The costume is one of the most important parts of the mise en scène during a film or play. First of all, when referring to costume, make-up is included as well, since it complements the look that the particular costume is portraying. For instance, if you want to portray a folk culture, one of the main features that is used to show it is the costumes. Therefore costumes are important to help indicate the time that the film/play is taking place and also may modify the age of the actor to match that of the character (mostly with the good use of make-up).
*Disclaimer - This post contains spoilers of Money Heist Season 5
When I think about costumes, I instantly get reminded of the popular series La Casa de Papel, known better as Money Heist. These 8 complex robbers wear these red jumpsuits and the Salvador Dalì Masks, with the aim of protecting their identities. However, there is a good analysis for the choice of this iconic costume. Apart from making it a marketing tactic, to make the show even more popular, it has deeper places that are interesting to look at.
First of all, the choice of the colour red, the colour of blood, which is given the connotations of passion, aggression and violence. In fact, one of the main plots of this show is revolution, these 8 robbers and the professor who are dumped away by the system and need to set all this revolution for all of them to survive and live. Together with this, there is also resistance, their plan and ability to take over the Money Mint (Seasons 1 and 2) and the Bank of Spain (Seasons 3, 4 & 5). The same colour of the jumpsuits reminds us of the show’s Spanish identity. This is also clear since it reminds us of Spanish’s signature spices, paprika and saffron, which both are of the same colour.
Furthermore, we have also part 2 of this costume, the Salvador Dalì mask. This person is without doubt the most important figure in the surrealist movement during the 1920s. His work was rebellious for that time, which makes it revolutionary as well, sustaining the theme of the show.
Now, I would like to apply the importance of this costume in the show by referring to this scene (refer to video clip) where in season 5, the robbers and the hostages were instructed by the professor to go on the rooftop so that they can go in the room where the soldiers got in, so they can attack the others. The problem was that snipers were everywhere around the building and if they notice one of the robbers they had the instruction to execute. However, a simple Dalì mask and a red jumpsuit were the solutions. The Professor instructed everyone to get on the rooftop wearing the mask to prevent the snipers from shooting since there were about 7 robbers amongst a larger amount of hostages. Therefore the probability of shooting a hostage would be far more than hitting a robber. And what was the secret of this plan? The Dalì mask, all of them looked the same. Then, the scene continues on with the plan, which during those moments took a bit of a wrong move I must say!
So, how does this example contributes to the importance of costumes in films/play you may ask? Well, during this series one can see a typical example where the costume was so important and fundamental to the twist, that it turned into a prop.
References:
Bahrani, R., 2020. Money Heist Costume Decoded: Here's why the group of 8 robbers wear Salvador Dalí masks and red jumpsuits [WWW Document]. PINKVILLA. URL https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/hollywood/money-heist-costume-decoded-heres-why-group-8-robbers-wear-salvador-dal-masks-and-red-jumpsuits-525783 (accessed 11.15.21).
MISE-EN-SCENE, 2010. . Coll. Film Media Stud. URL https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/mise-en-scene-2/ (accessed 11.15.21).
Salvador Dali | Biography, Art, Paintings, Surrealism, & Facts | Britannica [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://www.britannica.com/biography/Salvador-Dali (accessed 11.15.21).
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