Se7en Essay

What makes a thriller and how is this evident in 'Se7en'? A macro/micro analysis of 'Se7en' (David Fincher, 1995).

'Se7en' is a crime thriller, with a strong psychological context too. There are many factors that define the thriller genre and all of its sub-genres; conventions that are consistent throughout the industry which allow us to classify the text. 'Se7en' is no different: it is very much typical in its conventional execution, and its use of macro elements (genre, narrative, audience, institution, representation, ideology) and micro techniques (cinematography, sound, editing and miss en scene) tell us this. I will explore to what extent this film is a thriller and to what extent it conforms the conventions of the sub-genre too, evaluating the macro elements through analysis of the micro elements to justify my reasoning.

'Se7en' was directed by David Fincher. This is especially important considering David Fincher's directing history: excluding 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', all of David Fincher's big releases – 'Zodiac', 'Fight Club', 'Panic Room', 'The Game', and even elements of 'Alien 3' – are thrillers, most of which are specifically psychological. This shows that his talents prominently lie in the making of thrillers, and it is likely he was specifically hired for this ability. As well as the direction, the screenplay was written by Andrew Kevin Walker. Much like Fincher, Walker is known for his history in the thriller genre, having re-written 'Fight Club' (another Fincher film) as well as '8mm' – a psychological thriller. The film was produced by Arnold Kopelson, who also has links to the thriller span, having produced suspense thrillers like ‘Outbreak’, which coincidentally also has Morgan Freeman in it (similar to ‘Fight Club’ in that Brad Pitt headlines). Kevin Spacey had just starred in ‘The Usual Suspects’ a massive thriller success, Brad Pitt was rapidly gaining recognition and Morgan Freeman was a star to the industry, especially following his Academy Award nominations for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’; it’s obvious that the studio, New Line Cinema, were putting a lot faith in the film, as is supported by the $30 million budget and the scope of stars they were willing to cast. This is even more significant considering that, at the time, New Line Cinema was an independent studio, and not only this but the film is relatively contrasting to typical Hollywood releases with very dark themes that would normally be frowned upon; they were putting a quite substantial budget and cast, despite their setbacks, along-side a style of film that was relatively less likely to succeed than most films.

Considering the age rating of 18, the film is obviously established at one for an older audience. Regarding this, I’d specify a male audience of roughly mid-twenties to around forty. I suggest a more prominent male audience mostly due to the selection of characters and cast. First of all, the film is centred around two male protagonists, rather than the expected single character; each character is a polar opposite of each other, with one young, reckless and aggressive adult – Detective Mills – and one older and more reserved character – Detective Somerset. It is likely that the characters are so contrasting to appeal to both ends of the audience spectrum: Mills is likely to be identified with the younger viewers, mirroring his own nature, whereas Somerset will appeal to the older audience. As well as this, the film ventures into very gruesome murders and scenes; such vulgarity is not usually associated with women, who would stereotypically find it quite disgusting thus supporting this target audience. However, despite this, it can be argued that it lays substantial grounds in attracting a female audience too. They hired a considerably famous actress, Gwyneth Paltrow, to play a rather significant role in the film – Tracy. This shows that they were willing to be significant money on the line to appeal to a female audience whom are fans of Paltrow. As well of this, Brad Pitt is largely considered a 'sex symbol' in modern media, and it is very possible that Pitt was cast in the role of a young protagonist with this in mind.

Nearly the entire film is shown with a restricted narrative, the only real exception being at the finale where it splinters between the two detectives and the overhead helicopter. By showing all development of the film from only the protagonist's , every time an enigma code occurs, the audience remains as unaware of how or what it means as the protagonists can work out. An example of both of these features is the first killing as apart of the titular seven, 'Gluttony'. The two protagonists investigate a strange murder that seems far too elaborate to be a one off; we are shown exactly what the characters are, with no additional information, and thus this enigma code leaves us as unaware of the truth as the detectives. By using such a an enigmatic narrative, the audience is constantly left in a state of progressive suspense. We are constantly waiting to find out the truth, more and more at each enigma code (killing.) Suspense and enigma are ultimately the two most significant conventions of the thriller genre. The thriller genre is all about a sense of mystery and the film typically exists as the journey to unravel the mystery, or enigma – this film embodies a style of narrative that entirely prioritises these two factors, supporting its nature as a thriller. As well as this, the film features a completely linear narrative. This is significant because the film emphasises the chronological and regular sense of progression, with the film consisting of only a few actual days. This links heavily to the conventions of a thriller; thrillers largely concern normality, and the disruption of it or abnormality found within it. By focussing on how short the time-frame in which the film's events occur in, the film as shown as very realistic and consistent with real life, rather than over-dramatised and, for instance, spanning years. One way the film conveys this thriller convention is through its micro elements, specifically editing; every time a night passes and the next day starts, the day is labelled with an on-screen text, for instance 'Tuesday'. This regular occurrence for each day shows the progression of time.

