How to interpret The Killer by David Fincher? It's a story about the vacuous soul of the gig economy? Or a tale of violent class struggle in a post-capitalist society?
1. THE KILLER = THE WORKING CLASS
The “Killer” is a man seemingly stripped of any humanity, character or backstory. He is the embodiment of a worker – a tool, an agent defined by serving those who pay for his services. He serves “no God or country, I fly no flag”. The opening chapter is solely focussed on his “purely logistical” process, his craft. Where does the opening chapter take place? At a WeWork office. What does the working class do? We work. The Killer is shapeshifting and takes on the appearance of various working class roles/gig workers. He is a janitor, an Amazon delivery guy etc. The key idea put forward in the opening chapter is “the few exploiting the many”. This, I contest, is the central theme and conflict of the movie (this isn’t a concept that is owned by Marxian thought, but for fun) I am going to analyse the movie purely from a Marxist worldview). As the Killer explains, this is the “cornerstone of civilization” since the “beginning of history.”
2. MODERN CLASS STRUGGLE
We begin in Paris, home of the Paris Commune – the place of the very first Communist society in 1871. The Killer observes the life of a classic Parisian bourgeoisie neighbourhood in a voyeuristic, Rear Window style. This can be viewed as the inciting incident where he gains “class consciousness”. His murder gone wrong is the point at which the existing power structures turn against him and force him into a conflict against those that seek to oppress him. This sets the Killer on a path of overthrowing the capitalist superstructure which oppresses the working class. His obstacles (Leo, Hodges, the Brute, the Expert) challenge his proletariat identity in some way. Leo represents intra-class conflict – the way in which the lower classes are pitted against each other. Hodges represents how government and legal systems uphold a capitalist hierarchical structure. He is framed by a set of legal scales and he presents himself as acting in accordance with standard procedure. Hodges's secretary Dolores is a government bureaucrat simply doing her job. They are nevertheless complicit in the system which oppresses the working class. The Brute represents the use of violence (military power) to subjugate further the working classes.
The Expert is a representation of the seduction of wealth to the working class. Finally, the Client (Claybourne) represents the very top of the capitalist hierarchy whom the other characters serve. He bargains his fate in transactional terms – offering cash, asking “what can I do for you?”. Being the “Client”, Claybourne serves nobody else. However, having used violence to upend the existing hierarchy, the Killer has placed himself above the Client. By the end of the film, the Killer has altered the balance of power against the Client and those that wish to harm him. He hasn’t tipped up the capitalist system, only changed his position within it – he has reconciled his identity as one of the many whilst securing his own position. The final lines of the film confirm his identity as a worker – “maybe you’re just like me, one of the many.”
3. CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM IN 2023
The arc of The Killer reflects a transition from a worker merely existing in the dog-eat-dog capitalist paradigm to one that has gained class consciousness and upended the system he existed in. Guillermo del Toro wrote a twitter post about Fincher's The Killer saying: "The Killer is a movie as if penned by Sartre and filmed by Melville with the briskness of Siegel. I simply love when Fincher swings with a mean genre beat. Nimble and clockwork precise and fun. The breeziest film I have seen in a long time. It's great when you can see a film and a movie at the same time." Source: medium.com
No comments :
Post a Comment