Let the right one in

Media Studies
Samrita Matharu

The mise en scene let the right one in is a very wintery setting and
reminds you of Christmas because of the pristine snow and the
setting is a very easy setting, because it is natural so it is
cheaper than other settings that have to be bought or made. Lots of
the film is done at night time and mostly Eli the Vampire comes out
in the night scenes making it seem more apprehensive. The décor of
the apartment is very old fashioned looking with wallpaper and old
fashioned furniture for example the cassette player. The clothing of
the characters contain old fashioned clothing that aren’t modern and
looks like something they would wear in the 70’s and 80’s. oskars
father is wearing old fashioned clothing which is a patterned wolly
jumper tucked in to his jeans . Also the characters school clothing
is very out-dated and so are the classrooms as they have black
boards and wooden desks for individual people. The snow used
throughout the film promotes a cold atmosphere which associates with
the genre of the film which is horror. The mise en scene throughout
the film promotes the horror look for example the darkness and
enclosed spaces which make you feel afraid of what’s going to jump
out. Eli also has a stereotypical vampire look as she has pale skin
and dark hair which contrasts with her skin as most stereotypical
vampires do, however she doesn’t fully take on the vampire
stereotype as she seems to be an ordinary child as Oskar see’s her.
Oskar is not a stereotypical boy because he carries a knife and
collects newspaper articles about knife murders which is very
unrealistic for a normal stereotypical boy to do. Oskar changes
throughout the film, at the start of the film he is much of a push
over and gets bullied, he’s too scared to put up with the bullies
and then meets Eli who changes his personality in to rebelling
against the bullies and retaliating with them.

The sound in the film is very cringy for example when the tables
been scratched it and it gives you the shivers through the spine.
Also the music used is very old fashioned and played on an old
fashioned cassette player. The music changed with the feeling of
Oskar. When Oskar is reading the note, there is sad music playing
showing he is upset which makes you feel sympathetic towards him.
The cat noises and screaming is adding to the apprehensive
atmosphere. The use of the piano in the music makes the atmosphere
more dramatic. The sounds used in the film build up the atmosphere
of the film and make you suspicious of whats going to happen next.
There are a lot of shivering sounds, when the door creeks it makes
you wonder whats going to jump out and also the scraping of the door
puts shivers through you and is a horrid sound linking to the horror
genre.

The camera work in the film varies as it sometimes has long shots
and sometimes has close ups. The close ups are regularly the sides
of the faces of two characters and they make you focus more on the
facial features of the characters whereas the long shots are used
make you more curious about what’s happening and want too know more,
especially when Eli is hiding to attack her victims. There is a long
shot when Eli is climbing in to the hospital window which make you
see the happenings from an outside view where as the close ups of
the two characters makes you feel what the other characters are
feeling. Eli has two sides to her she is very violent at some point
and loud and at other points she is very quiet and caring.

Eli is a very unusual character with different personalities from

when she’s a human to when she’s a vampire. She doesn’t like her
self as a vampire but as a human she helps Oskar with the bullies
and falls for him. She is seen as a hero in Oskars eyes and falls
for Oskar. She cares for Oskar very much which makes you feel happy
for him because he is very lonesome and upset about his life so
having Eli as a friend makes him happy.

Oskar isn’t a very sterotypical child as he collets newspaper

articles about murders and knifes which is creepy and makes you
wonder about his lifestyle, and makes you question, does he have
friends. He gets bullied so it shows he may be a little different to
the other school children, and this is shown through his fascination
with knifes and when he pretends the tree is the bullies and takes
out his anger on the tree. Oskar is seen as innocent at the start as
he gets bullied and does nothing about it whereas after he meets Eli
he turns violent and hits the bully, he changes Eli and makes her
more sympathetic.
Levis – Strauss theory is used in the film as the use of good and
evil is used, Oskar is a good innocent boy who seems a little weird
but doesn’t do anything wrong and there is the evil, the bullies who
are mean to Oskar and intimidate him. There is good and evil between
Eli at her normal state and Eli at her vampire state because she is
evil when she is a vampire and she hates herself for it whereas when
she is what seems to be human she is very caring and seems to care
about Oskar very much which shows she is caring and not evil.

Propp theory shows the different characters and in this film it

applies to some of the characters. I would see the princess as Oskar
because he gets rescued by Eli and he is very innocent, you would
think it would be the other way round because he is the boy but Eli
rescues and helps him defeat the bullies. The helper is Hakan who
helps Eli get blood and survive and he sacrifices his life for her
showing he cares a lot for Eli. Eli is the hero and also the villan.
She is a hero when she is caring and helping Oskar but also she is a
villan because she is making Oskar do all these horrible things and
killing people and making Hakan kill people to help her. However the
film doesn’t really have many of Props theory because most of the
characters have an evil and good side.

The film has a clear todorov theory as it has a clear beginning,

middle and ending. The start of the film has a pristine shot of the
snow and is set at nightime so it links to the horror of the film
because it produces a scary atmosphere and an equilibrium. The start
of the film shows that Oskar is a lonely child with no friends and
sitting by himself, in the middle of the film he gains a friend
(Eli) which he becomes attached to and learns to care for her and
fall for her and she tells him to fight back to the bullies, at the
end of the film he turns aggressive and reacts to the bullies as Eli
is telling him to.