Bad Times at the El Royale - Voyeurism
*Spoilers ahead for Bad Times at the El Royale*
Director Drew Goddard makes his cinematic influences clear in his latest film, Bad Times at the El Royale, even if he sometimes struggles to match the genius of his presumed idols.
The film's characters are verbose and amusing like Tarantino's, even if they're never quite as funny or sympathetic. Its shots are deep and dynamic like Hitchcock's, even if they're never quite as revealing.
Still, Bad Times is something markedly different. It feels like it's less interested in being a movie, and more so in being an eight-part HBO miniseries. An uneven episodic structure reinforces this notion, even if it also allows for some cool manipulation of time and linearity. If nothing else, I am happy to have supported the telling of an original story, an increasing rarity in Hollywood.
And despite its narrative faults, the film is some of the most fun I've had in a movie theater this year, and continues Goddard's streak of turning genre films on their head.
Especially evident in Goddard's body of work is an interest in looking. Cinema is inherently voyeuristic; the screen is the window through which we are observing the lives of others. Hitchcock explored this idea rather explicitly in 1954's Rear Window, but over sixty years later, our ability and, therefore, our tendency to look has unsurprisingly evolved. Goddard is clearly aware of this development; whereas Jimmy Stewart's Jeff acts as an audience surrogate as he peers through the windows of neighboring apartments, Goddard's characters always maintain a level of distance from filmgoers. This separation was obvious in 2012's Cabin in the Woods, as a clever twist reveals that our group of terrified college students are only being manipulated by a duo in a high-tech underground facility. The operators watch the students' every move, but they do not stand in for the audience. Perhaps it is more accurate to say they stand in for the filmmaker, Goddard himself. They manipulate the events of the film, calling our attention to the same tropes and structures we've seen many times before. Goddard is asking his viewers why they look, and what it is they are even looking for.
In Bad Times at the El Royale, Goddard is a bit more diabolical. Just about everyone in the film is a voyeur, with a desire to peer into the lives of the other guests at the hotel. This desire does not always stem from a genuine interest in people, but rather a desperate attempt to escape their own lives. Everyone at the El Royale has a secret, and relies on those moments when no one is watching.
If only there was such a thing.
It is revealed early in the film that the El Royale features a hall of windows looking into each room, the guests' mirrors providing a false sense of privacy. But Goddard ensures that, just as the screen is a disingenuous window, only showing us what the camera wants us to see, these windows are not exactly ours to look through.
When these double mirrors are first revealed, Goddard places Laramie Sullivan (Jon Hamm) in a dark corridor. The camera follows Sullivan as he paces back and forth and examines the different rooms within his purview. But the camera is also careful not to always follow his gaze, so as to remind us we are not Sullivan in this scene; we do not always get to see exactly what he sees. Worse, we don't even get to see what he does not. Goddard asserts a sort of directorial dominance here; only he knows where Sullivan stands in this dark hallway, what lies beyond each window. He has built himself a voyeuristic playground in which he reigns supreme. When Sullivan watches Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo) sit in a chair and sing, he, along with the audience, can't help but be overwhelmed by his reflection staring back at us. The reflection dominates the onscreen image, simultaneously distancing us from Sullivan's invasive looking, but reminding us of our complicity in such behavior. Goddard, on the other hand, remains the sole individual entirely aware of the corridor's layout, free to manipulate our perspective as he chooses.
By drawing our attention to both our own voyeurism and his control over it, Goddard answers the question he lays out in his horror debut. As a cinephile himself, Goddard does not denounce voyeurism. In fact, he encourages it! But through Bad Times, he stresses the significance of looking with a layer of skepticism.
The characters in the film are all looking, be it physically or metaphorically. Hotel concierge Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman) is one of the film's most prolific voyeurs, filming and watching hotel guests out of what is characterized as a sort of perversion. He constantly turns to the visiting Father Flynn (Jeff Bridges) in search of forgiveness for his actions. The issue here is that Miles has rendered himself entirely reliant upon the priest's forgiveness. It is acceptable to seek out such absolution, Goddard might say, but only with the understanding that it will not be a panacea. Similarly, we may look to the media in our lives for answers, and enjoy the spectatorship that comes along with it, but we should understand the limits of such voyeuristic tendencies.
Again, the film still respects the art of looking, and so we must not criticize those who look so often, nor should we criticize those who do not. The film directs this line of thinking towards religion more than anything. As Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth) points out, life is simply a series of choices. To believe or to look to a higher power like Miles does is one of these choices. To altogether reject this idea, one of life's many dichotomies, as Billy Lee opts to do, is but another.
If this blog hasn't made it too obvious, I love to turn to film and television for new answers, ideas, and philosophies. But as I peer into these carefully crafted worlds, I am reminded of that very fact. Bad Times at the El Royale and many more like it are ours to look at and to engage with, but they remain the domain of filmmakers like Goddard. As long as we are aware of that idea, we remain free to consume as we please.
Until next time,
-Cory Reid
**If you've made it this far, congrats! You get a prize: more me! I made this video essay for a class, and I can't guarantee it's any good, but I figure I'd share it with you, my loyal readers. Enjoy!**