“The set in order to be a good set, must act. Whether realistic, expressionistic, modern, or historical, it must play its role … The set must present the character before he appears, must indicate his social position, his tastes, his habits, his lifestyle, his personality.”
- architect and set designer Robert Mallet-Stevens, 1929
Film and architecture are the two leading art forms of the twentieth century (Neumann 1999), and must be considered in a reciprocal relationship as films both reflect views and shape opinions of architecture. Film is a fictitious genre, but the environments it presents are no less real than actual buildings or cities: they are revived each time a film is viewed and remain an artifact of the specific cultural condition which created them, perhaps as much so as a physical construction (Ramírez 1986).
The purpose of this work is to trace the role of architecture in the plot development of selected films, specifically how the urban environment is cast to create or support fear and dystopia in film*. The films discussed are set primarily in urban environments, which may represent certain cultural attitudes: the city is a concentration of society and as such can be portrayed as good or evil, and most often as a combination of both. The city is also an emblem of progress, supported by technological advancements and thus the most probable location for societies of the future to reside. Scenes of fear can be effectively created in rural or natural settings, but the dimension of dystopia – a society somehow gone wrong – is intrinsically tied to the urban environment.
"The overwhelming majority of dystopias have some connection to our world, but often in an imagined future or an alternate history. Furthermore, the dystopia was brought about as a result of human action or inaction, whether stemming from human evil or mere stupidity."
- Wikipedia, 2006a
The focus of the analysis below is not on the technical nature of the set and effects, nor to produce a judgement on the degree of success acheived, but on the character of the city: its role, its style and form, and how its portrayal contributes to the sense of dystopia or fear in the film. Urban environments are deliberately cast as major or minor characters, and what they express within that role is crucial to the successful development of the plot. The purpose of the urban environment in film, simply put, is to present an appropriate setting for the action of the plot. Whatever impressions the film intends to communicate – whether real or unreal, present-day or futuristic, sinister or benign – must be translated into a physical form which presents the actions of the plot in the most suitable and readable form. The development of the plot is connected as much to the credibility of the urban environment – indeed, sometimes more so – as to that of the characters in the film.