Uncategorized – Page 3 – The Art of the Detective in Fiction and Film

The Outsiders

It seems as though many of the brilliant detectives of the film noir genre share numerous qualities that make each one of them special in their own ways. Among these qualities are: cleverness, dedication, perseverance, and passion. However, there remains one more quality that the likes of Sam Spade, Jefferies, and Sherlock Holmes share with the new-age detective, Veronica Mars, and that quality is isolation. Each detective, in their own way, remains isolated from those around them either by personal choice or by other external circumstances. One can argue that the success of these detectives could have derived from their outsider statuses.

In Sam Spade’s case, he constantly has people around him interacting with him, but he manages them in a way that isolates himself so that others don’t interfere with his work. For instance, almost at all times, Spade is interacting with one of his many women, Brigid, Effie, or Iva, or any of his foes, Gutman, Cairo, or Wilmer. However, though he is interacting with these people, he remains independent of their influences. When making the ultimate decision on whether to protect Brigid or turn her in, Spade used this isolation to do what was legally correct, thus, completing his job.

With Jefferies, he is physically isolated from the world as he is confined to his wheel chair in his room. The only connection he has with the world outside is through his window. This isolation allows him to get an angle on crime in a manner in which no one else can. He is able to see everything that is going on from his window and has the time to come up with logical deductions from that point.

Sherlock Holmes is mentally an outsider. His quirky personality and detachment from normal social and emotional reactions allow him to free himself of any of the many distractions he may face while allowing himself to view the case as logically and unbiased as possible. This detachment is evident in the interactions between both he and Irene Adler. Adler is extremely sensual and attempts to use the emotional reactions she gets out of men to her advantage. However, this attempt doesn’t work on Sherlock Holmes because he has essentially transcended the emotional component of human beings.

Veronica Mars, a typical high school student, faces the isolation that high school students are often known for going through, however, her case is an extreme. With all of the struggles in her life, especially in her rape, Veronica is forced out of her natural comfort zone and into almost complete isolation. This sudden fall from grace in her life attests to the fierceness and spitefulness of her personality. During all of the adversity that she had been faced with, Veronica never got help; no one was on her side, and no one was there for her. This isolation has driven Veronica to a state where her only goal was to get the job done at whatever the cost. Her exile from her group of friends allows her to get to observe them in a way that she previously would not have been able to. This isolation, in turn, leads to her improvement as a detective and problem solver in general.

The isolation that each of these great detectives go through at some point in time does not always stem from the same causes. However, it can be heavily argued that a view from the outside, isolated from the world around ones self, can give a detective a new and unique perspective that eventually classifies them as great.

Veronica Mars Sitting Alone at Lunch

Eye of Providence

Being an outsider within Neptune High’s social hierarchy gives Veronica Mars a perspective that enables her to be a good detective Her change in social class allows her to gain this new perspective of her surroundings. She was perviously a part of the “in crowd” in her school, however, when her popular, wealthy boyfriend broke up with her and her father was removed as sherif, that all quickly changed. Now, without the popular boyfriend or the important position of her father, Veronica Mars was an outsider.

This change in social classes has allowed Veronica to gain an intimate understanding of all social facets of her school. With this unique perspective she possesses, in addition to being a detective, she is in the position of being an “all seeing eye.” The director of this show makes it clear that this she is intended to be an “all seeing eye” in her world by the carefully chosen logo on the doors to her and her father’s detective office; the eye of providence.

The eye of providence has been used throughout history and even in our own culture today, (on the Great Seal of the United States on the back of the one dollar bill), as the all seeing eye, the eye of God or the eye of the world. The eye is usually used to symbolize someone, or something that is always watching over everything.

The fact that the eye of providence is the logo for Veronica Mars’s detective business is indicative of the fact that her outsider or “watching over” perspective is a big part of what allows her to be a great detective. The usage of the eye also fits in with the theme of her “hobby” as a photographer and making observations.

