The Georges Bizet Opera Carmen

BizetÆs opera features many characters and incidents missing from Prosper MerimeeÆs Carmen. MerimeeÆs Carmen is narrated for us while Don Jose waits for execution. He has killed the Gypsy girl Carmen, whose beauty and dancing bewitched him. When he leaves his regiment to be with her, CarmenÆs refusal to commit to him fills him with rage in the wake of his sacrifice. In a tragic ending, he kills Carmen. MerimeeÆs use of language clearly defines setting and character. He corrects a misconception in his opening passage about AndalusiaÆs geography. Later, he

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tic locations are featured through sets and even through song. Act Three opens by telling us we are in a ôpicturesque and wild spotö and Carmen maintains in song that if she and Don Jose were both in love ôinto the hillsö they could ride (Bizet, 1990, p. 103; 99). The settings and images in both Merimee and Bizet reinforce the reckless (wars, smugglers, gypsies) and passionate (song, dance, foods) nature of the people of Andalusia and its landscape. This is also true in RosiÆs film but with the power of cinema Rosi is able to achieve spectacular effects in creating Andalusia as a background character. His film uses moonlight, rich firelight, deep reds and yellows in ways that make the film glow like the passionate characters in the piece. His camera shows us lush, sun-drenched villages tucked into hillsides and a stark bullring with an elegant ballet that reinforces the high emotions exhibited by the characters. The impact of this is to help us understand how CarmenÆs beauty and passion against the beautiful and passionate backdrop of Andalusia could make Don Jose helpless in loving her. Rosi (1984) also provides an opening that is a series of slow-motion shows of a bloody and wounded bull in its last moments of its battle w
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Approximate Word count = 2103
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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