John Doe's Apartment

The serial killer’s John Doe's apartment is a key scene in director David Fincher’s film Seven (1995) because it includes clues which could be use to determine the serial killer's identity. Doe lives in a dilapidated building which looks like it could have emanated in an earlier era such as the detective narratives which the film pays homage to. The film uses composite scenery from different eras such as detective and the film Noir narratives from the 1930s to 1940s with the old books, black-and-white photographs and dark environments (which are present in David Fincher's other films) with the comparatively modern work tools and electric lights within the apartment which the gives the place a timeless feel.

Religious iconography can be observed throughout Doe’s apartment which has a large neon cross that suggests that John Doe is devoutly religious and that it might provides motivation for his crimes. Because of belief in the grand narrative of the Christian faith are the sets of beliefs in which Doe subscribes specifically relating to morality. Because the Christian narrative has been neglected in the film's universe which leads to Doe’s belief that the world has fallen into sin and the murders are Doe’s way of punishing those who have committed the seven deadly sins, which is an attempt to re-establish moral order in the way.

The clue for this are signified by the books which are strewn about throughout the apartment that include works of literature which have influenced Does murders such as Paradise lost and the writings of Thomas Aquinas which lays out the definitions of the seven deadly sins this is nostalgia for the past and the suggestion of Fabulation which suggests reality is derived from its textual representations. This acknowledges the “fact that the film is a text, not a reality”. The apartment has multiple locks on the door and blacked out windows is a physical manifestation of the personality traits of the serial killer including his obsessive and meticulous nature and also paranoia of a he world he can not control due to cultural schizophrenia. Coupled with this “he apartment contains no fingerprints”

For the start of the scene starts from 7.00 in first clip and ends with 4.00 in the second

John Doe in Seven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY

The clip I chose is the opening scene of Se7en. This opening scene shows John Doe’s daily life. In a dim and closed room, he is exfoliating fingertips, reading books or taking notes. There are also many barbarous pictures of human and a press clipping of the word, ‘GOD.’ By seeing Doe’s daily life, this scene let audience think about what environment created such the serial killer.

“John Doe” is used as a generic name of average citizen or of people who do not want to reveal the real name. In the case of Se7en’s John Doe, he does not display a doorplate at the entrance of his apartment and often exfoliates fingertips to avoid extraction of his fingerprints. In other words, he has tried to erase all of his background which proves his existence. This shows the modern fear of anonymity and namelessness which encourages antisocial behavior. John Doe is very type who is influenced by this urbanism.

In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, Crime and Punishment, a main character has super egoism that the geniuses have the special right to exceed a law of the world and they are permitted to kill a useless human being. This idea is created by biased sense of justice and baseless almighty which modern people who withdraw into themselves have. John Doe’s theory also sounds apparently correct opinion, however he also has such strong egocentrism and his ‘judgement’ is not ‘agape.’ When urban people dissociate themselves from others and bloat egocentrism in solitude, enthusiasm against others slowly ebbs away and they do not mind others’ pain at last. Where John Doe can manifest his inner side is just in thousands of notes. He is a symbol of not aberration but generality created in urban environment where postmodern characters appear plainly. Se7en depicts such the postmodern tendency of urban society through John Doe.