There Will Be Blood Analysis free essay sample

The film explores themes of ambition, loneliness, lust for power, false personas, hatred, lack of faith, mistrust and loss of humanity. Anderson explores these themes through the characters of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday. In addition to character exploration, Anderson uses a variety of cinematic techniques in order to subtextually portray these themes. These techniques include, contrasting lighting, long shots, wide angles and mis en scene. The first themes to be explored in There Will Be Blood are ambition and loneliness. The film begins with a wide shot of a vast and open terrain. This signifies the emptiness of our setting. We meet the character of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) deep below the ground in a mining shaft. Plainview is working in absolute darkness. This could be symbolic of Plainview’s current economic or social position. However, his loneliness and labor is a product of his ambition and lust for power. However, his loneliness and labor is a product of his ambition and lust for power. This ambition is visually revealed to us when Plainview climbs out of his mine and makes his way into town to sell his silver. All of this is done with a broken leg. This ascension out of the darkness of the shaft is visually symbolic of Plainview’s path to power. Plainview begins drilling for oil and becomes a more powerful figure. God like imagery is now associated with Plainview in order to visually portray this power. For example, pools of light gather behind Daniel’s head as he looks down into an oil rig. This makes him appear to be holy or God like. Eventually, a worker dies in Plainview’s oil rig and Daniel is left covered in blood and oil; this is a reoccurring visual element in the film. Another reoccurring element of the film is the association of oil with death. The worker leaves behind a child named H. W who Daniel adopts. The child wears white garments which are contrasted with the darkness of Daniel’s attire and the blackness of the oil that now consumes the landscape. These white garments could be representative of religious imagery. Daniel and H. W eventually go into business as partners. Daniel attempts to create the impression that he is a family man, thus making purchasing land easier. This introduces the theme of false personas. Daniel’s second false personas is one of a man who is driven by need to help his community. In reality all of his motives are interior. This explains the film’s contrasting lighting. Scenes with bright high key light are contrasted with scenes of darkness where Plainview’s face is hidden in shaddow. In turn, we begin to see a clear hatred of religion in Daniel. This introduces the theme of lack of faith. Daniel’s lack of faith could be attributed to his developing God complex. This theme is explored further with the introduction of Daniel’s antithesis, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Eli is a pastor who immediately attempts to exert power of Daniel by attempting to bless his oil well. Plainview responds by blessing it himself. This is further evidence for Daniel’s God complex which puts the characters in direct conflict. Both men are attempting to exert control over one another. Eli is attempting to bring Daniel into his congregation and Daniel is attempting to exert his power over Eli’s community. We see visual contrast between Daniel and Eli with how both men are framed in shots. Eli is often framed in tight shots with crowds and people around him. This is in contrast with Daniel who is framed in wide, empty shots. Daniel’s relationship with Eli shines a light on another theme, hatred. When Daniel starts a friendship with his brother Henry, he abandons his false persona and reveals his true self. Plainview admits to a deep seated hatred of humanity and his desire to be alone. The character of Henry is important due to the fact that Plainview places his trust in a person for the first time in the film. This trust is destroyed when it’s revealed that Henry is a conman. This introduces the theme of mistrust and signifies a character shift in Plainview. Daniel has now his humanity which is represented by his abandonment of H. W. Eventually, Eli attempts to exert power over Daniel by blackmailing him into being baptized. However, we are able to see that Daniel still holds full power through the God imagery association in the scene. A large bright cross is placed over Plainview’s head as he is being Baptized. Also, despite being on his knees he is still filmed as the dominant in the frame. The baptism is also used for ironic purposes because a man who lacks any humanity has now allegedly been saved. The film then jumps through time to the mid 1920’s. Daniel is living alone in an enormous mansion with nothing but a servant as company. This brings the theme of loneliness full circle. Plainview started out the film alone and in search of power. He now has massive amounts of wealth and power but is still alone. We also see a sequence in which Plainview drunkenly walks down a flight of stairs. This is visually symbolic of Plainview’s descension. This can also be compared to Plainview being underground in a mineshaft in the start of the film. Despite his long journey and quest for power, Plainview has made no progression. The film climaxes with a final meeting between Daniel and Eli. Eli demonstrates his false persona in this scene when he claims that he and Daniel are old friends. This is just in a desperate attempt to get money. This puts Daniel in the ultimate position of power. He forces Eli to abandon his faith by denouncing God. This acts as an anti baptism with Daniel performing it. In this scene the true animal within Daniel emerges as he maliciously controls all of Eli’s actions. We also see a final emergence of Daniel’s God complex when he proclaims that he is the third revelation (Eli’s Church). This scene also serves as a portrayal of hypocrisy. Eli, who allegedly operates as a moral figure throughout the film now abandons his faith for money. This scene also makes us wonder if Daniel, despite being a murderer, has more redeeming qualities than the hypocritical Eli. In addition Anderson sets Eli’s death in a bowling alley which could be symbolic of lying dead in a gutter which is a traditionally seen as a less than heroic way of dying. P. T Anderson uses a variety of cinematic techniques and visual symbols in order to add to his complex thematic narrative. Daniel Plainview is always shot as the dominant in the frame. This is symbolic of his power in the film. Also, as the film progresses the shots that Daniel are in become wider and emptier. This is representative of his loss of humanity and his isolation. Often times when we see Daniel the frame will be void of any other characters. In addition to this we often see a large empty landscape filled with spread out oil rigs behind Daniel. These oil rigs in a large dessert terrain come to be associated with Daniel’s character. Anderson also uses frames in order to isolate Daniel. He often times shoots him through windows and doorways. This is representative of Daniel’s detachment from others. Another symbolic image that comes to be associated with Daniel is fire. In a scene where an oil rig explodes, Daniel watches the fire with joy. The fire comes to be associated with Daniel’s burning ambition. However, it also comes to represent his hatred as evident by a fire burning when he kills Henry. Fire is also at times associated with H. W’s hatred as well. After weeks of being ignored by his father, H. W attempts to set the Plainview cabin on fire. Anderson also experiments with character proximity in relation to Daniel and H. W. Early in the film they are filmed very close together in medium shots and closeups. The expanding frame and distance between them becomes symbolic of their relationship. Evidence for this comes in a scene where H. W and Daniel are reunited. The scene is shot from an extra wide angle which takes away any sense of intimacy between the two characters. Another reoccurring visual element in this film is industry. Oil rigs, pipelines, trains and cars are all portrayed as motifs within he film. The film’s climax within the Plainview mansion also uses heavy visual symbolism. When Daniel descends the stairs his frame is filled with vertical bars from the banister. This is symbolic of Daniel being a prisoner in his own home. The film’s final sequence also visually depicts Daniel’s power as he hovers above a crying Eli. Also, when Eli lays bleeding and dying a gutter separates the two characters in a birds eye shot. This could be a reference to Daniel’s God complex. It also acts as a barrier between the two characters in reference to Daniel’s detachment. There Will Be Blood is one of the most interesting and compelling character studies in recent film history. P. T Anderson portrays the fall of a less than human anti hero that we ultimately feel sympathy for. The film’s innovative use of camera techniques, lighting, visual symbolism and mis en scene all combine to create a powerful narrative that highlights the nature of human flaws.