- Untitled David Fincher Project
- by Karl Erickson, Renee Sutter, Chris Switzer, and Keith Jason Wikle
__________
Karl Erickson: David Fincher and the Lonely Man
David Fincher presents us, over the course of four films, with the image of
the lone and lonely white male, struggling for definition, if not survival.
On the periphery of this lonely orbit, single female characters spin,
influencing the course of actions with their own weak gravitational
pull. The women in Fincher’s films are not weak, however, the men
are oblivious to the actions of the women. From Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)
in Alien3 to Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) in Fight
Club to The Game’s Christine (Deborah Unger), we see
very strong female presences that act on unaware men caught in delusional
denial. The exception to this is Tracey (Gwyenth Paltrow) in Se7en,
who is both ineffectual and ignored by Mills (Brad Pitt) until her murder
marks him irrevocably.
In Alien3, Ripley is torn between divulging her
secret (and thus perhaps bringing about her own ruin) and fighting stoically
on. Likewise, Gwyneth Paltrow has a similar childbearing secret, though
this time the life in her belly could have saved both Brad Pitt and
herself from their ruinous climax. So the question is: why are their
so many isolated figures in Fincher’s films–men who are oblivious
and women who are unable to tell–who cannot touch one another except
to do harm?
In Fight Club, the men wage war against the "feminizing" (effeminizing
might be used more advisedly, or even emasculating) forces in their
lives. Their identity is being constrained, pre-built into too few categories.
Without access to knowledge of positive reaction violence is their only
option. Hulk Smash. Marla, in contrast, is the chameleon figure who
changes from situation to situation, keeping what there is of her sanity
intact by adapting to the different needs of her "support group." Menaced
by Marla’s adaptibility, Jack responds by creating the Tyler personae
that tears down rather than adapts. Marla’s chameleon nature, however,
threatens to expose Jack/Tyler’s duality and she is driven away
with stereotypical male indifference.
It is this stereotypical male indifference–or the "I can do it
myself" syndrome–that marks all of Fincher’s film. The men
won’t share and that is their downfall. The only ones we see sharing
are the emasculated men in Fight Club, before Tyler tells them it's
wrong. And then they get to breaking things. But back to the question:
why are there so many isolated figures in Fincher’s films? Nicholas
Van Orten (Michael Douglas) in The Game and Mills in Se7en
fail because of their inability to open up to another human. In
Fight Club, Jack is able to overthrow his Tyler personae and
become his "own man" thanks to Marla. And in Alien3,
Ripley, who gets to fill both masculine and feminine roles, only overcomes
her alien adversary when she opens up to the inmates of the penal colony.
(It should be noted that as a feminine avatar, Ripley is punished both
for promiscuity and "sharing"; and finally, after three films,
put to death.)
Isolation in Fincher’s films serves to act as an antidote to
the American imago of the lone man changing the world. In these films,
we see the lone man raging ineffectually against the world. We see success
only when others are involved. The Game's Van Orten does nothing
on his own but react. Continuing the long line of American Machismo,
this time characterized by his suicidal father, Van Orten follows in
the footsteps of a role model which lead to self destruction. Van Orten
is not only isolated, but oblivious to the outcome of the path he is
on. It is only through the intervention of a team of others that he
is cut from his web of loneliness and brought back into the fold of
human relationships. Detective Mills fails in Se7en because he
will not depend on Somerset (Morgan Freeman) nor will he even pay attention
to his wife. However, Fincher seems to posit that the communion the
starving male soul needs in the 21st century is not that
of support groups that reduce men to (again) lone individuals blubbering
out their sorrows in turn, only to come back next week to reenact the
unsuccessful and self-perpetuating catharsis. No, it requires a blow
to the head, the beheading of your wife, an alien bursting from your
belly, or some other climatic event that establishes the need for unity.
It is when men gather together that they can accomplish anything, from
Operation Mayhem to the restructuring of the Alpha Male’s identity.
This is great for the men, as they get to become whole and multi-tentacled.
For the women though, this is not so good. They are beheaded, brutally
fucked or cremated in molten lead with their fatherless mutant progeny
so that the men can move on, changing the world.