Eye of Providence depicted on dollar bill

Sources:

Wikipedia: Eye of Providence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Providence

Lonely Girl Saves The World

Through the Veronica Mars episode ” Pilot” , Veronica Mars, exemplifies how being alone in high school world, works into her detective ways. Being an outsider within Neptune High School gives Veronica Mars a perspective that enables her to be a good detective. Due to past events in her life, she is more guarded and has obtained more knowledge in the world around her.

With a past of a parent divorce, a break up with a long time boyfriend and rape, Veronica Mars has become more independent and keeps to her self. At Neptune High, the common theme of ” cliques” comes into play. In the opening scene at the high school during lunch, you see how different people are sitting at different tables. She explains to the audience that the table across from her is the table where her ex boyfriend and the ego central Logan Echolls sit. She says that she used to be one of those people at the table. Although now she is alone at her own table. Veronica has no interest anymore in being that group although she claims that she misses the life she had with her Ex Boyfriend. Veronica is alone in the world and is perfectly acceptable of it.

Being alone for Veronica Mars, gives her a detective advantage which helps her vastly throughout the episode. Having been through traumatic events and experiencing teen age loneliness, gives Veronica more insight on the things around her. She does not have a main group of friends. In a way this helps her because, being an detective requires extreme amount of observation. In this scene, VeronicaMarsS01E01ExtendedPilota-47 , it shows how the detective eye really works into her favor. Because she is alone at the moment, she able to observe more. Although surrounded by groups of people who are friends, this doesn’t cross her mind at all. She is more involved in observing the people around her.

In addition, her separation to others works in her favor because she is able to meet different people. When she arrives to school one morning, she is greeted by a guy taped on the flag poll. Everyone else is standing around the guy taking pictures and videos. Veronica Mars decides to help take the guy down. This results into a new friendship with the guy from when he sits with her at her lunch table the next day. There she finds out how he ended up on the flag poll and then hears about the Biker Gang which she meets at another point of the story, who she ends showing up to save her when Logan starts hitting her car at the beach.

Through series of encounters with different people she is able to have a better detective outlook. This helps prove the point that being an outsider helps Veronica in ways that help a detective better their observational and encountering approach to the surroundings around them.

The Power of Three

In Veronica Mars, our title character is a social outcast, her father the disgraced sherif, her mother gone and her social life destroyed. But in our other two films, we understand our main characters, Jeffries and Holmes, to be outsiders as well, Jeffries within the confines of his home and Holmes within the confines of his mind. Being an outsider in detective film, gives our main characters a perspective that enables them to be stellar detectives. The common thread that all three films weave is that either the audience or the main character looks at the film through both a metaphorical and a literal lens. In Veronica Mars, we see our main character’s literal telephoto lens that she uses to spy on people and in Rear Window, Jeffries watches his neighbors through his own telephoto lens. Sherlock is more subtle, the audience is placed behind the lens, always looking through windows or glass or the screen itself. Sherlock seems to exist in a sort of world all his own, very isolated from everyone and the audience feels that by being so removed from the action.

Isolation is a metaphorical lens that weaves these three together as well. Veronica Mars is a social outcast due to her father’s disgraced status as the town sheriff, her previous status with the popular kids revoked and we see her life tumble into a downward spiral that eventually leaves her cynical and on a path for vengeance. Jeffries, is also forcibly removed from his previous environment, having broken his leg. He’s stuck having to watch his neighbors for lack of better things to do because he cannot be in his normal environment. Like Veronica when we meet her, he’s not totally isolated, Jeffries has his girlfriend and caretaker during the film and Veronica has Wallace and her father (though her cynicism begins to make her not trust her father in the episode viewed in class). Sherlock is the lone character who is not forcibly removed from society and instead chooses not to partake of common societal norms (socialization for one…). This allows him to view the world from a different perspective, one that isn’t muddled with biases towards or against people. We can see this in the episode A Study in Pink where he begins to describe and convict Watson for shooting the villain, but then stops as he realizes it was Watson who most likely saved his life.

