Seven: The Grim Masterpiece

In its basic form and structure the movie Seven falls into the genre of the police procedural.  It's a familiar genre.  Two men on the trail of a killer, digging up clues at crime scenes, following leads that sometimes lead nowhere and other times right to the killer's doorstep.  But there is an element to Seven that raises it above this genre.  The murders under investigation are not mere crimes, but rather, part of a work of art; a twisted and psychotic work of art that disposes of human life in its composition, but a work of art nevertheless.  This is not to say that the movie is an advocacy or an admiration of what John Doe does.  It is simply that the crimes are by definition art. 

            THE WORK

There are several defining factors which qualify John Doe's murders as art.  First, there is a message and abstract meaning to the murders.  They are demonstrations of the lethal consequences of the seven deadly sins.  In each case it is the sin itself that is the victim's undoing.  The situations they are placed in are extreme and contrived, but this is seen by John Doe as a way of forcing them to confront the transgressions which have become an habitual part of their everyday lives.  But these demonstrations are not primarily meant for the edification of the victims, but rather for the population at large and the citizens of the unnamed city of the story.  The crimes are not committed simply to satisfy a murderous impulse and then covered up in the darkness.  They are exposed before an audience, to be admired, appreciated, and contemplated as a work of art.

Secondly, the limited number of the crimes also shows a sense of composition and control that helps define them as art.  Again, they are not the result of an unbridled impulse.  There is a carefully planned structure behind them.  They are a series, predetermined by the seven sins.  There is a completeness to the work; an aesthetic unity of form characteristic of art.   This is not say that the work is beautiful.  Far from it.  It's revolting, disturbing, and disgusting.  But it has a clear and well ordered design.  John Doe stands back from his blood-stained canvas and nods in satisfaction.  

            THE ARTIST

For John Doe the truly inspired touch to his masterpiece is his own inclusion in it.  He is practically giddy with excitement as he rides in the back of the squad car.  To him, this is the element that will make it contemplated and "puzzled over and studied and followed, forever."  It is the fact that he has not excluded his own guilt, that he has not stood outside or above his message, that he feels will give his work the mark of authenticity.  He is not "special", he declares, and the anonymity of his name testifies to this.  The work of art itself is all that matters, and John Doe is quite willingly to literally lose himself in it.  He sees himself immortalized in it.  Artists speak of suffering and sacrificing themselves to their art, but John Doe paints with his own blood.  His victims have been laid out in a morbid composition like sculptures molded out of human remains and John Doe eagerly climbs onto the last pedestal marked "envy" and becomes absorbed into the work.

And Envy is indeed his sin.  He lives on the margin of society.  It's easy to mistake his smug insinuations for insincerity when he tells Detective Mills how much he envies his life.   He is baiting him, stirring his wrath.  But if he's smiling, it's only because he's rehearsed this moment countless times in his mind, and he knows he's about to put the finishing touch on his work.  Still, he means what he says.  It is envy that has driven him to lash out in spite at the world that has rejected him, denied him the life and the things he wanted.  He believes the sinful nature of the world is to blame for this injustice, and that guilt has to be thrown back in its face.  But this "throwing back" is driven by his own sin, and he has to atone, just like the rest.

            THE THEME

But the work is not complete with the murdering of the representatives of each of the seven deadly sins.  There is another murder which is necessary to complete the composition, both practically and thematically; the murder of Detective Mills' wife, Tracy.  Tracy is killed in order to stir Mills to wrath, but she herself is innocent.  In the work, she assumes the place of the "victim."  She is made to suffer and die for the deadly sins of the others.  It's hard to say whether this was intended by John Doe, or just the inevitable consequence of his plan.  It's possible he only killed her to provoke Mills, and gave no thought to the significance of the act, although considering his intellect and his attention to detail in regards to the rest of the work, this is doubtful.   At any rate, there are always subtexts and meanings in any work of art that grow beyond the control and the intentions of the artist.  

Whether he intended it or not, Tracy's death assumes an important place in his work and makes a significant statement about its meaning.  John Doe may be the artist, but in the composition he is only a marginal element.  Tracy, although her death is almost a side note  in the fall of events, is actually the centerpiece.  Her death is a demonstration of the innocence that is destroyed by the seven sins.  The fact that she is killed, not for her sins or even for any real personal reason, but rather merely as a means to John Doe's artistic ends, only serves to drive this point home even more.  It makes her a sacrificial victim in every possible sense.

So, what is the point of a movie about a man who composes a work of art out of brutal murders?  It seems like an appalling glorification.  But that's the point.  Through-out the film Somerset and Mills have an on-going debate about the corruption of the city they work in.  The issue is raised again and again by Somerset of how to deal with it, how to go on being exposed to it and not to lose your humanity.  The city could be any city.  It doesn't really matter.  It's the world's corruption pushed to an extreme, and in this world murder is an art form, a subject for macabre fascination, a public spectacle placed on display.  John Doe stands in judgment of this corruption,  and ends up as the ultimate symptom of it.  It's not a particularly pleasant vision, but Seven isn't a particularly pleasant movie.