When Two Filmmakers Make the Same Movie
Added 2025-08-28 20:55:53 +0000 UTCNebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/lsoo-when-2-filmmakers-make-the-same-movie
Comments
I love how this concept of “the Gaze” helps us understand what makes Fincher’s films so compelling. There’s a relationship between his characters and the Gaze that’s really revealing. Zodiac is a great example of how the Gaze essentially functions as its own character, separate and apart from any human being. It stalks Fincher’s protagonists in ways that no actual person does in the story. That presence is part of what allows the protagonists become entangled within it, giving just enough shape and closeness to be engaged with, but still too distant and ephemeral to be fully embraced and understood. The Gaze is also obsessive, inviting its objects to join in. That presence also positions the Gaze as an object of desire in a specific sense: part of what motivates Fincher’s protagonists is the desire to please it, for it to see them as they want to be seen (but fear they are not). In Zodiac, the desire becomes less about the professional prestige and personal satisfaction identifying the killer, and more about being seen by the Gaze as up to the Zodiac’s challenge, as clever enough to solve the murders. It’s that disconnect that creates the perversion. The protagonists are obsessed with pleasing a ghost that cannot be pleased, but tantalizes them to try and keep trying. Thanks for a great video!
Wells H
2025-08-29 17:16:04 +0000 UTCNo one does the dark side of the human psyche and gut-punch moments like Fincher. Memorable scenes from films like Se7en, Fight Club, Gone Girl and more will always keep me invested in his work. He is a master of his craft. Great stuff, Tom.
Julie Arp
2025-08-29 02:42:07 +0000 UTC
