Tangerine Reflection

Tangerine is highly unique in the fact that it is filmed entirely on the iPhone 5s. This filming technique is highly unusual and helps to emphasize the uncommon (for the time the film was released) story element of the transgender community, specifically the aspect of prostitution. Not only does filming on an iPhone help highlight the uniqueness of the film as a whole, but it also places the aspect of the digital and technology in the forefront of the film. The highly saturated coloring in the film also helps to emphasis the use of digital technology and causes the viewer to be aware that this is a film, created with digital methods.

This highly visible use of technology however is juxtaposed in the actual content of the film where the main character, Sin-Dee, doesn’t have any technology of her own. She is so far removed from technology that in the beginning of the film she even has to borrow a lighter from a stranger on the street. This absence of technology in Sin-Dee’s life does not mean that the presence and importance of digital technology is not addressed in the film. In fact, the climax of the film, the argument in Donut Time, relies heavily on the use of a phone. It is only because Razmik’s mother in law uses her cell phone to call her daughter to expose Razmik’s prostitution habit that all the characters end up in the Donut king at the end of the film. This limited but important use of technology is significant because it is used as a way to highlight the weight and power technology is able to have in our lives. While it may not appear to do so at first glance, Tangerine does an excellent job at conveying the powers and use that the digital technology of iPhones can have in life in the twenty-first century.