Appendix 3.1: Analytic methods - 6 films from 1954
care and support being shown to be instrumental in his
success. In a sense she could be understood as 'making
something solid' out of the 'wandering nomad'. In any case
she both acts and changes during the narrative and is affected
by the closure. This is defined by Glenn Miller's death;
hence she is left a widow and to some extent custodian of his
creation, his 'new sound'. Audience access is constructed to
her point of view, though it is modified by Glenn Miller's own
definition of her. When we first see her on the screen
answering Glenn Miller's telephone call we share her response
to the call: we know, unlike Glenn Miller himself, that
initially she has no idea who he is, and we stay with her
after the conversation is over, seeing and participating in
her slightly irritated, slightly intrigued response to his
insistent invitation. He wants to see her that very evening
despite the fact that they haven't met for two years and that
she has another date. Throughout the film we have similar
access to her own understanding of events as they unfold, we
share knowledge with her that other characters do not have,
and thus our complicity with her actions is invited. At the
end of the last scene a close-up allows us a view of her tears
denied to other characters and the film closes with an
emblematic shot of her face. She is looking out of a window
through which daylight floods onto a photograph of Glenn
Miller which stands on a small table. She holds against her
cheek the little brown jug he had given her on her tenth
wedding anniversary and listens, with us, to the band
broadcasting the new song live from Paris despite Glenn
Miller's death. At the end of the story the audience is with
Glenn Miller's widow.
Group 2 : Joy Gibson in Doctor in the House.
She is a major character, certainly the most developed female
character in the film, and she is frequently on screen. Her
character is not developed in the sense that her diegetic
experiences are explored, but the audience has sufficient
access to her to know much more about her by the end of the
film: in this sense, then, she is developed. She is first
seen fairly early in the film when Simon Sparrow (Dirk
Bogarde) as a new medical student is trying to find his way to
the lecture theatre. This is the sequence in which the world
of the hospital is laid out for the audience's, and Simon's
inspection, and many moments of comedy are based on his
misfortunes during his journey to the lecture theatre. Joy
Gibson is one of a group of three nurses of whom he asks
directions: their replies are so peppered with medical jargon
(here the obscure discourse of the medical profession is
offered for our amusement) that he ends up even more confused.
In leaving he drops his suitcase, the contents spill out and
the three nurses laugh. It is Joy who good naturedly helps
him to retrieve his belongings; however despite this
suggestion that she differs from the rest of the inhabitants
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