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Singh Manasvi Film Derbyshire

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64 views20 pages

Singh Manasvi Film Derbyshire

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manasvi singh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Extended Essay

Neo-noir Psychological Thriller

Research question: "In what ways do the narratives of 'Nocturnal Animals (2016)',

'Se7en'(1995), and 'Zodiac (2007)' explore themes of moral ambiguity, human

depravity, and the darker aspects of human nature within the context of a neo-noir

psychological thriller?"
Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3-4

2. Delving into moral ambiguity and human depravity through cinematic mise en

scene…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5-10

3. On Emphasizing Moral Ambiguity and Human Wretchedness with the Help of


Cinematography……………………………………………………………………………………………………….11-14

4. Narrative structure…………………………………………………………………………………………………….14-

5. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

films

references
Introduction
My extended essay portrays the genre of neo-noir psychological thriller movies.

Neo-noir psychological thriller is part of a broader category of neo-noir film theory. They

combine noir and psychological thriller elements to create a different cinematic experience. Noir

film theory is characterized by visual elements such as tilted camera angles or an interplay

between darkness and light. The theory has a common motif, which includes crime and

punishment, the upheaval of moral values, and a pessimistic stance on the meaning of life for

humankind. The theory also considers these neo-noir films to illustrate the means of addressing

philosophical questions about guilt, redemption, darker aspects of human nature, and human

depravity. Neo-noir narrative primarily focuses on complex, ambiguous characters and

challenges the viewer’s perceptions towards reality; the aspects of the films are mainly explored

through different elements such as noir-inspired visual styles, which include high contrast

lighting, urban landscape, to provide the overall sense of unease and tension in the film.

The film “Nocturnal Animals (2016)”, directed by Tom Ford, explores the complexities of

relationships and the consequences of past actions. The narrative structure illustrates the

blurred lines between reality and fiction, leading to a sense of moral ambiguity in the character’s

motivations and actions, which were questioned; it also portrays the themes of revenge and

guilt, which highlights the darker aspects of human nature.

David Fincher’s movie “Se7en” explores humankind's gritty and dark moral ambiguity. The film is

about two detectives investigating murders inspired by the seven deadly sins. The film portrays a

chilling atmosphere and a dull outlook on humanity, emphasizing the darker aspects of human

nature. Another movie by David Fincher, “Zodiac,” is a real-life story of the killer known as Zodiac
and its obsessive hunt for the murderer. The film further examines its themes of obsession and

paranoia of humankind because the characters are consumed by their hunt for justice. It also

digs into the investigations' outcome on the individuals involved and highlights its morally

suspect truth and justice.

In terms of their cultural context, each of these films reflects its anxieties and uncertainties

during their respective period; Se7en reflects on its skepticism and disenchantments of the

1990s, whereas “Nocturnal Animals” and “Zodiac” tap into fears and tensions in surrounding

relationships, identity, and crime. The film also reflects on society’s struggles for morality and the

complications of human nature.

At last, the American Neo-Noir psychological thriller genre has evolved over the years. While

classic film noirs often featured moral dissimilarity and intention, modern neo-noirs like these

three films embrace their moral ambiguity and complexity more, compelling audiences to defy

the darker aspects of human nature in a more nuanced and unsettling way.
Delving into Moral Ambiguity and Human Depravity

through Cinematic Mise én Scene

The neo-noir psychological thriller genre goes deep into the darker aspects of human nature and

moral ambiguity. Three films masterfully manifest mise en scene elements to create an

atmosphere that contemplates exploring the darker aspects of human nature within the context

of the neo-noir psychological genre.

Nocturnal Animals: The blurring of reality and fiction

Mise en Scene is vital in Nocturnal Animals and significantly contributes to developing the film's

theme. An example is when Susan receives the manuscript from her ex-husband, Edward, and she

fishes around into the dark and vengeful story within the manuscript.

“The scene where Susan first starts to

read the manuscript”


The contrast between the conflict of the city mouse and the country mouse, where Susan

represents the former, and the desolate settings of the novel instill a sense of loneliness and

moral dubiousness. The lighting, especially during the night scenes, tense the characters and

audience and establish uncertainty between dreams and wakefulness.

