How costume design reveals the role-reversals in Cabin in the Woods - The Cabin in the Woods

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December 14 2012

How costume design reveals the role-reversals in Cabin in the Woods. A brief but fascinating article from Clothes On Film delves into Shawna Trpcic's costume design and what it signifies.

sumogrip | The Cabin in the Woods | 18:13 CET | 11 comments total | tags: shawn trpcic, costume design, clothes on film

Mind blown.

ZybthRanger | December 14, 18:27 CET

Wow, this is fascinating.

Although I think that Jules does seem to be slightly more sexual than Dana from the outset- doesn't she encourage Dana to pack a bikini instead of textbooks? In any case, I think there's still merit to the argument.

Like With Pie | December 14, 20:05 CET

I think that it's because Dana was effected by chemicals before everyone else was. They had messed with her hair dye to make her the 'dumb blonde', so I suppose it had a longer and stronger effect on her.

krissyjump | December 14, 20:13 CET

Interesting article, now I feel the need to watch Cabin again.
The only thing bugging me in the article is that, in my opinion, the characters from the first 10 minutes are actual characters, not archetypes. Granted, they could all fit into one of the boxes as said in the article, but they're more complex than that. Dana walks around in her underwear but is also taking books with her, Curt also plays sports, etc.

Roxanne_ | December 14, 20:56 CET

Very interesting. I guess I don't pay much attention to costumes when people are wearing "normal" clothes, but I will definitely be looking at that next time I watch Cabin. I mean, I knew Dana dancing around in underwear didn't fit with the virgin thing, but I didn't really pay attention to the other clothing and how or when it changed. Good excuse to watch the movie again!

LadyJay | December 14, 21:04 CET

I hadn't noticed this (I'm not as observant as I should be) but I'm not surprised by it, Joss & Shawna Trpcic made very specific choices for each character in Firefly with costume color as well as costume design (the Tams wore the Alliance blues and purples because they grew up in that culture). It really does add texture to a show when the attention to detail is so detailed!

embers | December 14, 21:39 CET

Yes @embers, and you can see Simon's style loosen up as the show progresses. Also, some of River's clothing is meant to be things Kaylee lent her (although I still think it has a distinctively River quality to it).

Like With Pie | December 14, 22:25 CET

This puts the controversies about the sexualization of Jules and Dana in a slightly new light. I saw many complaints about, and justifications for, Dana's first scene, but I don't remember anybody coming up with the idea that it was a deliberate mislead. We should have known that Joss and Drew wouldn't do something like that without good cause...

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | December 14, 23:23 CET

The term Chekhov's Wardrobe comes to mind.

brinderwalt | December 14, 23:32 CET

Worth watching the film again just for this; very neat.

vegetaman | December 15, 02:26 CET

*Nods appreciatively at brinderwalt's clever play on words*

I had to look up the word "vembrace." I'm delighted to add it to my vocabulary, but even better is the noun, "Ass Pull," which I now know thanks to the article that brinderwalt linked.

An Ass Pull is a moment when the writers pull something out of thin air in a less-than-graceful narrative development, violating the Law of Conservation of Detail by dropping a plot-critical detail in the middle, or near the end of their narrative without Foreshadowing or dropping a Chekhov's Gun earlier on.

BrewBunny | December 15, 05:46 CET

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