Wednesday, January 11, 2006

THIS IS KIMBERLY

I believe in the movie "Seven,” the role of the hero is played out by the character of Mills. Mills fits the stereotypes of race, gender and age that “Heroes in Hard Times” portrays as the norm for Hollywood movies. He is white, male, and middle aged. The only stereotype that Mills does not have is an unhappy home life, which John Doe does ‘envy’ and change in the end of the film. Somerset also portrays a stereotypical sidekick: he is black and older. Throughout the film, I got the impression that Mills was head of this case and Somerset, even though he did most of the work, was there to help and guide Mills. He constantly is giving advice to Mills about the John Doe case, but the fact that Mills’ wife also relies on him for personal comfort is very important. The most crucial scene in the entire movie that portrays every aspect of the relationship between hero and sidekick is the end scene. Here, Mills is on the edge of a breakdown because he had just found out his wife had been killed. This is the only scene where Somerset offers his professional and personal advice to Mills. They prove a level of friendship within each other. Somerset truly does not want Mills to make the wrong decision for his happiness’s sake, not for the best interest of the job. Unarmed, he coaches Mills to calm down and do the right thing. Somerset is the most vulnerable in this situation than in the entire movie. First, he is unarmed and in the presence of a man borderline temporarily insane given the circumstances. Secondly, however, this is the first relationship Somerset has had in a long time. He speaks of the past as haunting and I got the impression in the beginning of the film that he wasn’t very social and did not have many friends. When the credits rolled, I truly believe Somerset and Mills will care for each other’s pain from being a cop.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home