Dogville(von Trier, 2003) is defined as a Brechtian film by numerous critics (Lübecker, 2011). However, von Trier uses this effect is not simply for distancing the audience from the film, as he said the absence of setting is used to force the audience to invent the town for themselves (2006, as cited in Laine, 2006, p.129). Lübecker (2011) argues that von Trier manipulates Dogville as a “machine”, which aims at driving the spectators to be anti-social drives. Therefore, the film seems to manipulate the audience into different positions throughout the film and finally achieve a purpose that the spectator at the end of the film agrees with Grace’s revenge.
Figure 1: first 5 seconds of the shot (01:36:50-01:37:10)
The shot when Grace is just raped by Chuck (01:36:50-01:37:10; see figure 1) is a great example to exhibit how von Trier promotes the audience’s hatred for Villager’s behavior. This shot shifts the position of spectators from the engager of the raping situation in the previous shot to the judger out of this situation. This shift gives the audience a space to reflect on their position after going through the rape. Finally, this shot leads the audience to draw an opinion that Grace’s behavior of surrendering is wrong and the villagers exploiting Grace is hateful.
Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene in Dogville is special. There is a village setting indoor and without natural light; and the houses are drawing by chalk; characters are in an invisible door and wall. This kind of mise-en-scene has two effects. On the one hand, it is Brecht’s technique that distinct the spectator from the “plot-river” and encourage them to seek intellectual engagement (Lübecker, 2011). On the other hand, based on intellectual engagement, it further incites the spectators. As cited in Lübecker (2011, p.163) “only by appealing to the body of the spectator (by taking a step beyond intellectual appeal) would it be possible to liberate the public”? The distinction between these two effects achieved mostly through different camera effects.
Camera
The camera works in this shot making Brecht's estrangement possible. Through offering the audience a God's Eye View, this shot distinct the audience from the “plot-river” and offers them a space to reflect on the plot. Firstly, the camera is set above Grace, which offers the audience a higher status than the characters. This gives a chance for a spectator to distant from the immersion of the previous rape situation.
Figure 2-4: it is a crane shot that the camera moves away from Grace, from medium shot to extreme long shot
Then, it is a crane shot that the camera moves away from Grace, from medium shot to extreme long shot (see figure 2-4). The crane shot exhibits three processes of the status of Grace: Grace herself, Grace in Chuck’s house, and Grace in Dogville where the FBI just arrived. The whole process exhibits a situation that Grace succumbs to Chuck’s rape for exchanging the escape from the FBI. This highlights the victim identity of Grace that who was forced to accept Dogville’s value that “from a business perspective, your presence in Dogville has become more costly” as Tom Edison said in previous (von Trier, 2003, 01:14:20). As Badley (2010, p.105-106) analyzed the name of “Edison” implies a social experiment, and Grace was “a refugee whose host exploits and ostracizes her while making her increasingly dependent”.
Figure 5: Rotation with Grace as the center of the circle
This exhibition of Grace's status is enhancing through the camera rotation (see Figure 5). By rotating with Grace's position as the center of the circle, the audience focusing is fixed on Grace, even the camera moves away from her. Besides, the camera rotation contrast with the handshake camera in the previous shots, which pulls the audience out from the immerse feeling and offers a feeling of dramatization. Therefore, the crane-shot moving away and rotating centered on Grace transmit that the audience is the spectators watching watch Grace’s tragedy.
Sound
The sound in this shot collaborates with the camera, enhance the distance effect. Contrast with previous shots with only noises and dialogue, the background music raise along with this shot pulls the audience out of the immersion and create a sense of watching a drama. Furthermore, the narrator in the voice-over offers a sense of literariness, which needs the audience to use their intelligence to understand the meaning it transmits. The voice-over here is “Yet again Grace had made a miraculous escape from her pursuers with the aid of the people of Dogville. Everyone had covered up for her, including Chuck, who had to admit…”. The word “miraculous” is like the narrator as a spectator mocking Grace yielded for exchanging “everyone had covered up for her”. This put Grace into a situation that although she is exploited, she relies on the villagers. It makes the victim identity of Grace is not so firm because she can be seen as the alliance with villagers. Finally, which draws the audience both to realize Grace’s victim identity created through the camera but at the same time judging Grace’s exchange behavior is wrong.
Character
The trait of the human appearance of Characters is weakened here for guiding the audience to pay attention to the event itself. Initially, Grace is lying on her side without much movement, which can be seen as an ending condition of a certain behavior, being raped. Specifically, because she is lying on her side, her open body can be hidden again and not showing too much of her sexy body. This is in contrast to a previous shot while Grace lying on her back (see Figure 6-7), pulling the audience away from Grace, both from the immersing raping situation and from appreciating Grace’s sexy body. Finally, Grace has become someone who just exchanged sex to hide.
Figure 6 & 7: This is in contrast to a previous shot while Grace lying on her back
Editing
According to the previous description, this shot has clear differences comparing to the previous shots. Base on the editing, this shot can be seen as a summary of “Chapter 6” (See Figure 8). The editing of the previous shots is cutting frequently, while this one is changing the frames through camera move. The fragment-like of the previous shots is a metaphor for scattered evidence, and the continuous one gives a summary of the evidence. Furthermore, this shot is put at the end of “Chapter 6” giving the audience chance to comment on the entire chapter combined with several fragmented shots：Grace is being raped in the open scene (with invisible door and wall), but no one else is paying attention. Additionally, with the title “In which Dogville bares its teeth” in Chapter 6, this shot plays as a beginning of the following oppression, imply that there will be more serious exploits happen to Grace.
Figure 8: "Chapter 6: In which Dogville bares its teeth"
In conclusion, by drawing the audience back from an immersing rape scene, this shot led the audience to draw an idea: it is wrong for Grace to be surrender and the villager is worthless to have sympathized. This argument contributed to inciting the audience to take Grace's side in the ending scene.
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Reference list
Badley, L. (2011). Lars von Trier. Urban Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Laine, T. (2006). Lars von Trier, Dogville and the hodological space of cinema. Studies in European Cinema, 3(2), 129-141. doi:10.1386/seci.3.2.129_1
Lübecker, N. (2011). Chapter 13: Lars von Trier’s Dogville: A Feel-Bad Film. In T. Horeck and T. Kendall (Ed.), The New Extremism in Cinema: From France to Europe (pp. 157-168). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
von Trier, L. (Director). (2003). Dogville[Motion Picture]. Denmark: Zentropa Entertainments.
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