Desperately Seeking Susan A life so outrageous it take two women to live it
01 Message 02 Social Context 03 Cultural Influences 04 Casting 05 Colour 06 Stlying & Prop 07 Audio 08 Moving Forward
Message - Transformation of both roberta and susan - journey and adventure away from surburbian life - self discovery and liberation of roberta
- Strays from the male dominated attitudes of the 1970’s - Became iconic due to the number of powerful women behind production and as the protagonists. - Confidently represented the new found freedom females were experiencing due to the equal rights acts being passed just prior to production.
Social Context
Cultural Influence
- Celine and Julie Go Boating - The Wizard of Oz - Mythical and Magical associations with Eygpt
Casting
Rosanna Arquette
VS
Diane Keaton
- Initially wanted Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn to play the roles of Roberta and Susan. - The studio wanted the film to have younger actors in order to appeal to younger filmgoers. - Orion wanted a valued name to sell the film and Rosanna Arquette fit the bill and was cast as Roberta, the lead role and intended star. - Madonna was chosen for her confident sense of herself and her style.
Madonna
VS
Goldie Hawn
Colour - Colour has been very important and cleverly used throughout the film and creates two distinct worlds at the very start of the film. - The middle class suburban housewife has a pastel colour palette. - Susan’s palette is more vivid and harsh, almost neon in certain places. - Lighting isn’t natural in the New York locations, especially in the night time shots, but most scenes seem to have two strong, contrasting main colours.Red and Green. - Green is a dominant colour throughout. It’s the symbolic colour for rebirth, renewal and also money. - The limited colours also encourages audiences to focus attention to particular pieces of information. These methods are used to highlight and emphasise moods and objects and also create a hyper-reality.
Styling & Prop - costume designer - Santo Loquasto - 80’s punk styling highlights the expressive energy of the youth culture. - Middle class people featured in the film are seen wearing pastel simple, classic clothing in contrast to the youthful care-free people. - The iconic egypitian jacket Susan wears in the film portrays her care-free attitude
Audio - use of madonnas music -strong female artists -pathetic fallacey
Moving forward
Thank You Jay Alice Fiona Rosie Niamh Elonore