The Crucible was directed in 1996 by Nicholas Hytner. It is based on the play The Crucible from the 1950s by Arthur Miller, and was adapted for film by the author himself. The story of this play is actually based on real events that lead to the Salem witch trials in the late 1600, where a number of people were questioned and accused for witchcraft.
The title of the film, “The Crucible”, is very relevant to the context of the story. It symbolises what souls have to go through to reach salvation and finally Heaven. If you do good deeds you will reach Heaven faster, and you won’t have to suffer. This story is mainly about the crime of witchcraft and about all the people accused of this crime. To save themselves, the accused may confess, get a milder punishment and still be able to go to Heaven after making a mens for their sins. But the people who won’t confess will be sentence to death and will get no salvation, just go straight to Hell. In this film people are encouraged to confess, and the ones that don’t are damned.
The movie starts with a bunch of girls dancing around a fire in the woods. They are saying love spells to get the men they want and singing Barbados songs lead by the slave Tituba. One of the girls, Abigail, drinks chicken blood and some of the girls starts taking their cloths off. They dance and dance, but all of a sudden Reverend Parris catches them. All the girls starts running and screaming, accept from Betty who all of a sudden can’t move. I think that the film starts this way because this is how the main issue of the story occurs: Is their witches in Salem or not? Everything that happens is based on this question, and therefore it is natural to have this scene at the beginning.
Some of the most important literary devices in this film are repetitions, sound and colour. Repetitions are used several times and we can see practically the same type of scene each time the girls accuses someone new of witchcraft. We get to see how the people react to the hangings, their facial expressions, a number of times and also how the judges questions someone new time after time. Sound and colour is also two mayor literary devices in this film, and both of them play a huge part in the coherence of the story. We hear how the characters voices go from being high and tense when they are arguing or feel scared, to a softer version when they speak to a loved one. Some music is also added to the film, and in dramatic scenes the music gives us a hint that something is going to happen next. Colours also plays a huge part in this film, and it is easy to see how it changes from a bright and colourful beginning, with a beautiful nature, to a dark and depressing end where John is in the dungeon and finally when they all get hung. Darkness is shown both in the prisoners faces and in the surroundings, and I think that the mood in every scene is set by the music and colours we get to see.
There are a number of important scenes in this story, but I think the scene where John Proctor lies to get his life back is one of the most important ones. He has talked to his wife and determines that he wants to spend his life with her and their children, therefore he decides to confess to witchery and escape death. But after taking some time to think, John realises that he can’t confess to something he hasn’t done. He doesn’t want to be a part of all the lying and deception that has taken place in the town of Salem, and decides that he wants to honour his name and do what is right for once in his life. This shows the differences in the story, how some of the accused lie to save their own lives, while others refuse to become a part of this deception that the girls have started and therefore are condemned. The beginning, the end and the turning point where Abigail goes from refusing everything, to accusing people of witchcraft are a few of the important sequences in this story and they tell us how it all starts, ends and how everything changes.
I think that The Crucible is told in a third person point of view. This is mainly because we get to see so much of all the characters and also get to know a lot about what they think and feel. There are many themes in this story, but I think that the most important one is personal integrity, and how all the people in this story has to decide for them selves what they think is the right thing to do. When the hole town is affected by mass hysteria everybody has to figure out what they want to believe in, whether to be influenced by the idea that their may exist such a thing as witchcraft in Salem or believe that the people they have known their entire lives are innocent.
The movie has bought similarities and differences compared to the book. A lot of the scenes are described in the same way and the people are mainly described the same in both places. But we still see that not all the scenes are precisely the same, and that things are more specific in the book. Everything is explained more and nothing is left out. While in the movie some things may be left out, although we get a more lifelike experience from watching it. We get to see all the people’s facial expressions and therefore the film influences us in a greater way than the book.
SOURCES:
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucible
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucible_(1996_film)
-http://www.gradesaver.com/the-crucible/
-http://www.stud.hiof.no/studentarbeid/06halm/ikt---praksisprosjekt/13/Dokumenter/4.FILMANALYSE.doc
-http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skj%C3%A6rsilden
-Page 398 in the Access book
Pictures:
- http://www.winniplayhouse.com/images/the_crucible.jpg
- http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/filmnotes/images3/crucible1.jpg
- http://www.dusa.dundee.ac.uk/lip/images/shows/g_98_99/The%20Crucible%20Cover.gif
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