The new coming from the old is better than the old-Martin Scorsese’s film style from Vincent Minnel

Three hundred years ago, a magical apple fell down onto a sleeping boy’s head. It accidentally inspired him to come up with an important physicist theory a few years later. Nowadays, people call this theory “Newton's laws of motion”. This boy, one of the most prestigious physicists, is Newton. In 1960s the same situation happened in another day, a boy, sitting in a theatre, watching the first film of his whole life. In the film, the highly stylized set dressing, the colorful costume, the wonderful music and dance, altogether inspired him like a sparkle flashes inside his deep heart. The film’s name, The Pirate, as well as the director’s name, Vincent Minnelli, were deeply rooted in the boy’s memory. This boy, whose name is Martin Scorsese, not only was inspired and learnt from Minnelli, in terms of production design and music design, but also developed his own film style and blends his own expression into film genres, in his future filmmaking career.
Vincent Minnelli used to be a window dresser, has a bright sense of color and set dressing. He has a great ability to make production design, in terms of costume, set, lighting and color, be stylized and work dramatically. This sensitivity can be seen in his film The Pirate. For example, when Manuela (Judy Garland) first sees Serafin (Gene Kelly) on the stage, she wears a black cloak, rendering a sense of conservation, not only because of the color black, but also because of the clothes style, cloak, which covers her body overall. However, when she sings on the stage unconsciously, she gets off her cloak, showing her red long skirt inside. This red skirt, apparently contradicts with her conservative image, and reveals a different, rebellious image, implying her inner desire for exciting life, which in the film, is her cult of the pirate Macoco. In another example, when Serafin pretends himself as the Pirate Macoco at Manuela’s hometown, Caribbean village of Calvados, Minnelli sets the foreground a ship with the red background. This highly stylized set, displays another world, the pirates’ world, to audiences despite the narration does not include a real pirate’s life in the film. The redness he uses in this scene effectively reveals the fire and blood fulfilled in pirates’ life. The ship, obviously, embodies the pirates’ community on the oceans. In addition, the light always with Serafin, emphasizes his image in a dark-red background. This emphasis explains the headman’s importance status among pirates. Another talent of Minnelli is that he uses music to tell the story dramatically. “Mack the Black” expresses Manuela’s desire of pirates’ life and her cult for Macoco through the lyrics
“Evening star, if you see Mack,
Stop his wanderings and guide him back.
I'll be waiting patiently
By the Carib-BE-an or Ca-RIBB-ean Sea.”.
“Be a Clown”, played in the film twice, have different meanings each time. The first time, Serafin sings it to explain his innocence, that he is not the pirate Macoco, but an actor. While the second time, Serafin and Manuela sing “Be a Clown” together, express that Manuela accepts herself as an actress and the two lovers reach a harmonious unite, in both romance and career aspects.
Martin Scorsese’s stylized production design in his films, in terms of color, lighting, set and costume, to some extends, reveals Minnelli’s influence to him. First of all, Scorsese’s use of color is not only bold, but also expressive in his film, such as New York, New York. In the film, Francine (Liza Minnelli) and Jimmy (Robert De Niro) have dinner with Francine’s friend in Paul’s (Barry Primus) nightclub. When Francine and Jimmy quarrel with each other, Francine leaves the table, sits at the bar. At this moment, the color of the main hall, where Francine sits, is red, contradicts with the corridor, where Jimmy sits, green. This contradiction reveals the increasingly obvious conflict between Francine and Jimmy, originating from their different career: Jimmy plays saxophone for a small bar, while Francine begins to sing for a big studio. Another example, in Francine’s concert, everyone dresses in colorless clothes such as black, grey and white, except for Francine, who dresses in a bright-red robe. The redness on her reinforces her star status, and her rapidly developing career in the film. Secondly, Scorsese’s use of lighting stylizes and emphasizes the main character in the frame, which draws from Minnelli as well. In Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, when Alice plays the piano and sings in the audition, everyone else is in shadow and only Alice is below the light. Thirdly, the set in Scorsese’s film is also highly stylized and dramatic. For instance, the opening sequence in New York, New York, is set in a studio, where Scorsese aims at showing a sense of nostalgia of 1940s America in the film. This nostalgia, rendered by Scorsese, is through the large, circle stage with the multiple tunnels hanging on the ceiling; and the New York night scene background of the concert hall, which apparently is stylized by ignoring all the details but the shape of the buildings and the light through every window. Furthermore, the scene, in which Francine and Jimmy kiss in the forest, was as well shot in a studio. The yellow sky, the tall trees and the white snow ground, are stylized, rendering a sense of romance and warmth when two lovers fall in love with each other. Lastly, in terms of costume and makeup, Scorsese uses it as a means to show the development of characters in his films. In New York, New York, the hairstyle of Francine's changes shorter and shorter after divorcing with Jimmy. Her hair used to be long, but it shortens to shoulders when she goes to record her songs in a studio. When she sings in the “Happy Ending” and the concert, her hairstyle changes to be more curved and shorter when she is on the stage. The increasing shortness of her hair, to some extends, implies her ascending success and independence. While in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, when Alice becomes reconciles with her husband, she dresses in a bright-orange dress. The bright-orange here, reveals that the relationship between the couple takes a turn for the better. However, after Donald (Billy Green Bush) dies, Alice has to leave New Mexico and drives to Monterey. On her driving journey, she dresses in trousers and cardigan, and wears a hat, representing an independent image. Because the set she wears, renders a more macules image, different from her housing clothes at home, which is more feminine and submissive.
