C.3) Character / Performance

Of course the component that made Saturday Night Fever was the performance by the one-and-only John Travolta. During the opening scene as I have mentioned again and again Travolta's facial's and walking style convey the feeling the audience should have going into the film.
The effect of the facials is helped by the shot types, you can clearly focus on his expressions by the close up shots. Along with the use of the close-up shots there is an ever so slight use of shallow focus along with the general washed out print of the late 70s film.
The first obvious use of facial expressions to see inside the characters mind is when Tony sees that (once again mentioned) girl walk buy. You see him checking her out thinking 'yeah she's alright.' He turns back however before long stops dead in his tracks and double takes to have another look. You think that he is going to follow her and make a move however he then decides it's not worth it and continues on his way after a look to the side and a roll of the eyes. Due to the fact no dialogue is used you get all of this simply from the way Travolta uses body language and the facial expressions that he chooses.
Even though for the majority of the walking he has a rather vacant expression on his face it still manages to captivate you. You watch his eyes and see where they are looking and know that he is taking in everything around him.
Facial expressions are also used by other characters. The second girl as mentioned before who has a close up on her to show her exact thoughts lets the audience know that she has no time for his games. She rolls her eyes and tries to move around him before deciding that was enough and waves him off and walks away. You see Travolta feel slightly defeated and feel for his loss. You connect with him from times that you have in real life have been rejected and have had similiar thoughts.

Throughout the film facial expressions are used realistically and to show real emotion.
In the scene where they all go to the bridge with Annette (Tony's first dance partner who still has feelings for him) has some very lifelike facial expressions and emotion, because they are. Following on from the importance of Tony's facials during the walk the director decided that the facials here needed to be as realistic as possible. During the scene Tony, Double-J and Joey jump off the side of the bridge and land on a platform. The directors and actors didn't tell Annette that there was a platform there so when her expressions went from horror and shock to outright anger they were real emotions as she thought they really had jumped. She then runs over and sees them there and delivers very angrily the unscripted line 'YOU F**KERS!'

Back to the general performance from Tony instead of just focusing on his facials. Once again during the mid and long shots we get to see how the character is walking - bopping to the music and swinging his arms. This tells the audience that he is care free and as mentioned earlier in the post is trouble free. This would be contrasted to if his movements were stiff and jerky. His movements are free moving and indicate that he at this point is fairly care free. If his movements were jerky then the use of the music and facial expressions would really be lost on the audience as they are not also being felt by the character. When it all boils down to it the audience is going to fell a very similiar mode to the character during the whole film so if he were to be stiff for this opening, happy scene the audience would feel awkward with the disco fun music playing and the directors intention of showing he was care free and at this point did not see his life was going nowhere would be lost.

Even though Tony is portrayed as the smooth talking, hip man that he thinks he is, he comes across to the audience as slightly self-absorbed (his opening scene facial expressions, walking style etc.). Throughout the film he is shown as being the centre of his social group of friends. They look to him for help (at the club when someone stays in the car for too long. And also to lead them in revenge against the gang that beat their friend up), they look to him for life help (his friend Bobby C has got a girl pregnant and is in the dilemma of whether he should now marry her or have the kid aborted). All of the story-lines show Tony as being the man to turn to and the man that they all look up to. While their friends think this in reality the audience sees different sides of Tony and knows that he is not as perfect as is shown in the opening. We know as well as he finds out that his life is at a stand still. This is summed up by Stephanie saying this to him while sitting looking at Brooklyn bridge: "You live with your parents, you hang with your buddies and on Saturday nights you burn it all off at 2001 Odyssey. You're a cliche. You're nowhere, goin' no place."
This also illustrates the fact that the directors have made Tony's character a cliche or a stereotype. A young kid in the big city who thinks that his life is going places. He's got a job, the girls love him, he's the best dancer, his friends think that he is the be all and end all.
Unlike in other movies the use of the stereotypical character is used so that by the end Tony has completed an overhaul of his life. He goes from the stereotypical character the audience sees as self absorbed, to a character that has acknowledged his wrong ways and seeks to make a change (this is bought on by Stephanie) and then after he hits rock bottom (rape, fallouts with his boss and parents, the supposed suicide of his friend Bobby C whom he did not help even though Bobby had looked to Tony in his time of need) he gets his life on track. He goes to Stephanie's new apartment and confesses his desire to change. Stephanie sees that Tony is truthful and embraces him. This is the end of the film and the audience is left feeling that Tony will now life a long and prosperous life.