Alec Hageman

BIS 261 A

Professor David S. Goldstein

December 6, 2024

Scene Analysis Final Draft

            Arguing parents is an almost universal experience. Some are more explosive than others but the final parental argument scene in the film Pariah (dir. Dee Rees) is particularly explosive. Pariah deals with Alike, a black lesbian that is struggling to define herself in an early 2000s world that so easily punishes others like her. The scene in question comes at the climax of the film as Alike’s father Arthur and her mother Audrey’s relationship has been getting more and more tense over his frequent absences and over their failed attempt to police Alike’s “masculine” aesthetic. The scene before shows Alike’s anguish after her attempts to get closer to her friend are rejected. Her friend and Alike had been getting closer but she’s not a lesbian and was just fooling around. As Alike storms into the house, ignores her mother’s questions and trashes her room, all filmed in a shaky manner with quick cuts over a distorted rock song. We can see how much this has harmed Alike. The scene fades in from black, muffled voices rise as we see Alike sprawled in the destruction of the previous scene. This shot is taken from a high angle to fully display the damage Alike had done to the room around her before she fell asleep.

            The cinematographer prefers in this scene close and claustrophobic shots with the camera moving between the three in a frenetic documentary style. This is in opposition to the steadier handheld shots in the rest of the film that prefer medium or medium close ups. It’s dark in the house and we can assume it’s nighttime from the scene’s context to the previous scenes and Arthur’s sporadic schedule that has him coming home and leaving late at night.

            Alike sends her sister up to her room and tells her to lock the door. The argument between the parents is difficult to parse as they shout over each other, but the viewer can discern that it’s over Arthur’s frequent absences. Audrey says, “You have a slut on the side!” The moment Alike appears, ostensibly to break up her parents’ argument Audrey turns to her and says, “Your daughter is turning into a damn man right in front of your eyes…”

            The other characters vibrate at the frame as the camera maintains the close up of Audrey as she lashes out at her husband and daughter. Even as the camera cuts between the three characters maintain close ups or medium close ups, another character can always be seen in the foreground, background or edges of the frame. This conveys how the characters are trapped in this argument without escape, confined with each other. At one point the camera orbits Arthur cleanly moving from over the shoulder of Alike to being a POV shot of her two parents. I think that particular shot helps keep the scene dynamic when the camera has thus far been mostly hovering over character’s shoulders.

            The biggest shake up comes at the end of this scene when Audrey says, “Tell him! Tell him that you’re a nasty-ass dyke!” At this point Alike’s careful tiptoeing around her parents with respect to her sexuality has come to a head. Alike is verbally pinned to the wall while Audrey hurls accusations and Arthur begs her to tell her mother that it’s not true. The camera keeps the wall in shot whenever Alike is shown in this next sequence, almost pinning her against it as much as her arguing parents have.

            Finally, it happens, as Alike’s parents descend into even more furious arguing and yelling — the captions just say, “Shouting Overlapping” — Alike says, “I’m gay.” There is not even a moment for the viewer to process the protagonist finally coming out to her parents as Audrey slams Alike into the wall, her hands around Alike’s throat. It is once again framed in another close-up. Neither character has space to breathe. Audrey yells, “Say it again!” and Alike does.

            Once again, the viewer is given no break. Audrey throws Alike to the ground and starts beating her. The editors cut between various takes and camera angles making the sequence as visually nauseating as the subject matter. The camera watches Alike curled up on the ground in a fetal position opening up to almost a medium shot as it cuts back to Audrey getting dragged out of the house by Arthur while the handheld camera becomes even more frantic.

            This sequence was well done. The tight camera work, frequent cutting while maintaining always at least two of the three characters in frame communicate visually how destructive this verbal argument is to this fracturing but somehow still tight family. Several moments stand out: the camera orbit around Arthur which keeps the scene from feeling stale, the camera pinning Alike to the wall just as much as her parents, and the nauseating, almost juddery camera cuts as Audrey starts to beat Alike. So much is conveyed in this just two-minute scene through visuals alone creating a harrowing but somewhat satisfying climax to the film as Alike’s secret is finally out.