Composition Analysis: The Manchurian Candidate

The scene of Captain Bennett Marco’s nightmare of the garden party begins with a panning shot that ultimately ends at Marco’s face. The panning goes from right to left, capturing items that indirectly characterizes Marco. The books shown in the pan include titles such as, Ulysses, Wall Street Men and Money, and Enemies of the State. These books are either for Marco’s further knowledge or for his entertainment, regardless Marco has interests very typical to his role, as a male and Captain of the American military; the classic heroism of Ulysses, the capitalism of America, and the “us against them” mindset. The pan continues with frame of a clock and a dish with many unfinished cigarettes that hint at his emasculation. The pan of the room ends at Marco himself, struggling to fall asleep. Marco’s fist is clenched, usually a sign of strength but in this case is a sign of struggle. Marco’s disheveled and disorganized demeanor is illustrated by his outfit, with his belt unbuckled and pants partly unbuttoned. The film emphasizes the importance of the nightmare using close up of Marco that lingers while fading into the next scene. As the camera begins to pan outwards from Marco’s face, the woman’s voice is discussing hydrangeas, a flower originating from Japan, suggesting orientalism. The camera proceeds to do a 360° pan around the room at various different speeds, to create an effect of confusion. At the pan, the garden party has transformed into the communist party, led by Yen Lo presenting his work of brainwashing the men. In the establishing shot of Yen Lo, he is framed by two massive posters of Stalin and Mao Zedong in the background, the heads of Communism. The men’s behavior has not changed along with their environment, the garden party in their heads and the brainwashing debut as reality. The communist audience is at an elevated angle, looking down onto the men on the stage, suggesting the power dynamics. The intertwining of both the garden party and communist party into single shots further suggest distortion of the brainwashed men. Yen Lo seems very detached from Communism, shown by his jokes towards the Communist audience and the subject of brainwashing, seeing himself merely as the genius scientist. While it is part of the distortion to impose women of the garden party onto the Communist members, the film’s choice of a garden party suggests an Orientalist mindset, the Orient as being feminine and ridiculous.