Sunday, January 24, 2016
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Double Indemnity
In film noir, many of the male leads are weak, frustrated men. While you are watching Double Indemnity, make a mental note of Walter Neff’s characteristics. What kind of man is he? What is his relationship like with women?
Walter Neff is a very significant character and his characteristics help shape the story in many different ways. Many of the male characters, in films like Double Indemnity, are able to be influenced and are not very strong willed. This is extremely prevalent in the character of Walter. Walter is a insurance agent that is very succesful at what he does and has a career but these two things do not help shape him into being a strong individual. Walter is a very introverted person that does not go out of his way to do things and can be easily influenced by others to help them because he wants to be known as a good agent or person. He is also very frustrated with his life due the struggle to find a significant other, this frustration is a very important characteristic that creates the whole story of the film.
Due to his lack of relationships with women, Walter is willing to do almost anything for a woman to try and impress her. A woman comes and visits him at his work to try and convince him to help her receive benefits from the death of her husband, which she is planning to kill. At first Walter is astonished by the idea, but the woman continues to pursue Walter and even shows up at his home. The woman's name is Phyllis, she convinces Walter to help her with her plan by telling him that she is abused by her husband and that she isn't the receiver of his insurance benefits. To carry out her plan Phyllis uses Walter as a way to get her husband to sign up for accident insurance and transfer the benefits to herself. Walter was very useful to her due to his lack of conviction as a man and his want to be loved by someone and his want of appreciation. But after Phyllis' husband was killed everything went sideways. It was suspected that even know he was killed in an accident it was planned and was thought to be a murder. As soon as word got out that it was thought as a murder Phyllis threw Walter under the bus. He was blinded by the beauty of Phyllis and the possibility of love to help her and was betrayed by her at the first sight of trouble.
Walter Neff is a very significant character and his characteristics help shape the story in many different ways. Many of the male characters, in films like Double Indemnity, are able to be influenced and are not very strong willed. This is extremely prevalent in the character of Walter. Walter is a insurance agent that is very succesful at what he does and has a career but these two things do not help shape him into being a strong individual. Walter is a very introverted person that does not go out of his way to do things and can be easily influenced by others to help them because he wants to be known as a good agent or person. He is also very frustrated with his life due the struggle to find a significant other, this frustration is a very important characteristic that creates the whole story of the film.
Due to his lack of relationships with women, Walter is willing to do almost anything for a woman to try and impress her. A woman comes and visits him at his work to try and convince him to help her receive benefits from the death of her husband, which she is planning to kill. At first Walter is astonished by the idea, but the woman continues to pursue Walter and even shows up at his home. The woman's name is Phyllis, she convinces Walter to help her with her plan by telling him that she is abused by her husband and that she isn't the receiver of his insurance benefits. To carry out her plan Phyllis uses Walter as a way to get her husband to sign up for accident insurance and transfer the benefits to herself. Walter was very useful to her due to his lack of conviction as a man and his want to be loved by someone and his want of appreciation. But after Phyllis' husband was killed everything went sideways. It was suspected that even know he was killed in an accident it was planned and was thought to be a murder. As soon as word got out that it was thought as a murder Phyllis threw Walter under the bus. He was blinded by the beauty of Phyllis and the possibility of love to help her and was betrayed by her at the first sight of trouble.
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