In The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett creates the idealized detective as someone who is removed and will do whatever is necessary to accomplish their goals. In The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade throws his entire clientele to the police in order to save himself and bring back some semblance of normalcy. In Veronica Mars, our title character breaks into lockers and steals security feeds to bring some form of balance back to the corrupt justice system of Neptune High. Jeffries spies on his neighbors and ignores social norms to discover that his neighbor is a murderer. Sherlock constantly breaks laws, breaking into homes, stealing key cards, ignoring orders from authority figures, all to discover whodunit, how and why. Characters who partake of social hierarchy are usually portrayed as being less efficient then our detectives, who ignore rules and norms to achieve their ends and be stellar detectives.

Silent but Deadly

Being an outsider within Neptune High’s social hierarchy gives Veronica Mars a perspective that enables her to be a good detective. Because of her position in the social class and the trauma of her unsolved rape case Veronica is in the perfect position to be a great detective. Her gift of being detached from the social hierarchy of Neptune High allows her to drift between groups of people with whom she makes alliances or manipulates into helping her in some way, and allows her to observe without being noticed.

From the opening lines of the pilot episode in which she declares that she is never going to get married it is clear to the audience that Veronica Mars is a has a bleak outlook on relationships, especially intimate ones. The idea of Veronica’s lack of relationships is further promoted when she is shown sitting alone at the lunch table with everyone zooming past. This scene gives the impression that due to her social isolation Veronica is essentially invisible to most of the school, and that no one really ever pays any attention to her, however this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Since Veronica is not attached to any one social group she is easily able to float between them in order to find the perfect ally for any given situation. First, she rescues Wallace from public humiliation, but in doing so gets herself into trouble with agang of bikers. She then uses Wallace and his technological ingenuity to get the bikers on her side, who she then plays in order to get their protection against the “cool” kids of Neptune High. This type of manipulation would not be possible if Veronica was a part of any particular social group because she would not be permitted to talk to or hang out with those of another group. Veronica Mars does not let her social isolation dishearten her. Instead she uses it to her advantage in order to extract revengeon those who have wronged her such as the sheriff and the “cool” kids. Because she flies under the radar Veronica is able to take advantage of many different people at one time and use their combined resources to essentially get whatever she wants. Veronica Mars truly is silent but deadly.

Mars is Alone in the Universe

Being an outsider within Neptune High’s social hierarchy gives Veronica Mars a perspective that enables her to be a good detective. Because of her unsolved rape case Veronica Mars has severed her emotional and social ties to the outside world, enabling her to see situations with an objective lens. This keeps her detective intuitions clear and precise at the expense of her views of everyone around her.

When Veronica awakes alone and confused in bed after the party, she is greeted with the horrifying truth that she has likely been taken advantage of, her underwear carelessly thrown on the floor. This leads her to the realization that she is abandoned by the peers around her, leaving her to face reality in solidarity. With such a brutal betrayal, Veronica now takes on the world in a lone wolf fashion completely un-aided by those she once called friends by re-imagining her physical and emotional appearance. Donning a choppy haircut, shorter and more ragged than her previous well kept style and rebellious attitude unlike the feminine light hearted girl before, Veronica now faces her challenges on her own with a much larger grain of salt.

The change in her external conduct is not only attributed to her peers abandonment, but also that of established authority. When contacting the town sheriff, she is immediately dismissed due to a “lack of evidence” ruining any chance of her unknown perpetrator being held responsible. Veronica is now completely abandoned with no hope of support from either side of society. Further diminishing her level of trust even with those who are regarded as being trustworthy.

Ms. Mars’ inability to trust, due to her desertion regarding her unsolved rape has pushed her away from a normal lifestyle. This new abnormal way of life, that of sociopathic and blunt encounters, has lead to her discovering her true potential as a detective unbound by petty emotions and thoughts. Despite the blurred line between justice and vengeance, Veronica captures the essential traits of a modern “hardboiled” detective.

