Contextual Criticism Of Run Lola Run

Through the use of mise-en-scene, sound and editing of Run Lola Run elevates and empowers the female lead. Run Lola Run is an eighty-minute movie that creates a thriller passion and has you constantly thinking ‘what if.” The female lead of this movie brings out the empowerment that a woman in a lead role in a movie can have, as well as a sense of a heroic figure. This film also shows visual images and reflects the power of feminism ideology. As this film being in a narrative structure it shows a sense of a different feel of a thriller.

Ideology Criticism is a method in which its criticism expresses opposing ideologies. For instance, in Run Lola Run feminism ideology is used among the film as Lola is the female lead. In the book “Film Studies Critical Approaches” in Semotics and ideology critique “film must be a language and women as a sign” (White 116). This book represents how making gender be the axis of films is very important. Powerful feminine critiques shown in a film is a big step to replacing the regular stereotype atmosphere of men being the role protagonists in movies.

Cinema is projected as a sexual imbalance of power which leads to psychoanalysis. The male spectator is doubly supported by these mechanisms of visual gratification as the gaze is relayed from the male surrogate within the diegesis to the male spectator in the audience (White 117). Women on the other hand are defined as extraordinary when it comes to sexual imbalance. As Lola is the lead in the movie it showed how her role was passive as her being a female. Lola’s powerful lead shows a big step in the stereotype of men playing the lead role in movies.

There are many stereotypes that men had against women well before our time. Women’s differences nowadays have made them more attached to the real world, as men think of themselves. They used a phrase called “monster” which is expressed as a desire and opinion of their own (John 20). This relates back to Lola in Run Lola Run because Lola does her own thing throughout the movie, she shows a sense of authority of her own self. Lola has her own perception throughout the movie.

The use of mise-en-scene throughout the movie created an awareness following through her lead. Mise-en-scene elevates the setting and costume by Lola being the protagonist as the female lead. Feminist Ideology is used by the mise-en-scene in the setting of the film that was different from Lola’s role. From the audience’s point of view, you were seeing how fast Lola was running to reach where she would be going. The costume also plays a big part in mise-en-scene when Lola went to either the bank or the casino her costume was very different than everyone else’s. When she is in the casino, she is all sweaty wearing green pants and a blue tank top, all the other people that were in the casino were wearing suits and dresses they all looked very proper. As Lola was in the bank, she had a gun that was pointing to her father, she was again all sweaty and anxious, her shirt was all wet and her hair was all messy. Lola’s hair color being red stands out as unique and different in the world that people are dressed very traditionally. Red was a repetitive color throughout the film such as Lola’s hair, the red phone and the shade of red tint that the screen had when either Lola and Manni was dying. Greens and Yellow colors were also used in this movie as well, Red, Green and Yellow were colors that were repetitive throughout the movie. I think that all of these three colors reference back to time. Mise-en-scene relates to feminist ideology because in this film Lola was the protagonist which portrayed the visual aspect throughout the film.

Next, editing is used a lot in this film, as editing is always the type of shot transition that happens at the beginning of each shot. Jump cut is used immensely in this film, along with Reverse shot s this shows empowerment of the female lead. Jump cut is almost like a flashforward or dream, it will transition quickly. Reverse shot is also largely used, which is when it shows a shot of a character speaking that would be followed by another shot of a character’s response as the camera reverses through conversation. An example of Jump cut in the movie would be every time Lola began her runs each character, it gives us a flashforward of the times before that previous run, when Lola is running under the bridge the shot length is showing the bridge with the buildings in the back. As Lola is running jump cut is used as a side view of Lola running and a view of her running straight towards the camera. Before the shot closes of Lola running the shot dissolved from a close up of her running to full shot length of her running. Reverse shot is used in the beginning of the film when Lola and Manni are on the phone. Feminism ideology relates to the empowerment of Lola being the female lead, centered around the spectator’s and the camera’s look, cinema offers pleasure with ones off screen likeness. As the male spectator is supported by the mechanisms, women are defined as “to-be-looked-at-ness” (Mulvey 117). The empowerment that Lola has as the lead role makes her character a thrilling role.

Sounds plays a big role in this movie as diegetic sounds were used along with soundtrack, this showed how much the sound was affected throughout the movie. Diegetic sounds are described towards what helps define the environment, what we hear and what the characters hear. A soundtrack can include dialogue, sound effects and even music. An example of when this was used in the film is when there was the breaking of the glass of all the objects that were around Lola, throughout the movie Lola would scream so extreme that all the glass around her would break. Another example would be when Lola ran to her dad’s office to ask for help with her boyfriend, he started to ask questions about the amount of money she wanted, and she said “it doesn’t matter” in a scream so loud she breaks the glass wall clock that is in his office. Although the pace and rhythm of the music dips when Lola is with her father and his lover. The music gets louder when it’s just her and when she’s running because this shows the strength sand power that she has as being the feminist protagonist in the film. Soundtrack track was used when the sound of the clock ticking got louder and louder every time, it would get louder every time Lola is running her runs as she is running out of time every time, she restarts her runs. The sound in this film added a feel of thriller, almost as you are being followed throughout the movie. The high pace of this movie also shows the feel of thriller Lola has eager energy which makes the film have a high pace with a good rate of energy.

Many Women work male-dominated jobs for instance in Hollywood cinema that implies women achievements (Neal King 238). Women in the positions of filmmaking has increased over the years and has made a perception of women viewed as “heroic” in films. Rafter had argued that on the Investigational skills discussing “The Silence of The Lambs” of her disposition of learning things rather than already knowing them. Based on this, one could predict that women could be less apt to complete their investigations, without assistance then men are (Rafter 243). This can relate to Run Lola Run because the tasks that Lola had for instance, getting the money for her boyfriend in time so he doesn’t die was a task that she was determined to complete that she did on her own. In the film it can be implied that Lola is part of the perception of the women that are viewed as heroic in films because Lola did everything herself in the movie from asking her dad for money, to going to the casino to get it and running to him every time. She also can be viewed as heroic from the timing and always making sure that she gets to where she must go as it got louder every time she runs, she made it a pact to get there on time.

Having a female lead from the examples provided a field of empowerment with feminism ideology. The feeling of the thrill was something that made you want to keep watching the movie and want to know more about what was going to happen next, like mentioned before the movie gives you that feeling of constantly thinking “what if”. The style elements throughout the movie such as mise-en-scene, sound and editing elevated the different descriptions that you may not have thought of from just watching the movie. Feminism ideology is used as a sense of powerfulness towards Lola which made her a unique character. In a world seen by sexual imbalance, the male role and female role has different aspects in the world of film (Patricia 117). Therefore, for the whole of the movie Run Lola Run Lola being the lead as a woman showed a sense of heroic figure and a different feel of a thrill.

Work Cited

1. White, Patricia” Feminism and Film” Film Studies; Critical Approaches, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
2. King, Neal. “Generic Womanhood.” Gender & Society, vol. 22, no. 2, 2008, pp. 238–260., doi:10.1177/0891243207310715.
3. Professor Michael Allen, Film & Ideology via Washington State Webpage
4. John, Brittany, et al. “An Introduction to Feminist Theory.” Go to the Cover Page of The Student Theorist: An Open Handbook of Collective College Theory, Public Commons Publishing, 9 May 2018,