The Lottery

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The lottery episode is a series of shots that jump between multiple lottery sites for charter school admission. As the numbers are called and the open spaces slowly disappear, the vast majority of the children in the crowd are totally heartbroken. Analyzing the cinematography, sound, and mise – en – scène of this episode gives a clear picture of Guggenheim's objective in this particular series of shots. In terms of cinematography, most shots are low angle or head on close ups. This really captures the emotion of the denied or waitlisted applicants. In a particularly emotional shot, the audience sees an extreme close up of a young Hispanic girl who wanted desperately to attend a better school who is fighting back tears as she listens as the last spots are filled. In terms of sound, this episode is uncomfortably quiet. It is the only portion of the film that has no narration for an extended period, the audience is left alone to take in the faces of these children. All that can be heard are the voices of administrators who are bringing joy to a few families and despair to infinitely more children, a few muted whimpers of crying children, and the music. The music is soft and slow. The notes are minor, which often has a melancholy effect on the listener. This short list of sounds is all that is needed to force the audience to feel the heartache of the applicants. Last, it is important to call attention to one bit of mise – en – scène. In the bottom corner of the screen, is a counter. The counter says how many spots remain at each of the schools. As the voice of the announcer continues to pick names, the number diminishes. It is a paramount addition to the scene. It is very obvious that a tiny percentage of the students will be able to attend these schools. This addition to the episode is what makes these shots so moving to audiences. Guggenheim does so much more by showing the lottery and the diminishing open spaces than he could ever do by listing the statistics of how narrowly available such a world class public education is. Again, all of these technical considerations point to the same thing, constructing an emotional argument in order to gain the audience's sympathies.