Veronica Mars, the World Weary Detective

In Veronica Mars, Veronica is a social outcast who spends her time observing the social hierarchy present in Neptune High and the surrounding community. She is ostracized for many reasons, including her financial situation, her unsolved rape, and her tendency to befriend other social outcasts. However, one of the most prominent reasons for her isolation is her family’s disgrace.

Early on in the pilot episode, we learn that Veronica’s father, the ex-sheriff of Neptune, is almost universally disliked because of how poorly he handled the Lilly Kane murder case. Veronica’s mother left the family as a result of this fall from social grace, leaving Veronica alone with her father. From that point on, Veronica became an outsider in the social hierarchy of Neptune High. Her isolation is best depicted in the scene where Veronica is sitting alone at lunch, as the rest of the school passes her in a blur. Here, her feelings of rejection and betrayal are apparent in her facial expression and the way she stabs angrily at her food. She also appears very alone in the scene, since she is the only one in focus while her classmates are out of focus.

Veronica’s bitterness is a defining aspect of her character throughout the pilot episode, and probably follows her throughout the series. In the opening scene of the pilot episode, we see Veronica in a dimly lit car, next to a sketchy motel on “the wrong side of town.” Everything about the scene—Veronica’s narration, the lighting, the music—gives an impression of edginess. From the very beginning, we see Veronica as a strongly cynical character, one that fits well into the hard-boiled detective motif that is common in film noir. Although Veronica is young and female, distinguishing her from traditional noir detectives such as Sam Spade or Jeff Jefferies, she follows in their footsteps in her sense of world-weary cynicism and alienation from society.

Screen Shot 2013-10-13 at 9.10.40 PM

The Invisibility to Be Control

Being an outsider within Neptune High’s social hierarchy gives Veronica Mars a perspective that enables her to be a good detective. Because of her fall in popularity and trauma as a rape victim, Veronica is able to have the invisibility and freedom that is required of a good detective. Her independence enables her to find an end that “justifies the means”(Burnnett, Townsend) by manipulating people without being noticed.

In the first scene, Wallace Fennel is taped to a flagpole with the words “Snitch” written across his chest. In most situations, the average teenager would consider it to be “social suicide” to assist the bullied. Instead, Veronica Mars breaks the social norm and helps untie Wallace. Due to her father’s job loss and Veronica’s status as an outsider, she does not have anything to lose socially and can easily free Wallace. In addition to this, her actions are of little surprise and significance to the rest of Neptune High’s pupils because she is low on the social hierarchy. Veronica Mars is able to go under the radar. Due to her ability to stand up to the population of Neptune High and save him, Wallace is in debt to Veronica, which gives Veronica more power. She uses his alliance in future scenes.

With the help of Wallace, she is able to obtain evidence of Weevil and another PCH biker stealing alcohol. Again, who would suspect a teenage girl with little social status to have the bravery and intelligence to trick a police station that mocked her when reporting a crime? Veronica would not have been able to pull this off without Wallace’s help with the remote control. Her ability to obtain the evidence tape is key to acquiring the partnership of the PCH biker gang. Again, Veronica Mars uses her intelligence and lack of social status to manipulate people into assisting her when needed.

Veronica Mars is able to uphold a confidence and independence that allows her to manipulate people and to be a good detective. She is able to maintain a lone wolf personality and be a strong individual through her survival of rape, and her ability to be invisible in society. She proves she has what it takes to achieve what she wants although most of society would believe she is incapable due to her social status and victimization. Veronica remains ahead of the game and in control of those who are in debt to her. She is not just another teenage outcast.

Perspective and Popularity

When considering detectives, perspective is key. After all, they are expected to see the things that other people do not. This can only be done with a unique, somewhat isolated perspective. One must be able to separate themselves with whatever they are observing. Being an outsider within Neptune High’s social hierarchy gives Veronica Mars a perspective that enables her to be a good detective. Because of her social status, Veronica Mars is quick to defend herself and others in challenging situations and not driven by popularity and the cliques of high school like so many of her peers.

