Allison Chen

Relationships between individuals often reflect one’s ability to conform to different societal standards; this can be depicted through cinematography. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before follows Lara Jean as her five love letters are delivered to the five different boys who she has felt intensely for. In an attempt to improve the situation, Lara Jean reluctantly agrees to partake in a fake relationship with Peter. As time progressed, Peter and Lara Jean both began to develop feelings for each other, though both were hesitant to confess. On the other hand, Edward Scissorhands portrays the life of an automaton, Edward, who has scissor for hands. When Peg, a door-to-door saleswoman, finds Edward alone in his inventor’s mansion, she brings him back to her home. Edward becomes framed for robbery, which transformed his soaring reputation into notoriety. In both films, Lara Jean and Edward struggle to escape isolation until both discover and form unique relationships. Though Lara Jean’s discovery was able to assist her in uncovering past anguish, Edward’s did not aid him in his perception of the world. Lara Jean’s more complex understanding of society allowed her to be accepted into society, whereas Edward’s innocence prohibited him from doing so.

Susan Johnson’s 2018 romantic comedy film To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before implements shot-reverse-shots, wipe transitions, and side lighting to showcase the maturity of Lara Jean. On the first day of school, Lara Jean walks through the hallways, where she accidentally collides with Genevieve. The camera then focuses on Genevieve with side lighting, as the narration begins introducing her. The narration explains how due to the difference in popularity of the two, they have grown apart (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 00:10:40-00:10:57). The side lighting demonstrates Lara Jean’s negative feelings towards this character. This simultaneously establishes Genevieve as the antagonist. More importantly, this demonstrates how Lara Jean understands how relationships can be broken by unreasonable causes, adding to her perspective of society. She acknowledges that not everything is going to result in her favor, and in this case, not everybody will accept her for who she is. This knowledge is crucial in regards to how she will react and recover from negative things said about her in the future. Lara Jean’s cautious personality is introduced in the opening scene of the film, which takes place in the mountains of Lara Jean’s fantasy. She imagines herself as the main character of her romance novel. As Lara Jean walks through the vibrant green meadow towards her “prince charming,” she is hit by a pillow that her sister Kitty throws. The wipe transition occurs and the following scene takes place in Lara Jean’s bedroom (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 00:00:00-00:00:55). Johnson introduces Lara Jean as a somewhat hopeless romantic, but also someone who is not willing to act upon this notion. As much as she dreams for her life to be a fantasy, Lara Jean knows that life is complicated. The pillow symbolizes reality; when Kitty throws the pillow at her sister, it is as if reality abruptly interrupts Lara Jean’s thoughts. Later on in the film, Lara Jean and Peter attend a school party in hopes of convincing others about their false relationship. Afterwards, they go to a cafe, where they open up about difficult issues in their lives. Lara Jean talked about her mother’s death, which led to her becoming scared of loving someone else in fear of losing that person. Peter discussed the struggles of his father leaving the family. The conversation was exhibited with shot-reverse-shots, with close-ups of the characters slowly alternating according to the dialogue (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 00:46:47-00:49:14). Through this conversation, the maturity of both characters are established. These traumatic experiences further prove that they understand the unfairness of the world. The alternating close-ups assist in conveying emotions. The emotional rapport built between the characters also allows more feelings to be invested in the characters. With the selected cinematic elements, Lara Jean’s thoughts and character are conveyed to substantiate her sensible mindset.

Conversely, Tim Burton’s 1990 romantic fantasy film Edward Scissorhands utilizes shot-reverse-shots, fade transitions, and high key lighting to establish the innocence of Edward. Edward is first introduced when Peg finds him in the isolated mansion on top of the hill. Peg slowly and curiously moves towards Edward as she asks about his father, in which Edward answered, “He didn’t wake up.” This conversation is showcased through the shot-reverse-shot editing technique (Edward Scissorhands 00:14:35-00:15:46). He expresses a more juvenile expression through his answer, implying that he does not understand the concept of life and death. Moreover, Edward is fearful, while Peg is curious and sympathetic. Similar to the shot-reverse-shots in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, not only could conversations be shown to the audience, but also emotions of each character. The exchange in sentiments demonstrates a mutual understanding between the characters. As a series of unfortunate events unfold, the townspeople grow spiteful of Edward, and the police are called to help capture him. Edward escapes back to Peg’s house and Kim begins to worry. As Kim places Edward’s arms around herself, the scene dissolves into a flashback of when Edward was with his inventor (Edward Scissorhands 01:24:55-01:25:00). For Edward, this intimate moment with Kim brings back memories of love and kindness his inventor has always given him. Even when the society presents so much hate towards Edward, his flashback of affection and warmth attests that he, himself, is full of altruism. He sees only the good in people. In To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, the wipe transition is meant for the opposite purpose of the dissolve in this scene—Lara Jean recognizes that her fantasy is illusory and not authentic. Contrarily, Edward is oblivious to the fact that people can be black-hearted towards the beginning of the film. As Peg drives down her neighborhood, Edward looks out the window. He becomes in awe as he observes houses of different pastel colors with their well-nurtured lawns. The scene is flooded with high key lighting as the sunlight shines down brightly on the seemingly picture-perfect town (Edward Scissorhands 00:16:00-00:16:34). From Edward’s perspective, the neighborhood is filled with happiness and peacefulness. He is convinced that life is nearly flawless, and if not, completely so. Burton implies that this is how Edward perceives life outside of the isolated mansion, or in other words, life outside seclusion. Unlike Lara Jean, who has dealt with unfortunate experiences, Edward is ignorant to the malevolence and ruthlessness of the real world. Through techniques used within the film, Burton is able to insinuate and accentuate Edward’s naïve nature.

Thus, the aforementioned cinematic choices—shot-reverse-shots, lightings, and transitions—all occupy significant roles in highlighting the details of their main characters. Using shot-reverse-shots to showcase the impassioned conversations, relationships between characters are strengthened and displayed. Johnson is more successful in doing so with her application of alternating close-up shots in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The close-up shots focused on the facial expression of the characters, which easily places importance on the intensity of the conversation. These aspects allow the shot-reverse-shot sequence to be influential. Secondly, her implementation of wipe transition provides a smoother and more creative way of evincing the personal thoughts of Lara Jean, allowing the character to be sympathized. In regards to lighting, Burton is able to clearly contrast Edward and the town through the ironic execution of high key lighting in Edward Scissorhands. This specific element serves a larger purpose in the whole of the story compared to the side lighting in Johnson’s film. Overall, To All The boys I’ve Loved Before utilizes cinematic techniques more effectively. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that both films achieved to depict the impact of their main character’s maturity—or the lack of—to buttress the extent each character is able to habituate to his or her environment.

 

MLA Citation

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Directed by Susan Johnson, performances by Lana Condor, 

Noah Centineo, and Emilija Barnac. Overbrook Entertainment Awesomeness Films, 2018.

Edward Scissorhands. Directed by Tim Burton, performances by Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, 

and Dianne West. Twentieth Century Fox, 1990.