Mise-en-scene's Impact

      I chose to watch the tv-show comedy, The Good Place. The Good Place is a show about four different characters are seemingly accidentally allowed into "the good place" after their deaths, as opposed to "the bad place." Later on in the show, you learn that the "good place" is in fact, "the bad place" as all of the four characters the show focus on are so discontent and distressed with their experience.

     Lighting plays a strong role in the show from the very beginning. In order to make the "good place" seem truly good, they use bright, high-key light, commonly associated with heaven and goodness, in order to do so. When the main character, Eleanor, arrives in the good place, a bright light shines behind her. This signals to the audience the nature of the location in which she has arrived.

     Costume is also used by helping to define the different character's personality. For example, one of the characters is presented as uppity and pretentious. She only wears name brand clothing and in one scene where she is forced to wear cargo pants, she is extremely unhappy. In this way, costume helps define the different characters and help the show present their different natures.

      Setting is especially important because the "good place" is supposed to be representative of heaven. The sky is always blue, the streets are never dirty, the different buildings are all bright and new, and the landscape is all rolling green hills. Because the premise of the show is having the different characters believe they have made it to the "good place" the setting is highly important in convincing the characters they have truly made it.

     Finally, staging is used to help make the show successful. For example, the opening scene of the show is a shallow scene of Eleanor waiting on a couch in a waiting room. She is sitting with her hands crossed on her lap and this displays how she is waiting to get into heaven. Then, they use deep scene when Eleanor first sees the "good place." It is a wide shot of Eleanor with the different buildings and setting of the "good place" behind her. Staging is used to help the viewer feel different emotions, for example, a sense of waiting in the first scene, and awe in the second, to convey different points.

     Overall, lighting, costume, setting, and character all help the show succeed and be compelling to viewers.