'Cape Fear' Textual Analysis

At the start of the film ‘Cape Fear’, there is a shot of water. This immediately creates an enigma for the audience, as they are wondering what this water has to do with the film. As the title is anchored on screen, a musical sting appears. This tells the audience that this water is very important, and in some way relates to the title. After the sting, the credits begin to roll while a non-diegetic soundtrack builds up in the background. The soundtrack has a very creepy feel to it. It is slow, almost heartbeat like, telling the audience that important, life changing things may have happened at this lake. The music is also contrapuntal to how the water is flowing. The water is flowing at quite a fast pace, while the soundtrack is slow. This gives the audience a feeling that unusual things that are out of the ordinary may happen at this lake.

Under the water, there is a shot of a bird of prey, swooping towards the camera. This gives viewers the connotations of death, or being hunted by predators. This leads to them feeling on edge and wondering why the bird of prey is being shown and what meaning it has.

The next shot that the audience sees from under the water is a pair of eyes, moving quickly from side to side, showing a state of panic. This reminds the audience that water is the unknown, and gives them enigmas as to why the pair of eyes are there and why they are panicking. Because the eyes are under the water, it gives the viewer the connotation that this person may be being drowned in some way. There are then similar shots from under the water of various facial parts. This could mean that piece by piece, the person’s body and mind are getting shattered and they are heading for death.

After the shots of the facial parts, the flow of the water changes and the non-diegetic soundtrack builds up more and gets slightly louder. As the flow of the water changes, another face is seen, but this time in a different way. This face is in full view, and clearly a reflection, showing the audience that this person is above the water, and not below it. This gives them connotations that this person may have just killed the other who was seen under the water. The face then fades away and the new water flow is clearly seen, and looks very much like a life support machine that are seen in hospitals. This gives the audience more connotations, this time of death and disease. The water also turns green, which is usually known as the colour of envy, jealousy or revenge, meaning that the man seen above the water may be jealous of something or someone that the other person had.

As the credits begin to end, a drop of blood is shown, dripping agonisingly slowly down the screen. As it moves down, the water turns red with it, giving the audience the feel of blood in the water, and death.
After the sea view is covered in crimson, the shot dissolves into a shot of a girls eyes staring dead at the camera. This shot could show the audience who might be possible for the apparent murder in the montage of the title sequence. Also the credits from the titles ends here, which tell the audience that the official start of the film begins on the dissolve.

The colours of this opening piece of cape fear is symbolic of the events that take place and the time in which they take place. The change from red to negative is an example of this. The red symbolises murder, and the change of colours contrast this, as the eyes gives a sense of innocence making the audience believe she can’t be in on what happened during the credits. Also, the negative produces the main colours of black and white, which symbolises that this shot was taken in the past.

After this colour change, the screen colours return to normal bringing the audience back to reality. As well as this, the intense soundtrack stops as the girl is about to talk, making the audience believe that whatever this girl has to say must be important. Also her choice of dialogue is complex and interesting to listen to which could show that she seems to be some sort of expert on the subject of ‘Cape Fear’.
The Mise-en-Scene in this sequence influences audience reactions towards the girl and cape fear. Firstly, we see that it is raining outside of were the girl is talking. This already makes the scene gloomy and depressing for audiences. As well as this, the main colour theme in this sequence is white, and this is made obvious as she is wearing a white polo t-shirt in front of a white painted wall. Usually in films the colour white usually suggests insanity, which could prove relevant later in the film. Finally, upon closer inspection the audience sees that she wears her t-shirt with her top button done up. This suggests that she is from a higher class of society.

But as soon as she stops talking, the shot cuts to some pictures on the wall and the loud non-diegetic soundtrack begins again, bringing the audience back into the main thriller ideology of the film.

