“Blood Christmas” Visual Analysis

By Sarah Ortiz, Steven Galvan, and Jake Tokosh

In the jail scene, one of the earliest scenes in L.A. Confidential, we see that the lighting plays an important role in the film’s characterization. The lighting reflects shadows not only onto the prisoners' faces, but the police officers as well. For example, when Bud White walks into the jail his face is well-lit, but as soon as he throws a punch his face is shaded on one side. In addition, the jail bars become shadows onto the faces of the other cops that are fighting. Light and shadow illustrate the duality of the cops' persona, blurring the lines between right and wrong and law and order. This duality continues for the entire film and becomes an important theme.

The setting of the scene itself further emphasizes the moral duality of the film. The scene is essentially a prison riot, indistinguishable from a brawl between regular inmates, save for the police’s uniforms. The walls are a pale, pasty white, and the fighters are surrounded by iron bars, which not only seem to encapsulate the prisoners, but the police and the Mexicans as well. The setting feels like the inside of a larger prison, and had we not seen in the previous scene, we could not know that this scene takes place in what is essentially the basement of a police station, which should be a symbol of moral right and justice, but is instead merely a front for the immoral actions of the officers.