Much like most high-budget, Hollywood releases, 'Se7en' features a classic Hollywood narrative. Following Todorov's Narrative Theory, the film introduces an Equilibrium: Detective Somerset is continuing work as-is any other day, with the intent of retiring sometime soon. Disequilibrium occurs early on as Detective Mills meets Somerset, and then further disruption to normality occurs as the strange killings the plot is based around are brought to light. Finally, with Mills having killed John Doe, Detective Somerset returns to work with the peculiar killings over and everything returns to its original state beside the death of Tracy: a New Equilibrium. While this style of narrative is not distinctive to the thriller genre, it confirms the film's status as a mainstream thriller. However, what's more interesting is that the film breaks Propp's character theory, as is a set standard in typical Hollywood releases. This is particularly important because it is typical of films of the thriller genre to attempt to break expectations, thus allowing more elaborate surprises and more suspense as audiences are less likely to expect something they have never experienced. For example, the 'villain' would typically expect to struggle against the 'hero'. However, the mysterious antagonist in fact has no relevance to the protagonists until the finale of the film, and it is simply their job which sets them en route to find him. Instead, he kills victims we don't even know of until their death, like the 'Greed' death. Furthermore, verbal codes confirm this: in the climax to the finale, as John Doe reveals his motivation for his killings, and tells his auditors that “God works in mysterious ways”. He suggests that what he is doing is against everyone “all around us” – society – and is righteous in its motive. As well as conforming to the conventional thriller, this also relates to the film's sub-genre, a psychological thriller. By introducing the belief that his actions were of justice, both the audience and the protagonists are left to question their own judgement – was he really bad, or actually completely right? It causes psychological stress and confusion. This also applies to other characters. For instance, Tracy who would assume the role of the 'princess', isn't the motivation for the protagonists' actions until minutes before the end, where Mills shoots John Doe, and also isn't rescued – she dies. This applies again to the idea of subverting the formula.

The film is laced with micro elements which all lead to suggest that the film is conventionally a psychology film, too. One of the most apparent scenes of this, brimming with thriller conventions, is the drive to the climax and climax itself. One example is that the scene draws heavily on the technique Theatre of the Mind, which is somewhat specific to the thriller genre. Theatre of the Mind is another tool used to create both suspense and tension; by not revealing the actual specifics or details of an event or scene, the audience is left to let their imagination fill in the scene for them, and this is executed by the revelation that Tracy's decapitated head lays in the cardboard box delivered to Detective Mills. The cinematography is at a close-up angle where we can not see the contents of the box, but can see Detective Somerset's reaction to what he sees , and it is revolted. This close-up highlights his sheer disgust by focusing on his expression. Through this, we envision the worse, especially as to how she got to that point. Not only is this a typical convention of thrillers, used so prominently, but it also relates to the psychological sub-genre; it puts the audience and even the protagonists through the conflict of judging the situation. This use is then further exemplified as John Doe implicitly describes the scene where he killed her without actually stating how he did it. He mentions how she pleaded for the life of her “and her baby” – we are left to envision the horror and distress he must have put her through.

Another example of micro elements used to portray a typical convention of a thriller is the soundtrack. The soundtrack consists of very slow-paced, deep-noted string playing almost always. Because of the speed, the music represents the pace at which progress is being made. This consistent slow speed builds a large amount of suspense within the audience; we are indirectly told that we will have to wait for result or conclusion of that particular scenario, and the audience becomes more and more anxious as the music stresses it out. An example of this in when John Doe is in the car with the two detectives, justifying his actions. Here, the music is extremely slow, and this similarly represents the scene: it is long, drawn out, and is accompanied by Doe's very slow talking. Despite this being the climax of the film and the audience's suspense building, the scene remains calm and slow.

The final macro element that supports the classification of the genre psychological thriller is representation. Representation is a significant part of the film, with much of it being very symbolic. For instance, the film uses a lot of expressionism through the miss en scene. Except for the climax, the setting throughout the film is constantly raining with terrible weather, as well as the buildings all being very derelict and degraded. This is used to represent the state of society; it is run-down, horrid, corrupted. An example of this is when you see Detective Mills receiving his Cliff Notes from another officer; the officer has to run it is raining so much. This is important because is it portrays life in a much more realistic than the Hollywood standards of perfect life – suggesting actual normality, with normality being a very significant convention of the thriller genre. This point also relates to the antagonist's justification for his killings, that society was corrupt. This is very interesting in the fact that the climax, where John Doe finishes all of his 'righteous' killings, that the weather is suddenly sunny, hot; very-much like ideal Summer weather. This is as if to suggest his actions had temporarily cleansed; the rain and horrid environments were gone. This supports the psychological aspect of the genre, where conflict arises as judgement of whether John Doe's actions were, again, bad, or whether they had actually been 'right'.

Another element of representation, also through use of the miss en scene, is the clothes that each character wears. Not only do each characters' clothes represent their role (antagonist, protagonist), but they also represent the characters personality. This highlights much of the normality of the characters, especially their flaws. For instance, the two morning scenes of the two detectives can contrast each other. While Somerset dresses very slowly, a point-of-view camera showing as he individually took and adjusted peripherals, with very neat and professional clothing, Mills appears the opposite; he is very rushed, and throws on an un-ironed shirt. Throughout the film he wears the likes of a leather jacket, crumpled shirt, rolled up sleeves and so on. Somerset will always appear professional and tidy however. This highlights each characters' personalities in that Mills is very much like his his clothed: rough, rushed, impatient, and so is Somerset: calm, tidy, considerate.

All of these factors, the macro elements down to the micro elements, give me the evidence to judge whether or not 'Se7en' is a thriller, and to what extent it is. All of the evidence supplied leads directly to support the conventions of a thriller, and its sub-genre of being psychological. None of the evidence exists to sway this reasoning to any other genre, and thus I would say the film is a thriller in its entirety.