Outline of Zodiac

Outline for Presentation on “ZODIAC”

I.          Zodiac

           

Zodiac, is a film that dates back to the 1960’s when the real life crimes of the Zodiac was in progress. The Protagonist Robert Graysmith (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) works as a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle when the first cipher from the Zodiac arrives. From that moment on Graysmiths life becomes so wrapped around the Zodiac, that in the end he looses himself and the people around him. After all Graysmith goes through he never does find out who the killer is and for the rest of his life he is stuck in thought of who it might be.   

           

II.         Classic Film Noir of Zodiac

1. All of the detective figures throughout the film are very prominent, in that they all want to know who the killer is. Also in the film you are able to see the old time detective figure, you know the one what wears the fedora and trench coat, with a gun in his holster. But on the other hand we see a new wave of detectives that are dressed as average Joe’s.

2. Also with in Zodiac every moment leads you guessing, either it is a regular conversation between two people or a murder scene that you will never forget.

           

A) Zodiac says to the mother, “Before I kill you, I’m going to throw your baby out the window”. And then the film jumps to another scene.

3. Commonly in classic noir we see a lot of smart remarks and snappy comebacks between the characters within the film. Like when Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson are talking about speed limits in the film Double Indemnity.

A) Graysmith is having a conversation with Narlow (chief of police). “I just want to help”. “What are you, some kind of Boy Scout?” “Eagle scout, actually…First class”.

4. One of the big things that relates to film noir, are all the murder’s that are taking place throughout the film. In the old period, it seemed as if no film would be complete with a murder, and this film has a whole lot of it going on.

A)    5 minutes in the film two teenagers were shot multiple times while sitting in a car.

B)    A young couple were stabbed to death while visiting a lake in Napa CA.

C)    The Zodiac shoots a taxi driver in the back of the head after he arrived at his destination.

5. Lastly, we see a lot of corruption within the police. While Graysmith is on he hunt for the zodiac, he is receiving clues from an inside source of where he can find certain thing that will lead him closer to Zodiac.  There is also a scene where they allow Graysmith into the evidence room to try and find some clues.

III.        From the Neo Noir side of things.

1. We see that the main detective figure is not really a detective at all, and yet he gets closer to the crimes than anyone else has.

2. There is no femme fatal in this film at all, not in a male or female form. Graysmith at times can be questionable for the role of the femme fatal because he shows traits of one. He puts his own self in danger without the help of anyone else. Which we see most femme fatal’s persuading someone to do.

3. In the end, Graysmith nor any of the other detectives in the film become a hero in the end. Usually we see in classic noir the hero gets their shinning moment but this time nobody does.

4. A drastic change we see from film noir is the fact that most of the murders are taking place outside of the city and are moved to more remote areas.

A)    The teenagers that where parked on a hill

B)    The mother whose car broke down on an old dark road

C)    The Taxi driver in the middle of the night on a dark lit street corner.

Quotes from Outside Sources

Source One:

Context:	Quote from the Source:	Significance:
In Roger Ebert’s critic of Zodiac, titled “Zodiac”, he says, “What makes this “Zodiac” authentic is the way is avoids chases, shootouts, grandstanding and false climaxes”.	Ebert, Roger. “Zodiac”. All Content. N.p. 23 Aug. 2007. Web. 19 Nov. 2013	I chose this quote because it shows all the elements that aren’t used from classic noir, yet the film stays so tight to the classic noir background.

Source Two:

Context:	Quote from the Source:	Significance:
To help sum up my thought about Garysmith loosing his personal life due to the Zodiac, Steve Biodrowski writes in his DVD review of Zodiac, “As years pass and the case drags on with little activity from the killer…only Graysmith keeps it going with his own amateur investigation, a quest that slowly eats away at his personal life as his wife is driven further away”.	Biodrowski, Steve. “DVD Review- Zodiac: 2- Disc Director’s Cut”. DVD review-Zodiac: 2- Disc Director’s cut. N.p., 10 Mar. 2009.Web. 19 Nov. 2013	Biodrowski is further backing up my thought of Graysmith loosing his life due to his involvement with the Zodiac killer. Thus relating this neo noir film back to the classic time period. Where we see most protagonists putting themselves in danger to solve the case.

Film Clip

Context:	The scene:	Significance:
Every now and then the Zodiac will send in letters to the Chronicle, and in them there is cipher that they must figure out in order to find out whom the killer is.	David Toschi is the actual detective assigned to the case, wearing the suspenders and bow tie like seen in classic noir. And Graysmith is the man across from him trying to get information and is not in typical detective attire.	This scene shows aspect of the classic detective look as well as the new detective look and the scene also shows corruption within the police system with Toschi giving out police information to a non-policeman.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1524629785/