'My Girl': My Favorite Thus Far

My Girl, a 1991 film, has been on my watch-list for a while, mainly because I love young Macaulay Culkin. Which was a bad choice because (SPOILER) he ends up dying suddenly. Anyhow, My Girl was to me the epitome of a coming of age story.

Trailer included as usual, though I’ll give you a short rundown. Vada is a spunky 11-year-old who, while is curious about the world and its adventures, is charmingly clueless about life…and death. With a crush on her teacher and false claims that she’s dying (no thanks to her dad’s job as a funeral director that takes place in their basement), she deals with loss, family, first kisses, and simply growing up.

Vada is sheltered from much of life, yet she is very mature and wise for her age. Right away it is shown what she is sheltered from most - death - with this very shot.

In Philip Cowan's article "Underexposed: The neglected art of the cinematographer," he refers to Bordwell a fair amount. He explains David Bordwell's view of the perception image in the following quote: "The perception image seems to be one where information in terms of setting, location or details are perceived by either the characters in the film, or the audience, or, as is often the case, both," (Cowan 90).

If we are taking that definition to heart, then the previous image is a perception image. There is a wall that separates Vada from a very horrific scene for anyone, let alone an 11 year old. Though, we are on Vada's side of the wall, we see and know what lies beyond her vision, though we know her innocence and respect the fact that she is afraid.

There is also the shot above, which is very geometric and purely pleasing to the eye...or is it? Vada is isolated and alone; she is in the center of the frame and the focus point of where all the linear angles lead to. In terms of Cowan, he refers to the long-shot as a view from an outside observer, which is what we are here. The audience is very distant from Vada, not even beginning to be able to feel her pain; so therefore, we are not equal to her, so we look up at her on the steps. This is overall a simple shot in terms of detail and space, but it's very complex as it matches the mood of our protagonist after her best friend has died.

Speaking of being observers, that is just what we are in these following shots.

In the first frame, we are spying and essentially we are Vada, as she is the spy who is looking out her window peering into the van when her father and his new employee Shelly are on their date. Again, the explanation is simple. If we were to cut from Vada looking out the window to just a static shot to the van, yes, the message of her watching the two adults would come across, but it would simply be boring. This is film, creativity is what keeps the viewers interest.

As for the bathroom shot where Shelly is teaching Vada about makeup, we are on-lookers viewing from the hallway, as the camera, and therefore we, are not physically in the bathroom with the two. This is much like the scene referred to in my very first blog, where I explain a similar scene
mentioned by Bordwell:

This distant shot is comparable to one in The Wolf of Wall Street where protagonist Jordan Belfort hits his wife Naomi, though we only see it through a far doorway at the end of a hallway, which blocks our view. David Bordwell in his article “Understanding Film Narrative: The Trailer” uses that exact scene to display shot style as part of the narrative. “This choice lessens the impact of Jordan’s aggression. It gives us important information about the story action,” (Bordwell). (Blog #1).

Much like the Jordan and Naomi scene in TWOWS, we are located in the hallway, viewing the action through a doorway to a separate room.

Getting back to our scholar for this blog, Cowan actually quotes Bordwell yet again, this time for an explanation of plot: "In his book Figures Traced in Light, Bordwell points out that the audience’s understanding of what we call plot comes ‘through the patterned use of the medium’s techniques. Without performance and framing, lens length and lighting, composition and cutting, dialogue and music, we could not grasp the world of the story’ (Bordwell 2005: 32)" (Cowan 90).

In the above scene, there is sad music, a strong performance, effective framing (such as the stair shot), heart-wrenching dialogue ("Where are his glasses? He can't see without his glasses!"), and a great use of camera and lens length (the tracking of Vada to the casket, a slow zoom into her face as he watches through the railings, crying). It is in fact true that without all of this coming together as one, there wouldn't be as much of a sad, strong, effective scene that would enhance the plot. Even if the music was absent, the scene would not be vulnerable, just instead awkward and uncomfortable, which would not fit.

While Cowan often refers back to David Bordwell, that is fair as all of Bordwell's knowledge referring back to film and the use of the camera is too rich not to touch upon. Much of what both scholars say refers back to My Girl effortlessly, as the film is filled with telling shots and camera technique.

Works Cited:

Cowan, Philip. "Underexposed: The Neglected Art Of The Cinematographer." Journal Of Media Practice 13.1 (2012): 75-96.