Seven essays

Seven essays SEVEN A FILM BY DAVID FINCHER STARRING: BRADD PITT AND MORGAN FREEMAN By Ken Balch World of Ideas 390 Prof. George Adams The movie Seven is a depiction of the inevitable fall of mankind through the grizzly murders of John Doe (Kevin Spacey). Doe commits a series of methodical, exacting, and grotesque murders, as portrayed in the Seven Deadly Sins listed in the novel Marques de Sade, works of Milton, Chaucer, and Dante. The Seven Sins consist of Pride, Envy, Greed, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, and Lust. These were set out to show mankind what they must avoid to find their way into Heaven. The killer (Doe) cleverly commits each Sin in such a way that it seems; to the older, wiser detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman), that the man is preaching a sermon. Telling each victim to commit an act of attrition for his or her Sin. Later this notion turns out to be true, for in fact the killer is trying to send out a message of how despicable and ugly mankind has become. We are introduced to Mills (Pitt), at the scene of the first crime. He (Pitt) is a young, brash, full of anger and energy detective. He sees the killer as a fucking nut bag, who owns a library card. The symbolism can easily be detected in the vast differences of the two detectives, the older, cautious, almost poetic Somerset (Freeman). Contrasted by the younger, vile, over eager, act before thinking, Mills (Pitt). The two make a match that combines wit with strength, which will lead to the eventual capture of John Doe. Before the surrender of John Doe, we are walked through a gruesome world of seven murders, which follow the Seven Deadly Sins list presented by Milton, Chaucer, and Dante. First, we see an obese man face down in a plate of spaghetti, killed by eating himself to death; Gluttony was found at the scene behind the fridge, w...