The movie's production design complements this merging and breaking of barriers. The interior

of Susan’s house is tidy and empty, and it looks like a distorted reflection of modern art.

Simultaneously, the novel's plot is rough and sparse: the landscape comprises mountains and

rocks, contrasting with Susan’s lifestyle. The concept of truth and reality is also depicted in terms

of brightness: The shades of the scenes show the audience Susan’s world in a greyish tone that

contrasts with the highly saturated scenes of the novel, leaving the audience to contemplate

what is real and what is only in Susan’s mind. (Hess)


Se7en: Roughing it up and Falling Apart

The crime drama film ‘Se7en’ has a specific visual style, which its mise-en-scène embodies as a

dark theme. The film's geography, with stormy streets, murkiness, and enclosed areas, adds to

the menacing feeling and deterioration of the characters’ moral grounds. The city and the roads

take on the part of the story and represent the characters' evil and despair. This is prominently

seen towards the end of the movie when Detectives Somerset and Mills are caught in the kill

zone – a place that reveals the core of evil and essential evil character. (Fox)

Consistent with that moral decay, the film’s color scheme is nearly monochromic: predominantly

green, brown, and grey reinforce the film’s overall aura of decay and darkness. The utilization of

gloomy illumination and silhouettes adds the creepy sensation and confusion while the

detectives wade through the somewhat questionable mind of the murderer.


Zodiac: Authenticity and Obsession

In the ‘Zodiac,’ the mise-en-scene does not concentrate on exoticism and the stylized looks of

the thriller’s locations. The entire environment, the fashion, and the setting, particularly in the

last part of the movie, were well-realized, if only based on my conception of the 1960s and

1970s. The absence of bright colors and the presence of natural light enhance the setting since it

is entirely credible to believe that during such a tumultuous period, people’s homes would be

dark and small, with the curtains always drawn. The scene that depicts Robert Graysmith as a

main character falling into obsession and paranoia while chasing the Zodiac killers to the extent

of his transformation reflects on the opposing sides of human nature as depicted by what people

are willing to do in the name of seeking justice. (Newell) The film is accurate and gives an

excellent idea of the time in the newsroom scenes, especially in the neighborhoods where the

murders were committed. This gives truth to the plot, and it then becomes more accessible to

dismiss the gradual slide into obsession and the ethical dilemmas that the characters experience.
Comparison and Thematic Exploration through mise en

scene

Even as unique approaches in its aesthetic approach characterize each of these films, both films

have a range of similarities in mise-en-scene that are useful in the depictions of moral ambiguity,

the vices of man, and the darker part of the character. Low-key lighting, high contrast, and

cinematographic features, such as reflected light and DWV, help to establish an overall feeling of

ambiguity and build up several myths that refer to morality and psychological aspects of

characters’ personalities.

The contrast in the use of the geographical location, for example, where ‘Nocturnal Animals’

uses the urban/rural theme or the grimy city and the clean suburbs in ‘Se7en’ go hand in hand

with the moral relativism and the clash between dark and light that is also depicted in the movie.

Such contrasts pose the viewers with the central dilemma: distinguishing between good and evil

and facing many shades of what exists in the human mind.

However, the staging of the films is an important trait and a depiction of the characters’ state of

mind, and the environment reflects their perception of reality. With ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ the

process of interlocking and merging the main character’s traumatic reality with the fiction she is

reading embodies her guilt and a feeling of being judged. In this same manner, the focus on the

Zodiac case in ‘Zodiac’ through the persistence of Robert Graysmith translates to the film’s

ambivalent tone and tension as the man becomes allured with the case.
By employing the concept of mise-en-scene in their movies, these neo-noir psychological thrillers

successfully create a thematic world where the audience is exposed to the trust and cohesion’s

underlying uncertainty and the human spirit’s evil shades. First, the visual elements add the

element of horror to the movie but simultaneously leave an aspect of interpretation, touching

upon the internal conflict and the essential moral questions.

