The Manchurian Candidate Film Techniques

The Manchurian Candidate is a film which perfectly exemplifies force and agency in cinema, all while appropriately connecting their relevance as significant contributing factors in covertly allowing communism to infiltrate a country strongly opposed to it. In the film, Raymond Shaw’s power hungry mother, Eleanor Shaw, also known as Mrs. Iselin, uses her son and husband, Senator Johnny Iselin to rise to power as a “true American” while working as a double agent for the communists. Raymond Shaw became a tool under the subjection of force: a tool for his mother, for the Soviets and Chinese, and for communism. Simone Weil defines force as “that x that turns anybody who is subjected to it into a thing” (Humanities Core Reader 27). Just as force

made him a tool, it stripped him of his agency as a liable and acting human being. Agency is the ability to act responsibly for one’s own actions, and because Raymond was acting as a brainwashed man, he did not possess agency. This is made clear to viewers as they experience Raymond’s journey alongside him. Frankenheimer directed this film in a way that not only intrigued its audiences, but provided them awareness and insight into how The Cold War was a relatively dangerous time for Americans to be subjected to force and stripped of agency. Through the use of film techniques such as staging, lighting, and camera angles, viewers personally witness Raymond Shaw’s lack of human agency and the force to which he is subjected in order to understand how communism attempted to get a stranglehold upon the United States of America.
We viewers see force throughout the entire film because it is projected not only in the storyline and plot of the work, but it is incorporated into the film techniques.

We see force being exemplified through staging, lighting, and camera angles. Raymond’s brainwashing immediately and unwillingly makes him a victim to force and turns him into a weapon, activated whenever deemed necessary for his authority. An example of a scene from the film which employs all three of those techniques to portray Raymond’s subjection to force is toward the end of the film, when Eleanor Shaw explains to Raymond how he is to execute the president. Raymond has become a tool for his mother ever since she exerted her force as influence upon him and took control of his agency- or lack thereof. As she gives him careful orders, the staging is very significant because it represents authority and power. Raymond is sitting on a chair that appears to be low, and we can only see his back or his side for the majority of the scene whereas we can fully see Mrs. Iselin while she sits, stands, and walks around. The lighting upon Raymond is little and dark, whereas Mrs. Iselin’s figure is very illuminated, providing hard and soft lighting for emphasis where necessary. The camera angles are very significant in this scene because when the camera is placed at a low angle, we as viewers feel like we are sitting below, next to Raymond while we witness Eleanor Shaw giving her orders and directions. We experience her