In the pilot episode of Veronica Mars, one of the very first thing the viewer sees is a young African-American man, Wallace, taped to a flag pole with the word “snich” painted across his chest.

This scene is also narrated by Veronica saying, “This is my school. If you go here your parents are either millionaires or work for millionaires . . ..” At this point, her classmates are standing and laughing and taking pictures, while Veronica approaches with a knife and cuts him down. Clearly in a school where one can assume there is racial stereotyping, Veronica defies the norm and befriends the outcast. The viewer can only assume and later rationalize that this is because Veronica Mars is an outsider to the social hierarchy of high school herself.

The cause of Veronica Mars’ outsider status is introduced to the viewer later through a flashback: Veronica Mars was raped at a party. The show portrays a typical high school party with Veronica Mars’ friends at the time (these are now the people she’s come to hate). She is drugged and then assaulted and no one steps in to help her. Even when she reports the crime, she is laughed at and receives no help. The case is closed before it is even started. This represents the beginning of Veronica’s solitary search for vengeance. The rejection by the authority makes her quick to defend herself and she realizes that if she wants this crime to be solved she has to depend on herself to do it.

This independence and drive is present throughout the show as Veronica Mars navigates Neptune High. She is quick to defend those who wouldn’t gain support of the “authorities” or popular kids. She is an outcast herself and works with them during investigation. Her opinions are not driven by the popularity and social structure so present in high school making it easy to catch motives and secrets hidden between different social structures and groups. Veronica Mars’ perspective as an outcast makes her quick to defend herself and other outcasts and therefore enables her to be a great teenage detective.

No Pain, No Gain.

After her best friend’s murder, her father’s fall from grace and subsequent desertion by her mother, and the rejection from her boyfriend, Veronica Mars is left with significant trust issues, causing her to emotionally distance herself from nearly everyone around her. Without the multiple incidents of abandonment and perception of being a social outcast at Neptune High, Veronica Mars would not have obtained the separation she needed from society to become a serious detective.

Veronica is guarded in her interactions with anyone she meets because of how people have repeatedly wronged her in the past. The fictitious shield she has invented for herself equips her with the necessary skill of not immediately trusting anyone. Being skeptical is a required skill for all detectives because at any point, anyone involved in a case could be lying. By not trusting anyone instantly, Veronica allows herself time to form opinions about a person before she determines whether or not they can achieve the status of friend or ally. This is not only a way to judge whether or not the person will be able to assist her in cases, but it is also a way to protect herself from getting hurt again. If Veronica does not allow someone into her personal life and thoughts, if they leave, she will not feel any pain.

When she first meets Wallace, she is seen cutting him down from the flagpole he was taped to. Wallace interpreted her behavior as the initiation of a friendship rather than mere sympathy for being a fellow social outcast. His interpretation leads him to joining Veronica at lunch. Veronica’s self-protection is clearly displayed in this interaction when she harshly asks him what he is doing at “her” table instead of greeting him like a more “normal” member of society would. She had not intended to spark a relationship between the two that would last after he was freed from the flagpole, but she let him remain seated at her table once she realized that they were both on the same level of the social pyramid, indicating that he could be of use to her. Instead of trusting Wallace from the start, Veronica waited to determine whether or not he could be of assistance to her.

Preceding this moment by a minute or two, Veronica is seen gazing angrily at the table where her old group of friends were sitting. Although in her mind she is reliving the torment of being discarded, being rejected actually helps her. Being an active participant within social groups of her school would limit Veronica’s ability to do detective work because only when she is on the outside looking in can she observe their true behaviors carefully. Being an outcast gives her an objective view of not only her peers but of everyone else she chooses to study. It is much more effective to be disconnected from the situation when needing to carefully pay attention to the details. This moment also displays that because of her dismissal, she goes unnoticed. Although she used to be friends with the people she is glaring at, they do not pay her any attention. By being socially outcasted, Veronica can take her time observing objectively and surreptitiously, therefore allowing her to be a more effective detective.