Through these aspects of mise-en-scene, these films make the audience face their conscience

and check how far from the bottom people can sink. ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ ‘Se7en’, and ‘Zodiac’

movies belong to the neo-noir psychological thriller genre that presents the viewer with a

gratifying complex perspective on what it means to be a human and forces the audience to face

our primal instincts as well as our innate desire for justice that often produces moral and

psychological dilemmas.
On Emphasizing Moral Ambiguity and Human
Wretchedness with the Help of Cinematography

The neo-noir psychological thriller genre encompasses thriller and crime elements of human

nature, ethically ambiguous characters, and personal vices. All these movies are beautiful

examples of how the director and cinematography can use the camera to set the mood suitable

for the film's themes, including the ones of moral fresco, where human vices and the evil of the

human soul are revealed.

Nocturnal Animals

Cinematography in ‘Nocturnal Animals’ is an artistic element in filmmaking and a significant part

of the film's message. An example includes a scene in the movie where Susan receives a

manuscript from her ex-husband, Edward, with a vengeful story of a man who toys with

women's lives and tracks their deaths within the novel. The light conditions used in the scenes

from Susan’s successful urban life, a whole of golden, natural light, contrast with the somber,

low-lighted gloom of the deserts in the novel, where everything is shadowy and deceitful. The

night scenes nicely support this aspect through the elements of shadowed and silhouetted

characters, which amplifies the psychological horror of the piece while accenting the themes of

deception of reality and identity.


Se7en

It bears a dark and gritty tone, as evident through its camera work. Darker spots, low lighting,

and some shots that make the space feel more constricted are the techniques used in the film to

support the general feeling of sin and decay. We also have the settings as characters, where the

views in the movie often depict the wet streets, the dark alley, and all that with rain and

darkness, matching the shadowy world of the human characters. The way that the very last

meeting of Detectives Somerset and Mills with the bodily outcomes of the killer’s actions in the

very end of the film is the manifestation of the evil and ethical dilemmas of the characters with

the help of the low illumination and short focus as well as the organically connected elements of

mise-en-scene and cinematography make the viewer have a sense of oppression.


The Zodiac

The original cinematography for “Zodiac,” directed by David Fincher, places the viewer within its

late 1960s and early 1970s settings. The film instantly throws us back to that period through

natural ambient lighting, subdued earth-tone palettes, and handheld camerawork. This is

enhanced by long shots and deep focus, which create an authentic atmosphere of the period

while taking the tension and uncertainty a notch higher. One such scene is when Robert

Graysmith is descending into obsession and paranoia in his efforts to solve Zodiac killings. On this

note, through tight framing and claustrophobic compositions, he used in painting scenes of

Graysmith’s disintegrating psychological state and the darker side of humanity, from which we

clearly understood it just like he did. Meanwhile, life goes on as usual for most people in another

scene, with traces of unease subtly illustrated through insignificant details or changes in citizens’

moods and worries during that ominous period.


Comparison and Thematic Exploration through

Cinematography

Every film has different visual styles, but they also have common elements in their

cinematography that help explore moral ambiguity, human depravity, and the darker aspects of

human nature. The use of alternative lighting, bleak shadows, and atmospheric framing all

contribute to a sense of unease and uncertainty, mirroring its characters' moral complexities and

psychological depths. Another way that these movies highlight the themes of moral ambiguity

and the duplicity of human nature is through their contrasting color palettes and lighting

techniques, for example, juxtapositions between urban and rural landscapes prevalent in

Nocturnal Animals or between gritty cityscape versus pristine suburban neighborhoods featured

in Se7en. Furthermore, much like the plots, some films use settings as an extension of the

character's mental state by blurring the lines between reality and perception. In Nocturnal

Animals, Susan’s intermingling reality with her fictional account is seen through conflicting visual

styles representing her guilt and moral reckoning. Zodiac reflects Robert Graysmith’s obsessive

quest for truth through claustrophobic framing and handheld camera movement, which builds

disorientation and ambiguity in this film. With their excellent application of camera work, these

neo-noir psychological thrillers plunge the viewers into realities where moral lines are repeatedly

tested, and human wickedness is manifested. Besides generating a ghostly and disconcerting

mood, visual components in these films mirror the characters’ mental agony as well as the

ethical dilemmas they experience, hence encouraging viewers to evaluate their principles while

scrutinizing how far human degeneracy goes.


