Turner W.

The opening and ending scenes of W. best reveal the character of the 43^rd President. The fact that Stone chose to begin and end his movie with these scenes really shows their significance. Mise-en-scene plays a huge part in these scenes. The costume, lighting, composition, and character placement have a part in the effectiveness of both scenes. The film begins with a close-up of the president’s face. It pans out and you begin to see that he is on a baseball field. He is wearing a baseball jacket and is introduced as the 43rd president of the United States. W. waves and accepts the applause but as the camera shows the stands we see that there is actually no one there. In the last scene W. is on the same field now wearing a suit. He goes to catch a baseball and looks into the sky for the ball but it never comes.

These scenes can be interpreted in different ways. The first scene may be symbolic of the acceptance and approval W. craved from the public and his family throughout his life. He wanted to be liked and he wanted to have that admiration and approval that is coming from the crowd. The fact that there isn’t really an audience in the stands could represent that the acceptance and approval he wanted never existed. In the last scene W. cannot find the baseball. This could represent how lost he felt at the end of his presidency. These scenes reveal his character because they show his lifelong strive for approval and his sense of hopelessness and loss at the end of his presidency.