Characterisation in Drive

Characterisation is when information about characters is presented though their dialogue, actions and thoughts for narrative purposes furthermore mise en scene is used to present character style (costume and props), personality and actions (camera angles and shots) and additional information (sound and lighting).

The opening scene and the rest of the movie ‘Drive’ uses both Macro and Micro elements to present the main character is who portrayed by the actor Ryan Gosling.

The first shot of the character the audience only catches a glimpse of how he looks like but only from the back. The scene shows him looking out of the window and the camerawork is designed to show that the protagonist has a strong knowledge of the streets and is somehow linked with them. Furthermore the lighting is dark with the only source of light coming from a motel supplied lamp. This builds the mystery element for the character and infers that the character is isolated and alone always living on the move which contradicts the setting of Los Angeles which is busy and full of life.

As the opening scene progresses the protagonist's face still hasn't been proper;y shown which additionally builds mystery to who the character is and creates a feeling of compulsiveness to watch on and discover who the intriguing character is. The genre of the movie is now more openly hinted at with the mystery and action element.

The first clear shot of the character the audience has is a low angle mid shot which shows that the character is superior or has a sense of power/strength about him to give him control or a status of some kind. However similar to the previous shot the lighting of the shot is still very dark with only the city lights to show the character's face this further adds to the mystery of the character.

Throughout Drive the protagonist wears a retro bomber jacket which has a scorpion on the back. Not only does this link to the end of the movie when the character gives his monologue in a voice over. It also reflects on his personality - the metaphor of the scorpion shows that character can be calm and soft at times but when you cross him he's dangerous. Also as the main character is quite calm throughout the first half of the movie his actions near the end of the movie are quite surprising which adds a element of shock for the audience.

The protagonist personality and actions are very similar to those of cowboy films from the 60s. In typical cowboy films the hero comes to town and helps the damsel in distress or the towns people. Similarly the character in Drive moves into a new apartment and ends up saving his neighbours. He also chews on a toothpick similarly to the cow boys did in western movies.

So from the macro and micro elements in the scene the audience learns that the protagonist is;

Getaway Driver and Stunt Driver
A quiet loner which shows his mystery aspect
He's very calm under pressure and likes to be in control
Plans every action he does to the last detail
At the start he's submissive and seen as vulnerable but similar to a scorpion but once he's back stabbed he turns dangerous and violent.

Narrative

Narrative is the way the foundations of a story are arranged to present to the audience.

Tzvetan Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian philosopher and literary critic who was studying Russian folklore when he came up with his theory called the ‘Todorov’s Narrative Theory’ which states that most stories and plots follow the basic pattern.

Todorov’s theory can only be applied to old fairy tales or similar stories with the simple and easy to follow plotline however it’s quite unsophisticated and not very creative.

Poster I created on Canva

Vladmir Propp

Vladimir Propp was a scholar and literary critic who revised and read many Russian folk tales in the 1920s and realised that many of these narratives followed the basis of having similar character types

Claude Levi-Strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss was a philosopher and anthropologist whose theory of “Binary Opposition” suggested that narrative conflict was caused by a sequence of opposing forces. The theory is used to show how most aspects of narrative have an equal and opposite force.