Narrative Structure

Thus, the narrative structures of “Nocturnal Animals”, “Se7en” and “Zodiac” all reflect on the

issues of moral ambiguity, evilness inside human beings and the sins within the set genre of neo-

noir psychological thriller. All these films use different storytelling approaches to explore

different aspects of their characters’ psychological and the often grey areas of their

environment.

"Nocturnal Animals" employs a complex, multi-layered structure that interweaves three distinct

storylines: Susan, the fictional novel within the film, and the imagining of the modern day Susan

and Edward relationship as well as their past. This intricate plot enables the audience to consider

the themes of betrayal, weakness and the outcomes of decisions made in a metaphoric sense.

The plot in the frame, set in the contemporary world, presents Susan as a successful but

disillusioned owner of an art gallery. The receipt of Edward’s ex-husband novel manuscript act as

a connector between the past and the fictional world depicted in the novel. The inner story,

where a gritty and ethically questionable story of Tony’s vengeful actions in West Texas is told,

reflects the emotional abuse that Susan and Edward suffered in their relationship. This is a

motion picture fiction depicting Ray Marcus and his crew indulging in brutal acts of violence. The

flashback story progression shows the stages of relations between Susan and Edward, pointing

to the ideas of betrayal, weakness, and the price of choices. Both of these narratives play off one

another to produce a psychological thriller that cuts right to the psyche of man’s inhumanity to

man. The novel in the film is an allegory to Edward’s existence and his interaction with Susan,
where weakness and betrayal are depicted in both . Such structure provides an opportunity to

introduce new information step by step, create suspense and make people think about the

unpleasant aspects of the characters’reality. It does this brilliantly in exploring moral complexity

in as far as good and evil, victims and perpetrators are concerned.

“Seven” on the other hand uses conventional story telling with the narrative structure as a

powerful gum shoe detective who is investigating the murders related to the seven deadly sins.

This approach generates an impression that the evil in human beings is dominant and

unrelenting and with each crime squarely committing manifesting the worst in people. The film

begins by establishing the gritty urban setting and introducing the two main characters: Two

main characters of the movie are: Democrat investigator named young, optimistic detective Mills

and Republican one – more experienced detective Somerset who is planning to retire. Unlike

most serial killer shows or movies, the investigation in this series is linear, with the seven deadly

sins murders depicting the ever-darkening relationships between the characters and the growing

evil of humanity. The stylistic arrangements of the film’s narrative lets the viewers descend

deeper into the evil of “Se7en”. At elucidation of each crime the viewers are exposed to the

more sickening aspects of human behavior. The progression is linear which makes this

experience feel very predetermined, which is a feature of the world that the film portrays. The

structure also helps the picture paint gray shades of morality in the actions and choices of the

characters. Having laid the foundations and ‘bolts ’for the thematic developments in the film,

Somerset’s wildly disillusioned world outlook sets tension against Mills’ lessons-in-naivety,

culminating in a moral grey area that is ‘Se7en’. The story re-establishes ethical compass of
viewers and characters and makes them evaluate their own values and principles. Boots, besides

rounding the main sins described in the picture, draw Mills in moral conflict which results in

tragic decision of the character during the final scenes of the film. This ending draws focus to the

major themes of the film as a moral gray area, as well as the facets of darkness within people.

