B. Society
		1. Joe's Farm 
			a. Visual framing devices to situate Joe/Joey/Marion on farm
				i. Develops characters as being confined and limited
		2. Fences 
			a. Deer bumping into fence
			b. Containment
			c. Liminal space (space between everyday life and special places)
				i. Symbol of domestication
		
V. Structure of Binary Oppositions 
	A. Society
		1. Weak
	B. Hero as Nature
		1. Visually belonging to nature
		2. Does not sleep in house
			a. Sleeps on ground in barn
			b. Separate from 'civilized' 
		3. Special Status 
			a. Special talent
			b. Good and strong at same time  
	C. Villain vs. Hero
		1.  
	D. Wild vs. Domestication 

VI. Costume
	A. Hero
		1. Buckskin 
			a. Wild (killed and made it himself)
			b. Shane appears looking similar to dear Joey watches 
			c. Buys clothes at store
				i. Blues 
		2. Light hair
		3. Clean face
		4. Lit with soft focus
	B. Marion
		1. Pants
		2. Short hair
	C. Rikers 
		1. Filthy