“The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.”
(Thomas Wolfe, 1946)
Thomas Wolfe said this in his essay entitled God’s Lonely Man. This title alone suggests the inevitability of man’s loneliness. Wolfe writes that man is naturally lonely as that is the way he was made by God. He doesn’t choose to be or not to be lonely. He just is. Every man possesses these traits, even if he believes that his feelings are original and unique to himself.
In Stanley Kubrick’s film, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), there are scenes which express intense loneliness. When Dave travels through the spaceship to disable the ship’s corrupted computer, H.A.L., we experience an intense feeling of pressure and aloneness. I have numbered the shots for ease.
As can be discovered in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey – New Essays (Kolker, 2006), Kubrick uses a handheld camera to follow Dave through the first shot. The handheld camera is used commonly to create various emotional and psychological effects. Here it emphasises a feeling of realism within the scene and suggests to the audience that things are spinning out of control. In Hollywood, camera movement is traditionally done smoothly and gently, however, having the camera rock and jerk induces unease and almost nausea. This realism is further reinforced by the use of only diegetic sound. No background music is used, as this would betray the atmosphere.
However, as can be seen in A Cinema of Loneliness (Kolker, 2000), more can be seen through the sound design. They only thing which we can here is Dave’s breathing within his helmet. This makes us feel very claustrophobic, forcing us to empathise with the character. As Dave walks through the empty spaceship, he is constantly in frame, even if he isn’t in focus. In the first and third shots, we see what Dave sees, allowing us to more easily relate to him and thus increasing our emotional attachment to him. This first shot is one long take. This means that the events are shown in real time and creates the illusion of reality. The viewer is more alert whilst watching long takes as they are continually conscious of what the character could discover at the end or what could enter the frame at any point. This builds up the audience’s expectations and this constant pressure on the audience for realisation only goes to emphasise the character’s loneliness at this point in the isolation of outer space.
As can be seen in Stanley Kubrick: Adapting the Sublime (Pezzotta, 2013), Cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth uses only the lights built into the set. A similar approach was taken in Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon where only candles were used to light a scene set in a tavern. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, Unsworth helped to design the set putting into place the lights where needed. Except for the red lighting, which obviously represents danger, most of the light comes from above (see shot 2). This means that Dave is, at times, difficult to see. This lighting creates a feeling of realism within the scene and builds the tension by making the viewer commit to the authenticity. In the shot labelled 3B, we look up at Dave with a bright white light behind him. We can no longer see him due to the backlight. This is very disorientating as Dave fills the frame, yet we cannot make out any details of him. Neither can we see what is in front of him. The shot presents us with unknowns. The complete lack of knowledge represents how out of depth Dave is and contributes towards our empathetic feelings of isolation. However, this lack of clarity can be otherwise interpreted. The viewer losing detail of Dave could show him being made less human because we cannot see his features. In this moment, Dave becomes the monster and HAL becomes the victim. We cannot easily read Dave, thus distancing us from him on an emotional level.
In the film Cast Away (2000), directed by Robert Zemeckis, isolation is seen in its rawest form. Chuck is stranded on an island for four years and we are shown quite clearly how isolation affects people as his psyche slowly deteriorates. We are shown how without human interaction, a person does strange things to cope with the feeling of loneliness, for example, talking to a volleyball in order to fill the void left by absence of human contact.
As can be seen in The Cinema of Robert Zemeckis (Kagan, 2003), the sound design in Cast Away was key. When Chuck is stranded on the island, Randy Thom, the sound designer, used only diegetic sound. He didn’t want to use music as he felt that this would take away from the realism of the film. Chuck’s isolation is reflected in the sound design, as when he is on the island there are no sounds of other life. There are no sounds of birds or insects etc. The most notable sound is the sea. We hear the sound of waves constantly in the background. The monotonous, endless cycle of waves crashing against the beach and going back out to sea. This bland soundtrack emphasises his loneliness, as only the sounds he makes will break the silence. There is no life on the island apart from him.
In Martin Scorsese’s film, Taxi Driver (1976), loneliness is presented in a very different way. In both my previous examples, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Cast Away, the characters are literally alone with nothing they can do about it. However, Taxi Driver is set in New York City where Travis is completely surrounded by people, but this doesn’t mean that he can’t be isolated.
Travis is an unstable Vietnam War veteran who sees nothing but decadence and sleaze in the people around him. He feels that he is alone in a corrupt world. Briefly he sees Betsy as something different, but he soon realises, as far as he can see, that “she’s just like the others”.
As can be seen in the audio commentary with Martin Scorsese, there is a scene where Travis is on the phone to Betsy desperately trying to get her back, we start out looking at Travis and the payphone. However, the camera tracks away from him to show an empty corridor. The corridor is grubby and dull. There is nothing in it to attract the viewer’s eye. We are still focused on what Travis is saying, but it as if we are not allowed to look at him in order to hide his utter shame. We aren’t shown Travis’ shame at losing Betsy. Neither of the participants in the conversation can be seen, implying that no real communication is taking place. This is where Travis’ loneliness stems from.
Travis is unable to connect with anyone. He can’t express what he is feeling to anyone. Travis feels alone because nobody understands him, but also because he doesn’t fully understand anyone else either. This kind of loneliness is strikingly different than that of the previous two examples, because he cannot connect to anyone and therefore doesn’t really try. He isolates himself.
Taxi Driver is filled with shots of random people and dark mysterious streets, but this goes far to emphasise Travis’ isolation. He is an observer. He remains on the outskirts of situations, watching what is going on. He doesn’t feel part of anything and can’t relate to anyone. He watches these situations, all from behind the wheel of his Taxi. He is a dark figure who, because he cannot relate to people, becomes nameless. He doesn’t involve himself in these situations so he is no longer ‘Travis Bickle’ to these people. He is simply ‘Taxi Driver’.
This feeling of life on the outskirts and the observer can be seen in LS Lowry’s Matchstick Men paintings. His pictures show the hustle and bustle of life in average everyday scenes. However, if you look closely, you can always see an outsider or an observer.
These people don’t quite seem to fit in. Other people are walking hurriedly past, going about their busy lives, but these misfits are left standing completely still, out of place. Isolation does not mean that someone is literally alone, but it can mean that someone feels alone because nobody quite understands them.
In one of David Bowie’s early songs, Little Bombardier (Bowie, 1967) , a man returns from war. He has no useful skills and does not fit in. He struggles to re-engage with society and feels totally alone. The world has moved on around him and he is left behind, traumatised by the horrors of war.
However, he befriends two young children who make his life “full of joy”. He plays their games and buys them gifts. After the darkness of war, he seeks the light found only through the innocence of children. These kids show him that the world can be better and help him start to forget his difficult past. His intentions are entirely pure, yet those around him, who don’t recognise his longing for innocence, misunderstand him. They assume he had more unwholesome reasoning for befriending children. Nobody had any time for the Little Bombardier and he was cruelly thrown back into his isolation.
Even in one of Bowie’s early ‘whimsical’ songs, the subject matter of the storyline is surprisingly dark. Bowie’s narrative effortlessly tells one man’s tragic story of how he became isolated and the final climactic and traumatic event.
It is interesting that the Little Bombardier and Travis Bickle have a similar back-story leading to their withdrawal from society, although their ways of dealing with it differ immensely; one reverting to innocence; the other embracing violence.
Isolation comes in different forms and for different reasons. People respond to their isolation in different ways.
Comments