Despite drawing from Minnelli’s style, Scorsese develops his own style. Minnelli, as a director of classical and post-classical periods, although uses production design, music and film techniques to tell the story, he still insists on the traditional conventions of film genres. He uses everything in the film to serve for the genre. Scorsese, differently, uses a film genre as a vehicle, to express his idea, thoughts and show societal problems in United States. First of all, Scorsese’s use of music, unlimited to a mere entertaining goal, is a means to show off characters’ personalities and express his own taste. Scorsese’s nostalgia to the classical and post-classical Hollywood from 30s-50s can be seen in New York, New York, and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. However, the reuse of the pieces of old music in his films, creates new meaning simultaneously as well. In New York, New York, when Jimmy pursues Francine all the way to the restaurant she sings for, Alice is singing the famous song “You Are My Lucky Star” in Singin’ In the Rain (1952). Otherwise, after Francine falls in love with Jimmy, everything turns worse to her, and Alice gets involves with endless conflicts. They have different music styles: Alice’s is more commercial and popular. Nonetheless, Jimmy’s is more self-indulgent and experimental. They are always on the edge of emotions and as Alice says, Jimmy is hard to understand. After she gets pregnant, Jimmy leaves her alone, back to New York. Even though when Jimmy returns home afterwards, he never takes care of her and their baby. Therefore, apparently Jimmy is not a lucky star for Alice, which the song “You Are My Lucky Star” is a contradiction with the reality. In Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the opening sequence is playing "Where or When" originally by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, an old music piece in 1930s. The whole story about this film, is about a thirties widow striving for living, trying to get back the happy days she used to spend, through driving back to where she used to live. In this way, the theme of the film focuses on when Alice will arrive at Monterey, or where she will settle down. Therefore, here, the song “When or Where,” more than just nostalgia for the old days, is another expression of the theme of the film.
Besides the use of music, Scorsese takes advantage of a genre, as a board, to show the societal issues and reveal his own thoughts and feelings. Scorsese said in an interview, that he wants to “blend genre with himself” (Brunette, 177). New York, New York, is a musical, but at the same time, it is a film, aiming at showing the career conflicts and value conflicts between husband and wife when more and more women go to work from post-war America (Casper, 265). Francine is much more successful than Jimmy. She is talented in adapting to the most popular music style. When Jimmy returns New York, after failing to run the band, Francine has already got the opportunity to record her songs in big studio, even though she is pregnant by then. In the end, Francine hosts a concert, with a big band, and hundreds of audiences. Nonetheless, Jimmy ends up with only plays saxophone in a small bar, with a small band of four people. Moreover, the “Happy Ending” in the film, obviously is a reference to the “Broadway Melody” in Singin’ in the Rain in terms of the form, inserting a film into a film. However, it is not a simple homage, but an allusion, that the story of “Happy Ending” is actually a microcosm of Francine’s life, therefore, creating new meaning to New York, New York, specifically.
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is a road film, traditionally in which the hero leaves home to experience, see and learn more in the journey on the road, and reach the improvement during the journey (Casper, 217). However, Scorsese’s demyth of a road film, is renders by telling a story, in which the heroin is always trying to settle down, instead of continuing traveling. Plus, the title and the opening sequence of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, is a pastiche to the post-classical period. The blue background, pink font and the romantic music “When or Where”, reminds people of Doris Day and Rock Hudson’s Pillow Talk. The red background, studio set in the opening sequence, also calls up people’s memories about several post Hollywood films such as The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, and thus, represents the passed, old Hollywood period, when most films were made in the studio. This sequence, although completely different from the entire film, represents the passed, happy time of Alice in Monterey, possibly as well as the passed, happy time of the Hollywood and United States in the post-war period.
Newton said, “If I have seen further than certain other man, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” Martin Scorsese apparently stands on so many prestigious filmmakers, and Vincent Minnelli, is obviously one of them. However, it is useless if you stand upon the shoulders of giants but do not see further and finds newness. Scorsese, raised up by his predecessors, never stops his way of trying new and developing his own style of filmmaking. He learns, but not blindly. He departs, but not unintentional. New York, New York and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore are obviously, not enough to illustrate his success and achievement, on his way of adaptation and innovation. He still, has a long way to go.
Work Cited
Brunette, Peter. Martin Scorsese Interviews. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1999. Print.
Casper, Draw. Hollywood Film 1963-1976. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Print.