Se7en essay

Se7en Essay: What makes a thriller and how is this evident in Se7en? A macro/ micro analysis of “se7en” (David Fincher 1995).

In this essay I intend to answer the question by formulating the uses of codes and conventions of the thriller film through the macro and micro elements, I will also summarise my argument on how evident is Se7en a thriller film.

A mainstream film by New Line Cinema, Seven was directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Walker, The budget of the film was 30 million dollars yet the gross outcome came around 316 million dollars from around the world, having a large sum of money they were able to place more time to the text of the films. Theses factors such as using it for advertising on television or the radio, promotions of trailers and teasers to make the audience intrigue and anticipating of a new upcoming film. having a marketing scheme of using publicised famous actors like Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman that would have been interviewed from this and other previous films that had made a huge profit in the box office.

Se7ven was mostly targeted at a mass audience, focussing mainly on American or British males as the conformant is of two main protagonists but this can be made openly wider to both genders and other ethnic backgrounds who are highly educated; as their interest may be in theatre of the mind films or hobbies like psychology, law or the relationship between police versus the criminal side. The age range for this film would be 18 to 25 years who might be university students, who likes the genre of thriller films, and who might also like hybrid crime and psychological films. This reason is through the graphical violence that is used through the film, for example when we shown a mise-en-scene of a whore house, we can tell this by the product design of cheap fabric and posters that had sexual themes on it, we can also tell by the costume design of the woman dressed in pink, white and red clothing that was also revealing, this can connote sexuality and smuttiness, it can also represent the opposite of white pureness by which they would have already been unpurified while being used as a object. We are shown a view of a bedroom, where a woman is lying on the bed dead and bloody, we can assume that the body was so massacred that the two main protagonists used their heads to cover it up, this would represent enigma codes and theatre of the mind due to the vast amount of blood around the bed.

Their social economics will be very low (around D or C) as they wouldn’t earn much money due to them being students, most students would be the target of mass audience as the film has a publicity factor of two well known actors from Hollywood - Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. This would of made it a big hit in the box office through other well known films.

The narrative is a chronological line of two male cops who are represented as the protagonists due to their fight for justice against the criminal world. Here they hunt down a mass serial killer that admits the killings were inspirations from the seven sins. In most traditional thrillers the genre would usually be in a linear time line and show a more dramatic but realistic side also enigma codes so the audience can understand and follow the whole story. The theory of a traditional thriller film would have only one male protagonist who would somewhere through the film go through a traumatic event; this would support the Todorov’s theory and would create a new equilibrium to the story of the protagonist always winning the damsel in distress while the antagonist would usually be mentally unstable through their ego, inflated minds or their sense of great importance to this world.

However the film Se7en was challenging the traditional conferment of a thriller film by not creating a happy ending for the protagonists wife was killed off right at the end of the film. yet the antagonist of the film was a strong conformant as he believed that the world was filled with sins and being the “chosen one” to clean the world of sinners; this shows the audience of a stereo type of a mentally unstable character that has a huge egotism and self importance which we can tell by the calm piety which relates back to the religious side of the seven sins. This subverting of the protagonists and a conformant for the protagonists can be represented by a different approach of the thriller world with good always winning over the evil, nevertheless in this film the killer “Doe” won by manipulating the protagonist in to doing on what he wanted which was to kill him in the end. He did this by killing the wife and cutting off her head “We try playing house while you were gone but she wasn’t up to it” he then concludes “So I took her head as a pretty souvenir” with sinister satisfaction.

The conventions of a thriller film has a sense of normality, a realistic but dramatic side to the world but also a theatre of the mind from thrills and action through hidden mystery and tension which gives enigma codes that would intrigue the audience giving them a sense of being on the edge of the seat. This challenges the audiences on what’s happening during the film while the hybrid theme of the genre is psychological thriller where they use theatre of the mind.

The representation of Detective Somerset is portrayed as the more mentally calm person; his character out of the two main protagonists, as his verbal codes, shows him as the voice of reason. His visual codes shows him wearing dark clothing of greys and browns, this can denote a sense of uniform by wearing something reserved or connotes no personality; that he shows a serious or depressed side. Mills is the complete opposite by showing a more fiery side against Somerset. While his verbal side is passionately swearing at people and is always angry, his visual codes shows him wearing a lighter shade of clothing compared to Somerset. This can denote a sense of conforming to his team but can also connotes a serious but positive attitude to his work. While Doe had shown a clam but confident outlook, mentally unstable but showing an intelligent side of his nature as he gives a lot of enigma codes for the two detectives to find him. His verbal codes shows him talking slowly as he wants to aggravate Mills in an eerie and sickly way, while Doe’s representation to mis-en-scene shows him wearing a red jail suit outfit and this can connotes a dangerous warning to the audiences while can also represent a hatred of the world and a deep rooted anger.

We see all three personalities in the last scenes where they come to the outback of America that shows a large open space, on the other hand doesn’t show much detail as Doe admits to killing his (Mills) wife. The editing and camera shot starts of as a slow pace show signify a climatic build up to where the fast pace begins till he finally shoots and kills Doe, this represent a edge of the seat reaction for the audience as we see Mills being manipulated and stoop to the killers level so the audience becomes much more focussed on how the characters reacted towards one another, we see how each character plays the final act though the audiences already knows a tragedy has happen and a new equilibrium will occur.

In conclusion, the thriller aspect to Se7en challenges the ideology of ideas of happy endings and values of good always winning against evil, a traditional thriller film. By creating a new but sad equilibrium from Todorov's theory this represents a subvert the codes and conventions by using omniscient narration for example in most traditional thrillers they would only have one protagonists as the main character yet in the film Se7en, both main protagonist had a different lead in the film (Brad Pitt as detective Mills as a aggressive man who passionately swears and Morgan Freeman as detective Somerset as the voice of reason.) toward the audiences. In my opinion I agree with the fact that Se7en is a evident thriller however is a modern version.