lipsetr – The Art of the Detective in Fiction and Film

Violence as a source of power

Violence is a recurring event throughout The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. This is whether it has to do with Blomkivist being kidnapped or some type of sexual torture as retaliation. The first violent act shown sexually is the scene where Advokat Bjurman rapes Salander. In this scene she enters the room feeling like she knows something is bound to happen but she does not feel that it will enter these extremes. As she enters the room she feels as if she has the power but is strongly mistaken when she realizes the consequences of entering alone. Bjurman leaves Salandar with scars that she can never recover from both physically as well as emotionally. He feels a sense of power over her in this state, until she comes up with a plan. In this plan she uses a weapon, a tazer, to gain control of the situation, leaving marks on his body. Then Salander continues to carve into his body using a needle. Throughout this book, violence is used as a source of power. It gives each of these characters a sense of leadership and it is a constant battle of who is in charge.

Another situation where violence is used as a control of power is during the series of murders committed by Martin Vanger. During these murders, Martin tortures and kills his victims in order to gain a sense of pleasure. He picks his victims based off who he thinks will not be recognized as missing, the victims of society. He feels control of his victims and even says he “feels like god” by having their life in his hands. He gets to control if they live or die and he craves this power over society. Martin is the definition of a sadist. He is the head of a company yet continuously is in desperate need of power.

The Vanger family also shows a craving for control by the fact of selling distributions of the company and wanting to gain the biggest portion. When Henrick Vanger retires he no longer focuses on his company that gave him so much power but focuses on the disappearance of Harriet. This is the first time that anyone in the Vanger family is willing to give up power for someone else in the family. He then passes his share of the family wealth down to Martin to take over.

Cecilla’s husband abuses her, showing that in this book, men are considered superior to women. Also men are the main abusers and women are not treated with respect. Blomkvist throughout the book can choose his women at his call. When meeting Cecilla, she initiates the relationship and starts off in power, but soon falls for him letting down her wall that was up. This gives Blomkvist power over her, which she does not like because of her past abuses. This puts her at a sense of vulnerability and unstableness.

The role of violence and power in this book are interchangeable. While one person has all of the power, they can lose it at the blink of the eye. Not only has violence become a common trend in the book, but it shows an example of how there is no peace in their society. Everyone is against each other rather than trusting and working together. The idea of power consumes all of the characters.

The past reflecting on the present

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Being an outsider within Neptune High’s social hierarchy gives Veronica Mars a perspective that enables her to be an excellent detective. This is because of Veronica’s past experiences that haunt over her and shape the life around her. In the pilot of Veronica Mars, we discover that she is an outcast because of her disgraced father, missing mother, best friends death and the unsolved rape case that only two others have knowledge about. All of these factors motivate her to be a misbehaved overachiever.

Veronica receives good grades and can solve almost any crime yet she has this wall up that she only lets down for certain people. She speaks harshly to her teachers and the people around her but supports the people she is most close with. The new kid in town, Wallace, manages to break through this wall and gain Veronicas trust by also taking the role of an outsider, and giving her a true friend that is much needed in a time of despair. Wallace and Veronica work as a team to uncover crimes. Wallace being called a snitch the first day of school and being tied to the post allowed him to have a first hand view of how corrupt this society is. It allowed him to discover that he does not want to be a part of the groups who are bullies and choose to befriend Veronica instead. This guarded wall that Veronica puts up, is to protect her from harm that she is unstable enough to face.

Not only does Veronica constantly reflect on the past, but also she is desperate to uncover the truth that lies beneath all of the secrets and interferes with her moving on. Veronica allows the scaring incidents to fuel her anger and motivate her to solve the crimes as a distraction from society. This is her source of escape from the people around her. She wants to be able to know why everything is being kept from her and why her mom is always on the run so that she can bring her home.

Veronica’s protective cover not only wards people off but also makes them fear what she is capable of doing. During the episode Veronica claims that peoples opinions on the norm do not get to her, but she does admit that it is all depending on whom it is coming from. Her surrounding students are constantly bullying her to feel better about them selves when they know the death of her best friend was truly not her fault. These trust issues enable her to isolate herself from her surrounding peers and use a tough cover. A friend of Veronicas even states that getting tough may be a good idea, but getting revenge does not always help her case.

Veronica uses her troubles as a weapon to make sure justice is served. Throughout the show, Veronica is willing to help anyone who comes to her with pay or any close friends for free. She is always a step ahead of everyone and the people in her community are shocked when they figure out that she has outsmarted them. Veronica uses her influence and sneaky ways to be on top of society, without anyone in her society being aware that she holds that amount of power.

Who holds the power?

One revision from the Sherlock Holmes original that caught my eye was the fact that Irene Adler knew who Sherlock Holmes was at the same point that he knew who she was. In the book version, Irene Adler didn’t discover who Sherlock was until he was playing sick on her couch. In the movie she had been previously following him for a couple of days. She was ready for his arrival and wanted to make it known that she knew him before hand. While the book puts her ahead of Sherlock later on the movie shows that women have more power in society then expected during this time period. It shows she is a wealthy woman who can fend for herself and does not need a man to support her. It also shows how Sherlock and Irene Adler have the same understanding of each other and are at the same level as equals. The movie switches as to who has the upper hand, having it change between Irene Adler and Sherlock. They both outsmart one another throughout this movie over their desire to be in control of this phone that holds all secrets. The book differs from the movie perspective because by Irene taking the pictures herself puts her at an advantage. Where as Sherlock was handed pictures of her that had been previously consciously been taken. Sherlock was filled in about Irene Adler, while she gathered all the information about him by herself allowing her to get to know him without actually knowing him, keeping him in the dark. I think that they left the scene out where he fakes sick and had her know before hand because it makes her look more powerful and in control. Another thing that puts them as equals is the description of colors used, her make-up as well as his bruise. This scene shows how comfortable she is with her feminine body and how comfortable he is in her house.

