THE SETS AND PROPS ARE NOT REDUCED TO BE BEING MERE BACKDROPS OR SIMPLE OBJECTS BUT ARE IN FACT CHARACTERS. THEY POSSESS A DISTINCT VOICE THAT SPEAKS TO THE AUDIENCE PROVIDING CONTEXT, HINT OF FORESHADOW, AND ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY. THERE MANY EXAMPLES THROUGHOUT THE FILM SOME OVERT SOME HIDDEN. HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES.
IN THE DRAWING ROOM THERE ARE MANY FRAMED PHOTOGRAPHS ON THE WALL AND EACH SPEAKS TO THE CHARACTERS AND ACTION IN THE ROOM. ABOVE IS ONE EXAMPLE WHERE THE IMAGE IS FORESHADOWING THE PATH THAT CHARACTERS ARE SET UPON. IT REFERS TO THE IMAGRY IN BRUEGEL'S PAINTING "THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH". SPECIFICALLY A GROUP OF MONKS WALKING PIOUSLY TO THEIR CHURCH WHICH IS OVERRUN BY DEATH. IT ALSO REVEALS THAT THERE IS NO ESCAPING THIS FATE. THE ACTUAL PROP PHOTOS IN THE FRAME ARE MINIATURES OF ACTUAL POLAROIDS. TO FIND OUT MORE ON HOW ALL THESE PHOTOGRAPHS WERE MADE CLICK THE SKULL
IN THE BALLROOM WE SEE TWO COUPLES WHO ARE PLAYING OUT THE DYNAMICS OF A RELATIONSHIP THAT THIER PEERS FIND INTOLERABLE AS IT INITIALLY CONTAINED LOVE AS ITS PRIMARY OBJECTIVE. BELIEVING THE YOUNG LOVERS TO BE INSANE FOR CHOOSING LOVE OVER POWER THE PEERS HAVE EFFECTIVELY ISOLATED AND QUARANTINED THE COUPLE. THE SET DEFINES THE STATE OF THIS ISOLATION AND WHERE IT MIGHT LEAD BY DRAWING FROM PRIMARILY TWO DISTINCT ELEMENTS: AN ASYLUM'S PADDED CELL, AND ALICE IN WONDERLAND. LIKE ALICE THEY ARE ENTERING A VERY STRANGE AND UKNOWN PLACE. BUT UNLIKE ALICE ARE ENVELOPED IN A SPACE MORE DENSE AND DOBFUL AND WATCHED OVER BY A WINGED SKULL, WHO MONITORS THE PAIR AS THEY BEGIN TO CHANGE THE DYNAMICS OF THIER RELATIONSHIP TO SOMETHING MORE RECOGNIZABLE AND DAMNING.
IN THE SCENE THAT TAKES PLACE IN HELL, SOME ELEMENTS OF THE SET ARE OF DANTE'S INFERNO 10TH LEVEL OF HELL AS ILLUSTRATED BY AUGUSTE DORE. THE VISUAL ALLUSION INCLUDES THE BEAST WITH WINGS WHO KEEPS COLD A FROZEN LAKE WHRE THE SINNERS ARE CONFINED FROM THE NECK DOWN. IN DANTE'S WORLD THE 10TH LEVEL IS WHERE THE MOST EGREGIOUS OF SINNERS ARE DAMNED ETERNALLY IN THE FILM THE DEVIL FINDS THAT THE SINS OF OUR CHARACTERS ARE SO EXTREME THAT EVEN ETERNITY IN THIS 10TH LEVEL CAN NOT BE MORE DAMNING THAN TO ALLOW THEM TO CONTINUE AS THEY ARE. IT IS A FURTHER EXAMPLE WHERE THE SET ADDRESSES THE SEVERITY OF THE CHARACTER'S SITUATION.
THE CHAIRS ARE INSPIRED BY EARLY PURITAN GRAVESTONES FOUND IN NEW ENGLAND. FOR EXAMPLE HERE THE COLONEL EMBODIES BOTH BRITISH COLONIALISM AND ITS VAST CULTURAL HEGEMONY AND RACISM. THROUGH OCCUPYING THE CHAIR THE COLONEL IS ESSENTIALLY INTERRED IN A GRAVE - BOTH HIS AND AND THAT OF THE OLD COLONIAL WAYS THAT ARE DYING IF NOT ALREADY DEAD. HERE THE PROP IS MAKING A DIRECT STATEMENT TO THE NATURE OF ITS OCCUPANT
ON THE TOP OF THE BIG CHAIR IN THE DRAWING ROOM IS PAINTED THE YEAR 1619 ALONG WITH AN HOUR GLASS. THIS IS THE YEAR THAT SLAVERY WAS BROUGHT TO AMERICA BUT EARLY ENGLISH COLONISTS WHO HAD A LABOR SHORTAGE. THE CHAIR LOOMS OVER THE CHARACTERS IN THE ROOM AND ACTS AS A CONSTANT REMINDER OF THE ORIGINAL SIN CREATED DURING THE NATIONS FOUNDATION AND A SIN THAT GOES IGNORED YET STILL HANGS OVER THEM AND THE HOUR GLASS REMINDS US THAT TIME ALLOWED IN INGNORANCE IS DRAWING SHORT.
