Kubrick's look: Donald J. Trump, Jack Nicholson in The Shining, R. Lee Emery in Full Metal Jackets, and Malcolm McDowell in “A Clockwork Orange”
Take a closer look at Kubrick's Gaze: an integral part of Stanley Kubrick's films and one of the most recognizable shots of cinema. How it works?
Well, for a timely example, look at the recently released police picture of Fulton County Jail inmate P01135809, also known as former US President Donald Trump. The face is tilted down rather than up, accentuating the brows, and the eyeline is not pointed at anything far from the frame but uncomfortably close to the viewer's line of sight.
This is Vincent D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket, shortly before he shoots R. Lee Ermey and then himself. It's Malcolm McDowell from A Clockwork Orange grinning from under the brim of a bowler hat. Jack Nicholson is in just about every scene in The Shining – and, frankly, in everything else.
Like Spielberg's look – an upside-down face glowing with amazement – Kubrick's look also implies. Perhaps a more appropriate word is “incriminating,” as the observer becomes a participant in the seething madness of the subject.
“You know what's going on here,” he seems to be saying. “And I know that you know. And I know you don't like it. And I love that you don't. As for the expressions you can choose for your police photo, that's pretty flexible.
Former US President Donald Trump& #39 ;photo of the police. Photo: Fulton County Sheriff's Office
Variations of the gaze have appeared in Kubrick's work since at least 1964's Dr. Strangelove, and even earlier in other directors' work. (Anthony Perkins' climactic look at the camera in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho is as close to Kubrick as close-ups can be.) cemented the look.
In a 2014 interview, McDowell revealed that Kubrick asked him to come up with an expression that he could use as the character's reaction to the deafening sounds of Beethoven's ninth string. “So I did different things,” he recalled. “[My] eyes seemed to be raised and glassy, and [my] mouth took on a strange look. And when he started laughing, we realized that we had it.”
Since then, actors and directors have been using it with overwhelming success. Anthony Hopkins smiling in his camera in The Silence of the Lambs was arguably the most intimidating Kubrick look that Kubrick didn't film. Joaquin Phoenix performed particularly unpleasantly as the young Emperor Commodus in Gladiator with bloodstains on his face. And for Heath Ledger, this was understandably the Joker's favorite expression in The Dark Knight.
Given the carefully crafted nature of the shot, it's always especially fun to have Kubrick's eye in the shot. wild. Trump photography now looks set to dominate this bustling sub-genre, though other recent notable examples include a number of recent Madonna Instagram selfies, including a plug twirling her eyebrows in February 2020 and an appearance by Sesame Street's Elmo in January 2022. , in which a fluffy red doll listens to his friend Zoey sing a song about Rocco, her favorite rock. The edge of insanity is closer than we would like to think.
Recent Comments