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120 II. AREAS AND ELEMENTS
Second, in emphasizing Hamlet's features throughout the soliloquy and thus imbuing them with meanings of their own, Olivier obviously wants to establish contrapuntal relations between the words and the synchronized images. But here too applies what has been said above: the contrapuntal influences from Hamlet's outward appearance will be lost on those immersed in the monologue's word imagery.
THE DOMINANCE OF THE VISUALS FAVORING CINEMATIC USES
Synchronism
Type I: Parallelism Imagine again that we are watching a speaking character; this time, however, the visuals, not the words, are the main source of communication. Imagine further that the speaker's words do not add anything to the synchronized pictures of him but just parallel them, thus duplicating their messages (see last part of example 5). Were there no words at all, we would still understand what his looks are meant to express. This type of parallelism vividly illustrates the tremendous significance of the role in which speech is cast. The reader will remember that, if speech prevails, the duplicative imagery is reduced to an unseen accompaniment—a state of things which obstructs the cinematic approach. Now that the visuals prevail, the passage with the image of the speaker retains its cinematic quality despite the presence of duplicative words. Supposing these words are really superfluous, they will at worst amount to a minor nuisance. Yet are they under all circumstances sheer ballast? Unnecessary as a duplication, they may nevertheless increase the realistic effect of a scene. And this would largely compensate for their otherwise gratuitous insertion.
Type II: Counterpoint As has already been shown in example 6, the face of a speaking person may carry meanings which conflict with, or complement, those of his synchronized verbal statements. This is clearly a case of "synchronism," with images and words relating to each other contrapuntally. Note that they can be interlinked in such a way only because speech no longer claims undivided attention— an alternative which, other conditions being equal, entails sham counterpoint— but is sufficiently deemphasized to let the images have their say. Genuine counterpoint on the screen is bound up with the predominance of the visuals; at any rate, it is their contributions which account for the cinematic character of this particular linkage.
Laughton's delivery of the Gettysburg Address in Ruggles of Red Gap illustrates this point to perfection.* Throughout the recital, close-ups and
*Scep. 107.