St Clouds House Analysis

Setting is an important technique that was used to create a strong impression of main character Vanessa Loring, the woman who is married to Mark Loring, the Lorings being the couple Juno chooses to give her baby to once it is born. Vanessa lives in St Cloud’s, Minnesota, an area which is established as being a wealthy one through a montage of large mansions which become increasingly bigger and grander throughout the montage, the Loring’s mansion the largest and grandest of all. The two Lexus’s parked outside are also a symbol of their wealth. Before we even meet Vanessa and her husband these symbols of wealth and grandiose lead the audience to having a preconceived impression of Vanessa as a ‘rich snob’, openly flaunting her wealth. Inside the Loring’s house we are shown a series of close ups of Vanessa carefully placing elegant white flowers in a vase and straightening three photo frames so each is perfectly in line with the
The house itself is very clean and tidy, large and full of sparkling white surfaces, the furniture simple but elegant – so perfect is the house that it seems like a show home, not a home that is being lived in by two people. Overall, it seems sterile and boring, therefore making Vanessa appear so as well. The audience is left wondering if this house and these people, Vanessa and her husband, are suitable for raising a child. However, by the closing scenes we see a change in Vanessa and her house- a wide shot shows her sitting on her bed cradling her baby, the formerly perfect room now cluttered in baby things, and the fully equipped nursery she prepared does not even seem to be being used. This gives the impression that Vanessa has realised what is really important, her son, and no longer cares about material things like the appearance of her house. This change in setting mirrors a change in Vanessa, and she now seems like she will make a good mother to Juno’s