Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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muddled. Experiencing these events through Bickle creates the necessary dramatic
tension and plot construction to enhance the film’s emotional affect and render the
narrative understandable. In a different way, the events of All About Eve (1950; dir.
Mankiewicz) are seen through the eyes of, and narrated by, theatre critic Addison
DeWitt. DeWitt is involved in the action of the film, but is not a central character,
like the previously discussed examples of The Hidden Fortress and Star Wars. This
allows him to view the events from the inside, but simultaneously at a distance.
DeWitt’s critical perspective is adopted by the spectator, so that the events and
characters, while seen as complex, are viewed sceptically. In this way, the tension
experienced by the viewer is derived from the simultaneous ability to understand the
characters and the cynicism with which the viewer interprets their physical actions
and spoken dialogue. It is through DeWitt that the events witnessed become
complex and entertaining.
Among the examples already provided, Eyes Wide Shut, Sunset Boulevard,
and Taxi Driver all have a few significant elements in common. First, they
demonstrate extreme examples of filmic perspective where the story circulates
almost wholly around the events happening to one character specifically. Secondly,
these perspectives are often fashioned in order to enhance the presentation of their
subjectivity, exaggerated by extreme uses of lighting, sound, camerawork, editing,
and other aesthetic devices. Finally, because the viewer sees the events from such
closely attached perspectives, many of these exaggerated aesthetic elements
contribute to a sense of the grotesque, of terror and of fear, although they are not
horror films. It is from this that the horror genre benefits. Horror is a genre that
relies almost entirely upon the use of perspective to create the desired emotional