Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri As An

Abstract: This article approaches Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards C R Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) as an emotional hybrid, of which the I aesthetic strategies convey and embody three inextricably intertwined S Anger, Grief, and I affects: anger, grief, and dark humour. It argues that the emotions of the S protagonists are all consuming, because these are entangled in such a way that it enlarges their personal traumas and prevents them from work- & ing through their grief and anger. It analyses anger, grief, and dark humour Dark Humour: C in the film to demonstrate that these affects are not separate, but inter- R twined throughout the narrative trajectory of the film in an aesthetically I coherent and concise manner. The article hopes to show that this hybrid T I Three Billboards affective quality does not function as a marker of tension between dif- Q ferent emotions. Rather, it facilitates dynamic fluctuation between these U emotions, thus opening up avenues for different courses of action by the E characters, which in turn are affectively recognised by the spectator. In / Outside Ebbing, this way the hybrid emotions function as an organising principle of the Volume 7.2 / film’s aesthetic structure organically from within, rather than as ele- Issue 2 ments attached to the film externally. This operational logic makes Three Billboards a remarkable film in its affective-aesthetic orientation, both Missouri as an towards its own world and towards its spectator. Keywords: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; anger, grief, dark ‘Emotional Hybrid’ humour, cinematic emotions Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh, 2017) stars Frances McDormand in an Oscar-winning performance as grief-stricken Mildred Hayes, whose teenage daughter Angela was raped and murdered in an extremely cruel way by unknown perpetrators, who got away with- Tarja Laine out a trace. The three billboards in the title refer to the large, abandoned signboards along the old, unused highway leading up to Mildred’s house, which she rents in order to demand publicly why the town’s police chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) has achieved nothing towards solving the heinous crime. Willoughby, who is suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer, will not be provoked by the billboards though, but his incompetent, openly racist deputy sheriff Dixon (another Oscar-winning performance by Sam Rockwell) has strongly different feelings about the situation. The triangular relationship between Mildred, Willoughby, and Dixon makes the film best categorised as a character-driven revenge drama. It lends itself particularly well to research into shifting strategies of character engagement, fluctuating between sympathy and antipathy, as well as between moral and perverse allegiance, among other approaches.1 Another 1 Moral and perverse allegiance are notions by Murray Smith that define our emotional engagement with film characters in ethical terms. They refer to cinematic strategies that invite the spectators to become allied with a character through an evaluation of this character either as morally desirable or 209 Anger, Grief, and Dark Humour rewarding approach would be to study the physical performance of the C as the billboards are founded in the ground, thus turning into a living em- C R R actors, and especially that of the strong female lead of the film, in order I bodiment of the message that the billboards communicate. The billboards I to understand how the spectator grasps the attributes and the affects of S themselves show a bright red background with the message written in a S a character. As Vivian Sobchack argues, “it is the actor’s lived body that I heavy, black uppercase font with an in-your-face effect. The scene is cross- I S S makes the character intelligible, because the character’s ‘inner’ experi- cut to Dixon watching the live transmission with his mother from his living ence is only manifest through the actor’s ‘outer’ performance.”2 & room, while the diegetic, simultaneous voice-over by Mildred recounts the & But instead of analysing Three Billboards either on the basis of dreadful events of her daughter’s death in a remarkably calm and com- C C character engagement or acting performance, this article strikes another R posed fashion, which ties the scenes together. R note. It approaches the film as an emotional hybrid, of which the aesthetic I The outwardly calm affective quality of Mildred’s voice-over, both I strategies convey and embody three inextricably intertwined affects: T in conflict both with her inner reality and with the content of the story she T I I anger, grief, and dark humour. I argue that the emotions of the protago- Q is recounting, is significant in many ways. First, the voice-over makes her Q nists are