ideology: carol

• looking at the film through an ideological lens can lead to a reductive analysis and over-simplification of the subject matter
• when looking at Carol only through its ideological underpinnings, you radically politicise the film and this distracts from the complexity and nuance of the filmmaking
• Carol is a left-wing text, on the side of liberal social values
• the original book that Carol was based from:

  The Price of Salt
• How does Carol's daughter (RINDY) differ from the book and the screenplay?

  In the original book, Rindy is referred to but never about part of the narrative. In the film, Rindy is much more present existing as a two-dimensional character.

  • exists only as a narrative device for illustrating the depth of Carol's maternal instinct
  • characterised Carol as a saint and paint her as a victim
• How has the role of Harge been changed for the screenplay?

  in the novel, he is a background presence and rarely featured in the action (focusing on the intensity of the relationship). In the film, he is a clear antagonist.

  • he is a symbolic figure standing in for the horrors and patriarchal repression as a whole
  • a negative representation that you could argue is ideologically motivated
• How is Harge presented as an antagonist?

  constantly trying to manipulate Carol

  • by threatening, whining, and convincing her to conform to his wishes
• Scene example of Harge as the antagonist:

  the scene where Harge threatens Abbey

  • he is in dark clothes (black hat and gloves and driving a black car)
  • he stares through a small square window resembling a stalker or killer
  • a drone in a minor key enters the score to indicate his evil intentions and a sense of threat
• there is a non-political argument for these changes due to Carol being a mainstream film
• Since Carol was distributed by the Weinstein Company we can assume that it was aiming for a wide audience
• Mass audiences need a clear division between antagonist and protagonists, a clear binary conflict to hang onto.
• A film solely focusing on a romantic lesbian relationship in the 50's which lacked external conflict may have had less commercial potential
• by restricting Carol to its left-wing status, one is robbed from its aesthetic subtleties
• aesthetics in Carol:

  • red and greens in the mise-en-scene
  • aesthetic references to the paintings of Edward Hopper
  • and the final scene is a Homage to Hitchcock's Vertigo