Part 2: Analysis
00:02:51
On each side of a split screen, a man sits at a table with a full glass of water. The frame on the left is a medium shot revealing the man’s upper body and face, the majority of the table, and trees in the background. The man is placed at the center of the shot, staring down and to the left at the glass. The green of the man’s jacket flows into the green of the trees and grass. The frame on the right is a close-up shot. A disembodied white hand in the upper left corner pours water into a nearly full glass. The glass sits at the ⅓ line within the frame, further drawing attention with the base’s stark white color. The table takes up nearly half of the frame with the man’s chest in the background.
The stark white color of the base of the glass in contrast to the muted blacks, browns, greens, and grays of the rest of the mise en scène, the position of the glass at the ⅓ line in the frame on the right, and the line of the man’s gaze in the frame on the left all draw focus toward the glasses. In the frame on the right, the whiteness of the base, the bubbles, the reflection off the pitcher, and the hand not only draw the viewer’s attention to the interaction between hand and water but also emphasizes the power of the racially coded whiteness in this scene. Though in the left frame, the cup sits still and full, in the right frame the white hand pours water endlessly. This suggests that, although the man has stated that he can no longer drink, the pattern (under white coercion) cannot be disrupted.
In the frame on the left, the man looks down at the relatively small glass with hesitancy and fear. He does not reach for it and has already refused to drink it, but the emotion suggests he knows that he is not free from this loop of pouring and drinking. Though, in the frame in which the man’s face is visible and his body is centered, the glass appears relatively small, in the continuously pouring frame, the glass’s proximity to the camera and its position communicate its power. This alludes to the lack choice to exist outside of oppressive relationships determined by the White Agenda.