The next shot we see is an establishing shot of the main character Max Cady working out in a prison cell. The non diegetic sound of a soundtrack shows builds tension and a sense of mystery to who the new character is. The camera shot pans down from behind Max. As the camera tilts/pans down we can see that the pictures of dictators such as Stalin are hanged on Max’s prisons wall. This shows that he may believe in a sense of power and authority and also in history Staling is know for being a psychopath which could show a connection between the two. Towards the end of the shot, we can see that on he’s shelf we can see books, which contain law books and a bible. This also backs up the point that he believes in the law and justice. The next shot shows the viewing audience that he has a very well toned body which shows strength and also that he has a large tattoo on his back. The director uses the tattoo of a scale’s of peace and justice. This straight away tells the audience that Max has a sense of peace and justice which also might lead to why he was put in jail in the first place.

When the guard comes into release Max we can see that from his facial expressions he doesn’t seem to be in anyway excited that he is being let free from jail. This causes suspicion to the audience and also it shows that he has some sort of job to do because he doesn’t take any of his possessions with him. As the camera pans around the prison stairs we can see that all of the other prisoners are standing in there cells watching Max getting released. This shows that they are interested in the fact that he is leaving, this could be due to the fact that they are either scared of him or look up to him. Also when Max is walking, we see that the prison guard is walking behind him which shows that Max has the authority. Throughout the clip we see that there is only 3 cuts. This makes the scene seem slower which enables the audience to get a better idea of what is actually happening.

As Max leaves the prison the editor uses a jump cut to keep the viewer engaged in what is happening and it is obvious that he has served his sentence in prison. This shows that the suspect may have been rehabilitated from his wrong but also suggests that he has set him self a mission to accomplish.

Secondly we see the ex convict leaving the prison walking in front of the guards on his own. This emphasises the power that he still has and demolishes the idea of him being rehabilitated. Silence is also a big factor to take upon in this part of the scene as just after he walks out of the prison gate we can hear birds tweeting which shows that the prisoner will be committing a serious and harmful crime and his next victim was only safe when he was in prison. All faint noise is broken when he is asked if ‘any body is coming for him’ implying to pick him up from the prison. This could also mean that he might be under very close observation from a police officer or a gang which he has caused trouble to in his past. Despite the endless amount of enigmas created he does not answer and only slightly moves his head to show that even if he is under close supervision nothing will stop him from his target which is yet to be established.

In comparison to this just before he leaves the prison gate we see in the back ground a prison guard with a trailer carrying all of the ex convicts books. The fact that he is not pushing the trailer with his personal belongings shows that he will not fear being caught and being put in prison again and will not be stopped from completing his desired mission. The prison guard in the background is slightly blurred and the main focus is on the ex convicts face expressions which is very casual as if he knows what he is doing and has planned this before. It also shows emphasises his strong morality and control over society. When he is asked “what about your books?” he replies “already read them”. This explains to the audience that in his prison sentence he has educated himself into believing a certain aspect that is taught by the books has convinced him what his main purpose of life will now be. It also shows that he doesn’t want them because he has spent his prison sentence revising them, maybe planning an attack on a group or a certain individual based upon what the books preach, and as we could see when he was still in the prison he had pictures of dictators and he had the scales of justice tattooed on his back which may also suggest that he is going to gain revenge on some one, maybe to the person who made him go into prison in the first place?

During the dialogue between the prison guards and the ex convict there is no soundscape or incidental music but then from a match cut we see him walking away from the prison in a very casual style. A storm begins to build up in the back ground with overwhelming black clouds. The short moment of silence emphases the ‘calm before the storm’. It shows that his upcoming victim was able to live a peaceful calm lifestyle whilst he was in prison but now that he is out everything will changed to a hectic, horrific experience which may lead to death as some storms can be so bad they cause deaths.

The scene is ended with the ex convict walking towards the camera which then transforms into a close up on his face as he walks towards the camera. This shows that he has no fear and his decisions have been made, there will be no stopping the unleashed prisoner.




- Brad Hart, Tom Winn, David Huxford, Taylor Gladwin