What techniques does the director Danny DeVito use it the film Matilda to illustrate that the character Agatha Trunchbull, is evil and malicious?
The film Matilda directed by Danny DeVito in 1996 has many evil characters in it, but none quite so evil as the repulsive Agatha Trunchbull. DeVito has used many different techniques to Make Ms Trunchbull appear more malevolent than she actually is. Some of the Techniques he has used are lighting, appearance, personality and camera angles. All of these put together has created an evil and nasty character, with a powerful and scary atmosphere. This is how DeVito has used these techniques in the film Matilda.
The appearance is very important for people who are watching a movie, so they can see what the person is like. By looking at a person’s clothes you can see what sort of style they have and therefore what kind of person they are. Agatha Trunchbull wears a green knee length coat with a leather belt, with white shirt and tie underneath it. On her feet she wears knee high
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socks and brown leather shoes. Looking at the picture you can see that the director Danny DeVito has used these clothes so that Ms Trunchbull appears stern and dressed like the military, also showing that she has power over the children at her school. Ms Trunchbull appears to look like she is careless in appearance because she hasn’t got a pretty face and she doesn’t wear makeup so she doesn’t look like she cares about what people think of her appearance. In the picture the shadows fall across Ms Trunchbull’s face and her facial expression make her look scary and gloomy. Ms Trunchbull is shown to always be perspiring, making her look like she is always angry, hot and bothered. DeVito has used these techniques to make Ms Trunchbull look scary through her appearance alone. While appearance does tell you a fair bit about the character portrayed, the personality and language tells you more. Agatha Trunchbull is displayed as a strict, nasty and scary principle who hates children. Danny DeVito made Ms Trunchbull like this to appear ruthless to the viewers. She hates children, or something innocent to look naturally evil and hatred. She says to the class “The best type of school, is one with no children.” Ms Trunchbull is extremely loud and sharp tongued and is not afraid to dish out the insults. She makes herself so loud so it seems like she can’t be judged, and so people are scared of her. Ms Trunchbull is very unreasonable and will harm and abuse anyone for nothing. For example, she put Matilda in the chokey, a device of punishment or torture, for what her father did, which was cheat Ms Trunchbull off of her money and sell her a faulty car. The personality is what makes up a person and this is how the director, DeVito, has illustrated Ms Trunchbull. Finally, the surrounding lighting of Agatha Trunchbull.
Lighting is a technique used by film makers like Danny DeVito to sub-consciously or discreetly show how the antagonist is evil. In every scene where Ms Trunchbull is, it’s a dark, shadowy and dimly lit place. The technical word for this is low key. This is so the viewer can feel the villainous atmosphere surrounding her. Ms Trunchbulls dim and dreary surroundings also make her appear even more terrifying than she actually is. Her clothes and face looks scarier and her presence darkens the doorway. The only time in the whole movie where the is a shred of light on her is when she is being overpowered by Matilda and when all of the other students are ambushing her. DeVito adds the light on her to represent that she is losing power and is terrified of what’s happening. Agatha Trunchbull is a repulsive person, and DeVito has used lighting to make her look like a much scarier person than she actually
is. In conclusion, the movie Matilda directed by Danny DeVito has used lighting personality and appearance to make the main antagonist, Agatha Trunchbull look truly evil, malicious and even more repulsive. All of these techniques have been used successfully to make an evil character, and made Ms Trunchbull look malicious through the film techniques alone.
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personal appearance in the movie. When you make judgments on appearance then you don’t get the