Just before the making of the film there was political and social debates serounding the popularity of drugs. With the release of this film there then were even larger debates resulting in a cultural shift of attitudes towards drugs and how they are represented. Film has a large influence over our personal cultural interpretations of certain spaces and times etc. For example I personally have never been to America. But through the representation of the back streets of neglected area in central America cities found in the film ‘Seven’ i would aviod these area if i were ever to be in America.
Culturally there are represented and dark, shown specifically through the night for night shooting, lonely, represented throught Morgan Freemans character. Opening shots of him show him to be a lone and isolated furthermore he even goes on to admitt to Mills (Brad Pitt) that he cannot wait to leave this city. The whole Culture of the film is predominatly represented however simply by the genre. Immediatly the audience are aware of the type of culture they are going to be shown through the film being labelled as a thrillar.
However i personally therefore could be labelled as nieve, because culture and the way it is represented is linked very strangly to myth. The film seven acted out to me what I would have thought these areas of America to be like, therefore satisfings my viewing needs. But that representation of those areas could be completely wrong. But the media has to play on myths to sell films, televisons shows etc to the audience. If the film would have shown those areas to be clean, frindly and safe i therefore may not have been convienced by the narrative and the film would not have impressed me, there perspective target audience.
Film is a popular culture form. It offers the audience a chance to escape the culture that they actually do live in. For example the matrix allows its audince to escape the mundaity of life and enter and whole differnt dimention in which the culture which they do live in comes into question. The success of this film then was reflected back into society through such things as the way people dressed dirctly after it: Leather jackets were seen to be a fashionale item rather then a past time of what is socially acceptable to wear.