overwhelming and powerful nature through this seemingly close proximity. Another example where film techniques are significant in the portrayal of force is the opening scene. Upon presentation of his medal of honor, Eleanor Shaw forcibly has Raymond take a picture with Senator Johnny Iselin, his stepfather, who is up for reelection, under a sign that reads, “Johnny Iselin’s Boy!”. Camera angles are relevant in this scene because they make us viewers feel like we are apart of the chaos and crowd surrounding the family. All the commotion and excitement seems so close by, and as the cameras follow Eleanor and Raymond’s conversation, it seems as if we are following them. From their exchanged dialogue and conversation we are able to conclude that Raymond does not consider Senator Iselin to be even close to a father like figure and that his mother orchestrated the entire event for attention and recognition. She, as the authoritative family member, attempts to control the lives of both men and forcibly exerts her influence upon them. The only difference is that Senator Iselin willingly complies, and Raymond must be brainwashed.
Agency is an important factor to consider where force is concerned because once an acting agent becomes an expendable tool, it is difficult for them to possess any amount of agency. Raymond Shaw was a tool under the subjection of force just as Senator Iselin was a puppet under the subjection of force. They hardly possessed agency and carried out the tasks that Eleanor Shaw wished for them to. It is exemplified how strong of a grip Eleanor has on Johnny Iselin when he acts upon her cue at the press conference with the secretary of state. Through the employment of film techniques, camera angles, we as viewers are able to determine that she uses media spectacle to secure her hand in the manipulation of media. She uses Johnny as a puppet, places him in front of the cameras, but is the mastermind behind the entire event. Although he is the one that's visible, she's the one controlling behind the scenes. When the secretary of state holds a press conference, we see cameras, microphones, and reporters spread throughout the entire room. We, through a lens, are able to view what the contemporary audiences of the press conference were supposed to view, but more personally because we get to see what happens behind the cameras. We view the entire event on a small television next to Mrs. Iselin, while she sits and nods cues at Johnny Iselin. The camera angles allow us to experience the entire event as though we are sitting next to Mrs. Iselin. At her cue, Senator Iselin rises and controversially makes the event of more interest for the media and public. By shouting out the number of communists in the American government and accusing the Secretary, he has secured for himself a name and authority by not divulging the information he possesses. These film techniques, showing a television screen of what's happening while we actually see it happening in the background, allows the audience to feel and react how the contemporary audience of the press conference felt and reacted. As Mrs. Iselin sits next to the television, we are able to see in comparison how she appear so much bigger, and the television so much smaller. This is symbolic because it provides recognition of her power and authority. A further example of how Johnny acts as a puppet is when he asks her to specify a number of communists easy enough for him to remember. When he asks, he does not appear as cool, composed, and confident as he does in public, He seems shy, timid, and pleaful. His behavior when he asks this of her shows that he is not allowed to possess the agency to be able to decide this on his own, he must abide by her commands and demands. Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the film and most significant in regards to agency, is Raymond’s lack of agency when he acts as a tool and kills his beloved wife and father-in-law, then later mourns them. The staging is very significant in this scene, and suspenseful because he shows up behind his father-in-law, and through the camera angles used, we feel as if we are standing behind them. When Raymond moves to kill, the camera shows us the reactions and we then suddenly feel distant, as if we are no longer in close proximity to the scene, as if we are no longer standing behind the Senator and Raymond. The lighting in this scene is very bright, and allows us to witness every part of the scene without being in the dark. If Raymond had possessed and been in control of his own agency, he never would have killed the only two people dearest to him in life, but because he was subjected to force and turned into a “thing”, he did. A similar text that discusses agency and force could be Homer's The Iliad. In that book, we see how the gods and goddesses manipulate and use the mortals to their advantage. They have far more power, authority, and agency compared to the mortals, just as Mrs. Iselin does compared to Raymond and Johnny.
The significance of creating and releasing a film such as The Manchurian Candidate in the early 1960s was to raise awareness to the American public that communism was able to stealthily enter the country, disguised as its own citizens.

Hypnosis was a largely feared concept, but more so, what it could do to people. In her essay in regards to Manchurian Candidates and forensic hypnosis during the Cold War, Alison Winter stated that,“the 1950s and 1960s saw intense anxieties about practices with immense power over human perception, motivation, memory, and behavior” (107). Her argument and discussion is significant to the film and to the Cold War Era because it helped people recognize how easily agency could be stripped away; people realized just how susceptible they really were to mind control. Just as Raymond Shaw’s perception, motivation, memory, and behavior were not solely his, the same was being done to American citizens for them to perform as tools and puppets at the hands of communism. Winter elaborates that “psychology occupied a central place in Cold War anxieties about scientific techniques that could be used for political purposes, and hypnosis was often center stage in the fears people expressed” (107). We see in The Manchurian Candidate that Raymond Shaw was under hypnosis and trained to re-enter that stage of hypnosis each time he was triggered to (upon seeing the red queen of diamonds). Eleanor Shaw used Raymond for political purposes- to promote and safeguard

Johnny Iselin’s political success, and to secure a communist stranglehold in America. “Hypnosis turned up in descriptions of Communist projects to take over American minds,” as exemplified in the film- this helps us to understand the justifiable fear and anxiety behind the Red Scare (Winter 107).
The Cold War and Red Scare revealed just how easily American citizens could be considered communists and just how easily they could be brainwashed to support a cause they never initially believed in. The Manchurian Candidate provides an insightful look into how successful a tool can perform once subjected to force and stripped of agency. Through film techniques, we viewers, as an audience are able to recognize how several mediums can be used to exercise authority- such as media spectacle.