Singing in the Rain
An Analytical Essay
11/13/2012
One too many love stories portray the stuck up celebrity brought
crashing down to the ground by the humbling power of love. Singing in the Rain
is refreshing that way. Despite his swooning fans, Don Lockwood is a sensible down
to earth kind of guy who values the important things in life. Kathy Selden at
first assumes that Don’s pride would be insufferable and tries to bring him
down a few notches. She later comes to the pleasing realization that it was not
necessary at all. This aspect of Don’s character has a presence throughout the
movie and has an overriding effect irrespective of the story arc.
The character of Cosmo is a far cry from the usual freeloading
celebrity sidekick. He is portrayed as a talented and exuberant person who
often helps Don when he is feeling at a loss. The strong friendship between Don
and Cosmo is another aspect of the movie that is not altered in any way by the
story arc and is a force to reckon with throughout the movie. This is probably
why I noticed more than a couple of medium close-up three-shots of the two
friends with one other person. For example, the three-shots of Don and Cosmo
with the diction coach, R.F. (the studio head) and Kathy Selden.
The stars are caught in a tricky period of time when Hollywood is in
the upheaval of transitioning from silent movies to ‘talkies’. The blossoming
love between Don and Kathy and the world of Hollywood movies are the two
parallel strains of the story.
A scene where these two worlds clearly meet is the one in which Don
professes his love for Kathy in the empty movie set. This throws into sharp
relief the fact that their romance is moving in tandem with their professional
careers. This scene is a pleasant meeting point for these two sides of the
Mobius strip. The two domains again
commingle on an amicable note when Kathy agrees to do the voice for Lina Lamont
with no worries about her own career. She does this due to two reasons- one is her selfless
love for Don and the other is her strong belief that ‘the show must go on’. Towards
the end of the movie, these worlds collide when Lina Lamont tries to exploit
Kathy Selden and declares that she is going to keep using Kathy’s voice for her
movies. When Kathy runs out of the theatre, Don declares to the audience that
the beautiful voice they heard during the movie was indeed Kathy’s. In doing
so, he is at the same time declaring his undying love for Kathy.
One cannot write a paper about ‘Singing in the Rain’ and not talk about
the singing in the rain!! I think this scene quintessentially captures the
fierce happiness of being in love. What makes this song incomparable is that
along with each of Don’s lively steps, one gets to hear the splashing dance of
the water as well. The diegetic truth of the sound of water makes the song a
more tangible and unforgettable experience. It is ironic that this splashing
sound has been painstakingly perfected in a sound recording studio and so much
effort and deliberation has gone into something that comes off as completely
carefree and natural. Along those same lines, I would also like to mention the
bright red objects that have been purposefully incorporated into the scene to
catch the viewers’ eye during the song- like Don’s shoes, mailbox, flowers,
flowerpots and fire hydrant.
Don’s description of the song ‘Broadway Melodies’ towards the end of
the movie was remarkable in the way it played with visual volume and depth of
field. The song starts off with a medium close-up of Don in a bright light with
the rest of the shot completely dark. Soon the camera zooms out whereby Don and
the light get really small and the visual volume is taken over by the darkness
that surrounds the light. Suddenly, parts of the darkness get lit with brightly
colored Broadway signs, the bright purple stage gets lighted, and the stage
swarms with dancers. A super colorful musical production ensues which ends as
it began, with a medium close-up shot of Don.