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“What is the matter?” he asked. “Has anything happened? You oughtn’t to be here at this time of night”. “ I am beginning to believe that she complained, you told me I oughtn’t to come to the office, and now I oughtn’t to come here. Do you mean I oughtn’t to chase after you?” p.59

When reading this passage I felt bad for Iva because she is making such an effort to reach out to Spade yet he is just playing her in return. In this situation, Brigid O’Shansouy is waiting inside for him and he is rushing off to her, which shows that he would rather be with her than Iva. I realized that there is also a lot of repetition in this passage, Spade says “ oughtn’t” a lot and she uses it against him. When Spade is asking her all these questions he is trying to seem sincere, but when she says “oughtn’t” she is rubbing in his face the fact that he is controlling. Spade is telling her she can’t do this or she cant do that and she is realizing that. Spade is trying to protect Iva and she rejects the protection and takes offense instead. Another repetition that I saw was when Spade continuously asks if anything is wrong and if she is ok. That shows that even if he has other priorities he may still have some feelings for her and that he does care.

I think this passage is really about this time period. It is a time period where the men have most rights and feel that they are superior to women. At the same time Spade is showing how he is playing women but also trying to look after them. Also it could be saying that there are gangs or other related violent people in that area or around late at night because Spade said “ you oughtn’t to be here at this time of night”. This is suggesting that women are the targets in an area like this, late at night and that she is not safe by herself. This also suggests that there isn’t much protection of police officers or other officials. This passage also gives a sense of mystery because it makes you curious as to what Iva had to tell him and why she keeps chasing him. There is something that is pulling her towards him and I think it is the sense of security that she feels when she is around him.

This connects to the book as a whole because throughout this book, Spade is distracted when talking to each person, and always has a lot on his mind. In this scene, the boy following them and his desire to return to Brigid O’Shansouy distracts Spade. Also throughout the book Iva shows a sense of jealousy over all of the women that Spade interacts with. She wants to be the one he chooses and his main priority and this shows that it’s upsetting her that she is not his main concern.

Spade seems to care more about getting information out of Iva over the fact of if she is truly ok or not. He lets her drive away and does not stop her and at the same time questions her intentions of being at his apartment. This connects to the book in general because when he does not let her in, she resorts to other things and lets her jealousy get the best of her. Throughout this book Iva is a character who needs someone to lean on while Spade is the strong character always in control of the situation and is the go to person.

“Uh-huh, I could’ve butchered Miles to get his wife, and then Thursby so I could hang miles killing on him. That’s a hell of a swell system, or will be when I can give somebody else the bump and hang Thursby’s on them. How long am I supposed to keep that up? Are you going to put your hand on my shoulder for all the killings in San Francisco from now on?”

When first reading this passage, I began to see the repetition with the words “butchered, hang, killing, hang”. These are all violent actions describing the killing being placed on Spade. It forces you to listen to what the writer is saying and draws your attention to those specific words. There is also a sense of mocking going on when he say’s “I did this or I did that”, it suggests that their conclusion has no evidentiary support and that they are all just claims of desperation to find the true killer. Spade speaks with sarcasm and anger to show that their accusations are not rational.

Spade is setting up a fake plot for the detectives to prove his innocence. Spade is showing them that their discovery is weak and does not make sense. The two detectives are lost and are turning to Spade for answers which he refuses to give them. In the process they put the blame on him to see what his reaction could be. There also could be a sense of fear in the statement, “Are you going to put your hand on my shoulder for all of the killings in San Francisco from now on?” Spade is angry and scared at the fact that they figured it out that he and Iva had a relationship.

Iva and Spades relationship connects to another part in the story where Iva and Spade are discussing their love affair and Spade seems to have no interest. Could he have feelings for her? Could he have hired someone to kill archer if he didn’t do it himself? I think that this passage shows that Spade is just as desperate to find the killer as the others. He is trying to solve the case and Tom and Dundy are just roadblocks in the way of his detective work. Spade is bashing the system when he says, “That’s a hell of a swell system” in a way he is saying that it is not right or that it is unjust that he is being blamed when he is trying to help solve this case. What if Spade knew about the bird and in fact did commit the murders? Brigid O’Shaughnessy claims she is the only one who knows the spot but what if he figured it out and used Brigid to get the bird himself. He could become close to her and gain her trust and then she would lead him right to it. He then could pin the murder on someone else, but at the same time it would not make sense for both murders to be his wrong doings. He also seems to have taken a liking to her which would then intervene with this plan.

This passage could also be anger that he cannot prevent them from digging deeper into his life, without giving them something to work off of. Dundy and Tom won’t stop until they find the killer or killers. Spade knows this and wants to beat them to the answer. It would show that he can control the situation and by not letting them into his house in the first place, he is in control. This quote shows that Spade is taking offense to their words and is unhappy with this whole theory being pinned on him. This passage also is an example of spades true character, he is sarcastic, wont let anyone get in the way of his work, and he is someone who likes to prove he is a step ahead of everyone. Spade rubs this into Tom and Dundy’s face, when he is saying how their supposable conclusion to this murder is ridiculous. Spade is left in the dark for most of the story and is trying to figure out where the bird is, who is killing people and what he can do to find out more information.