Today we watched the opening of
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher,2011.) This is a dark and disturbing opening which portrays key thriller codes.
The opening of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo uses images that are
dark and disturbing. For example images of bottomless dark water flowing which connote frightening ideas of drowning. Mixed in with this you have a range of images of the human body; for instance a body that is lying prone which has a metal collar with spikes on it, something that a dog may have. This is year again a disturbing image. The water that flows over this body is nightmarish as it is as if someone is being drowned.
Along with these images there is also a computer keyboard which is an
important visual code for this film as it
signals the genre and plot. We instantly know this story is going to involve someone who works with computers. In one sequence water gushes out of the mouth of a female figure as if she were vomiting which is a revolting and sickening image. Many of the images are of knotted and twisted forms whether they're human limbs or computer cables. The use of them being twisted is what the film is about. They are tangled in a web which is a
metaphor for the story which is a mess although we see it untangle throughout the film.
There is an equally freighting image introduced of fire, which is almost as if someone is being set alight. Which
warns the audience that something dangerous is going to happen. We then realise that out suspicion of the body being set alight to, are true as we see the charred remains of the human body. The eyeless skeleton stares into the eyes of the viewer which draws them in to find out what has happened here. We see a creature trying to escape from the flames suggesting that the flames are trying to capture someone in it's heat. This suggests that there is someone so innocent trying to escape from something so violent.
It is clear that if there are sexual relations in the film that they are clearly going to be dark and violent. As we see someone punching a women's face. The fact that they are not wearing clothes suggests that it is a sexual relationship. However the dark themes and images in the opening suggests it will not be romantic yet horrific and frightening as we are in the
world of the thriller.
The opening includes a female face being gagged and blindfolded, as if we are
witnessing a glimpse into someone's nightmare world. We see an image of people going to kiss but even this isn't allowed as we see a variety of
rapid cuts and the tempo increases with the audiences heart rate. The rapid cuts suggest the restless nightmare that the person is having. Even during this kiss there are images of death. The final part of the opening, which indicates it is something to do with computers is the way that the figures are all computer generated as if they aren't real.
The music includes screams in it suggesting it is clearly a troubled world that the girl lives in which is
typical in a thriller film.
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