”Zodiac” has an unconventional plot since it is based on true events that occurred over four

decades of the interactions of the murderer with its victims, police, and media, and thus, its

narrative appropriately reflects the nature of the case. Thus, employing such visualization

techniques as switching between different time continuums throughout giving multiple angles to

the score, the move creates a rather disoriented outlook which aligns to the characters’

narratives. The first scenes cover the murders to the start of the investigation with the revelation

of the Zodiac killer and the primary characters of the movie including cartoonists Graysmith,

journalist Avery, investigator Toschi, and detective Armstrong. It then goes to depict how these

characters and others become involved in the chase of the Zodiac killer, covering different time

frames and viewpoints. This arrangement enables a rigorous examination of the obsession with

truth and justice, apart from the lengthy, mentally draining outcomes of crimes in a human

world. While previous works focused on external consequences and the nature of the conflict,

the movie depics the impact of the investigation on characters’ personal lives, showing how

obsession with the case and living in the environment where violence and destabilization are

leading to radicalization transform people. It is seen that the narrative structure does not tie up

all the matters, which adds to the theme of the film’s moral complexity. This imposes the reality

of the investigations and the audience’s impotent yearning for resolution. The open structure is
‘non-linear’, that is, does not provide a clear sequence of events to follow, and it is ‘asymmetric’,

that is, splits in many directions, and this format accurately conveys the escalating state of

confusion and fixation of the real-life case. This structure enables a richness of exploration of the

fundamental drive embedded in human nature, specifically, the pursuit of the truth and

retribution. It explores the psychological impact one is subjected to when dealing with some of

the worst aspects of human nature, which was portrayed best by how the characters evolved or

morphed under the circumstances.


CONCLUSION

“Nocturnal Animals” (2016), “Se7en” (1995), and “Zodiac” (2007) can all be considered as neo-

noir films belonging to the psychological thriller genre as each of these projects addresses the

concept of the human vices in different ways. By analyzing the distinct strategies in the

narratives and themes of these films, the neo-noir genre proves that it has the capacity to

explore the psychological aspects of the characters and the dual nature of good and evil in a

world where the shades of the two are not easily discerned. There is one common idea that

unites all three movies; the focus on the theme of moral gray zone. The duality of reality and

fantasy and the portrayal of villains and anti-heroes is evident in “Nocturnal Animals” making the

audience wonder whether revenge and justice are realistic. ”Se7en” depicts a vision of the world

in which even seeking justice is not entirely free from questionable choices and actions; it ends

with a scene that makes both the protagonists and the audience face their own potential for the

use of violence. On the matter of moral analysis, “Zodiac” explores themes of obsession and how

far people are willing to tread in order to solve a mystery.

Another focal topic in these films is the theme of sinfulness inherent in man. Say, “Nocturnal

Animals” provides the audience with fictional storyline that illustrates acts of violence, as well as

acts of cruelty, which is a portrayal of emotional abuse. Horrors of the ‘Se7en’ move from one

more horrible crime to the other and each of them takes the audience to the next level of evil.

“Zodiac” shows how the effects of a murderer are being felt for many years by the families of the

deceased, as well as those who completely dedicated their lives to solving the case.

Each presented film offers a deep insight into the darkest parts of human character. Based on
the concepts of betrayal, weakness, and retribution, the show “Nocturnal Animals” explores the

disturbing reality of the world. Alone, the characters, and viewers of ‘’Se7en’’ are left with no

doubts that evil exists and is within everyone. “Zodiac” shows how the extended process of

investigating violence impacts people’s psychological state and the instinct of people to

investigate the shocking or gruesome.

Answering the research question, these films showcase several possibilities of how the neo-noir

psychological thriller genre can tackle the fans’ interests via narrative construction and character

arcs. They demonstrate what kind of eternal issues the genre is able to address, how precisely

the subject matter can deliberately subvert moral boundaries and question the audience, and

what kind of truth it is able to tell about human beings. These kinds of movies portray

protagonists and stakes in moral gray areas to make audiences consider the ethics of certain

actions. They show how neo noir can be a useful approach in posing and problematizing issues of

the psyche and existence including morality and justice.

In conclusion, it is pertinent to state that “Nocturnal Animals”, “Se7en” and “Zodiac” showcase

the epitome of neo-noir psychological thriller. By the means of experimental and unconventional

approaches to plot construction and by addressing such themes as evil and sin, they provide

valuable perspectives upon the human essence and the very nature of essense. Being critically

engaging and raising philosophical questions of morality and human mind, these films also enrich

the spectators’ experiences and make them a model of the genre.

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