Tools of Characterization

Characterization in Chicago

Clothing

Dress to Impress

If Chicago were a Broadway show (which it is), it would have about 527 costume changes. (Sidenote: How do the Broadway actors change so fast?)

Clothes are very important in both versions of Chicago—the one in reality, and the one in Roxie's head. In reality, most of the clothes are dull and drab. Hey, they're in prison, where khaki is the new black. But in Roxie's mind, everyone gets to wear glamorous gowns that sparkle, shimmy, and sizzle in the spotlight.

Of course Roxie imagines herself and Velma in sequined mini dresses. They're jazz stars! Or they want to be. But Roxie also puts Mama Morton in a similar sexy outfit that shows off all of her, um, assets, complete with a feathered fan. It's the perfect way of showing us who Mama wants to be—a sultry coquette who can wrap anyone around her little finger.

The one person who inverts this rule is Billy Flynn. In reality, Billy wears tailored suits, but in Roxie's first vision of him, "All I Care About is Love," Roxie wants to imagine that all Billy cares about is love and not money. So she puts him in a shoeshine's attire, looking like an extra from Newsies. She imagines him to be humble… which is the exact opposite of how he actually is.

Location

Stars in Bars

It's not just who you are, or what you wear, it's where you are that matters. Location serves the same purpose as clothing in Chicago. It shows us where a person is, and where they want to me. No one wants to be in prison, but in Roxie's imagination, the annoying prison sounds—dripping water, stomping boots—become the intense "Cell Block Tango." And Roxie often imagines her away from behind bars and on-stage in front of an audience.

Real-life locations are also used juxtaposed against Roxie's fantasies. She imagines Billy to be humble, but we see his office is spacious and lushly decorated. And the courtroom is somber in reality, but a crazy circus in Roxie's head as Billy works his manipulative magic.

But perhaps the most poignant use of location is at the end of the movie, when Roxie auditions for the management of the Onyx Club. It's not the bold stage of her fantasy. It's not even the packed house eager to see Velma Kelly. It's deserted: it's just Roxie and the management, a piano player, and a man sweeping under empty tables. This scene is definitely not what Roxie dreamed it would be.

Actions

Parting Shots

Everything in Chicago is a contrast between fantasy and reality—how a character wants to dress vs. how they do dress; how a character wants to act vs. how they actually act.

Many times, Roxie's fantasies enhance a person's personality instead of change it. She ups her own showmanship, a panache she possesses even if she hasn't had the opportunity to practice it. Velma is extra sultry, Mama is extra sassy, and the merry murderesses of the "Cell Block Tango" are extra fierce (in the Tyra Banks definition of the word).

As usual, Billy is initially an exception. Roxie dreams him being humble when in fact the man probably thinks he can walk on water—or at least sue water for getting him wet. But once Roxie realizes Billy's personality as a master manipulator of the courtroom and the press, she casts him in her fantasies as a puppet master pulling strings or the ringmaster guiding every action in the circus. These are the roles they were meant to play.