all-consuming, because these are entangled in such a way U author of a narrative in a situation she hardly controls. Her “cool anger” U that it enlarges their personal traumas and prevents them from working E functions as “a way of regaining control or asserting dignity in a situa- E 4 through their grief and anger. All three protagonists remain highly dam- / tion of helplessness.” Secondly, the voice-over assumes the function of / aged characters, who are able to exit the narrative either through suicide what Michel Chion has termed “acousmatization”, leaving us only with Volume 7.2 / 5 Volume 7.2 / (Willoughby) or through an open-ended revenge mission (Mildred and Issue 2 the sound to imagine what has happened at a crucial moment in the story. Issue 2 Dixon), which does not really bode well for them, regardless the rather In her Acoustic Mirror, Kaja Silverman has pointed out that especially in mellow tone of the ending. My analysis starts with anger, then moves on classical Hollywood cinema, where men speak and women are spoken of, to grief, and finally to dark humour in a way which hopefully demonstrates the female voice is hardly ever heard in an acousmatized form.6 Thus, the that these affects are not separate, but intertwined throughout the narra- saliency of Mildred’s voice-over in this scene functions as a powerful re- tive trajectory of the film in an aesthetically coherent and concise man- claiming of female voice, enunciating the story with direct effect on Dixon ner. Furthermore, I hope to show that this hybrid affective quality does as well as on Willoughby, who also is watching. And in the third place, the not function as a marker of tension between different emotions. Rather, voice-over articulates moral conscience, effectively putting the blame for it facilitates dynamic fluctuation between these emotions, thus opening the unsolved crime on Willoughby and his associates, who consequently up avenues for different courses of action by the characters, which in turn feel guilty after being addressed by Mildred in this way. Bernard Williams are affectively recognised by the spectator. In this way the hybrid emo- has proposed that guilt is rooted in the sense of hearing, as in listening to tions function as an organising principle of the film’s aesthetic structure the voice of judgment7, which in the interview scene results in Willoughby’s organically from within, rather than as elements attached to the film being emotionally upset. This is clear from the shot following Mildred’s externally. television interview, which shows Willoughby seeking solace from his horses, accompanied by the melancholy guitar tune that functions as a musical motif in the film, signifying loss. Anger In one crosscut shot to Dixon’s house there is a close-up of his televi- In her Upheavals of Thought, Martha Nussbaum tells us that “anger is sion set with Mildred looking directly at the camera—against the explicit sometimes justified and right. It is an appropriate response to injustice instructions given earlier by the television crew—while accusing the local and serious wrongdoing.”3 The scene in which Mildred is interviewed by police of being “too busy going around torturing black folks” instead of the regional television news reports at the location of the billboards is an spending their time solving crimes. The provocation works, which is evident example of such an appropriate response. It both acknowledges that serious wrongdoing has taken place, and addresses it in a way that combats injustice. The scene starts with a circular pan that frames Mildred within 4 Nussbaum 2016, p. 47. an extreme long shot in such a way that two of the three billboards stay 5 Chion 2009, p. 465. At some point of the film we see a glance of a forensic photo in Angela’s case file, behind her in a diagonal line. Mildred stands as firmly before the camera depicting her burned body. The picture of the body is shown only very briefly and partially, as though this kind of heinously violated corpse cannot be shown. Therefore, it also stands for horror and abjec- tion in Julia Kristeva’s sense, the collapse of meaning in a state between life and death, good and evil. as amorally fascinating. Smith 1995, p. 142-156; Smith 1999, p. 225-233. Kristeva 1982, p. 19. 2 Sobchack 2012, p. 434. 6 Silverman 1988, p. 75-76. 3 Nussbaum 2001, p. 394. 7 Williams 1993, p. 89. 210 Anger, Grief, and Dark Humour 211 Anger, Grief, and Dark Humour from the reaction shots of both Dixon and Willoughby. Mildred’s anger con- C Visually the scene is dominated by crosscuts between the action C R R veyed in the interview scene demonstrates that this emotion does not only I in the two locations, which are simultaneously separated and connected, I include pain caused by serious injustice, but also a desire for the wrong- S but it is the soundtrack and especially the music that makes this scene S doer’s true suffering for causing it.

Load more