Mrs Doubtfire essay

The long shot of Mrs Doubtfire on the bus creates humour; this is humorous because the bus driver is checking out Mrs Doubtfire and irony for the audience as we already know that she is a man.  The next shot is again a long shot of Mrs Doubtfire playing football with her son, there is also use of tracking shot as the camera follows her while playing, this would force us to identify and remember that Mrs Doubtfire is actually a man. The sound bridge of the non-digetic song Dude Looks Like A Lady by Aerosmith is parallel to this shot as it also forces the audience to focus on the fact that Daniel and Mrs Doubtfire are the same people. Throughout all of the shots Mrs Doubtfire/Daniel is position in the centre of the shot which would focus on the fact that he is the centre of attention in the text.

There is then an extreme long shot of Mrs Doubfire and the children on bikes in the park which connotes the whole ideal family bonding scene. The shot of Mrs Doubtfire dancing while she is cleaning with the vacuum, broom etc. would follow the conventional themes of a family comedy. Although Daniel is inside his own house with the Doubtfire costume and mask on the table he still seems to be focussing on being Mrs Doubtfire as he is taking notes on a cooking show; this would show the serious change that the protagonist is going through. The medium shot of Mrs Doubtfire reading to Natalie tilts to show both of the characters which would again connote family bonding which would promote positive values of family life. The setting of Daniel’s home is stereotypical for men as it is untidy, he is drinking beer with his dirty feet on the table. The setting in which we see Mrs Doubtfire in the Hillards home is tidy and quite which is the opposite to Mrs Doubtfire’s personality; the fact that everything else in the shot is furniture and not moving draws our attention towards Mrs Doubtfire dancing. 

The transition between every shot is a straight cut which is parallel to the fast paced rock and roll style music.  The lighting of the shots indoors of Mrs Doubtfire dancing is high-key lighting to appear as if the light is realistic in the scene and also emphasises the happy and fun mood for the audience too.There is a point of view shot where we see Miranda and Stuart back from a date; in the verse reverse shot Mrs Doubtfire waves at Stuart however decides to stick up her middle finger straight after, the use of this action code clearly shows us the negativity that Stuart has as Daniel still believes that Stuart is the reason that his family is drifting apart from him which is ironic as it was his own immaturity that is the reason behind the problems.

There is use of graphic matching as we see in the extreme long shot of the building panning downwards which then jumps to a tracking shot of Mrs Doubtfire on that same road; the building and Mrs Doubtfire would put emphasise on the ‘Dude looks like a lady’ as both have the shape of a woman’s figure.  Throughout the different shots we see Mrs Doubtfire's facial expression is mostly happy or frustrated which would connote the confusion between the two extreme characters and the extreme emotions.  Although in the shots we see Mrs Doubtfire, we actually see Daniel's body language being portrayed; for example the swearing in the meduim shot of Mrs Doubtfire. Mrs Doubtfire's costume is tidy and age - appropriate which would connote maturity and responsibility; however Daniel's costume is a mess which would reflect his chaotic state of mind as he has two identities.