In- depth analysis of "Subjectivity"

The following writing is extracted from a paper I wrote on the topic of Subjectivity, using the movie The Unusual Suspects as an example.

Date: 04/04/2015

The Unusual Suspect/s

            Most TV shows and movies today show the aspect of individuality. They show every character as being unique, just like people in the real world. Most people want to believe that they are different; going against the mainstream in the society, and that alone makes them special. However, the case is that everyone is influenced by their environment. A person's 'self' is developed through his or her social and cultural role. In the movie The Usual Suspects, Roger 'Verbal' Kint is first shown as a cripple, a con- man, and a criminal. Throughout the film however, the audiences view on his character will change. It will show how his physical attributes of being a cripple and his social role of being seen as below their group’s viewed leader, Keaton, affected his sense of self.  According to Nealon and Giroux, “--- we confront or construct not the freedom and uniqueness of our individual selfhood but rather the cultural codes of subjectivity" (46-47). There is this preexisting socially constructed relationship that exists between a person's sense of 'self' and his or her society. This indicates that a persons' perception of their own selves is greatly influenced by the external factors surrounding them.

            People unconsciously try to interpret an individual's character or role in a system. A person's character or role determines their place in their society. As audiences, we do the same thing. As the viewers watched the movie The Usual Suspects, they unconsciously try to interpret what a character's role is in that particular movie and what would happen to this character or anyone related to him or her. This is because audiences are only subjected to what is shown to them and they unconsciously interpret it. As Franҫoise Meltzer mentioned in his text Unconscious, "the unknowable is forever condemned to being described in the terms of the known" (149). Although Meltzer is talking about the definition of the term unconscious, the quote given above is still true when audiences interpret a cultural text. The known in the movie are the facts given in the beginning; Verbal is the only member left in the group that they formed, Keaton was an ex- cop, and it was all done by a man whose identity is unknown. The unknown in this case are the following: What happened at the pier? Is Verbal a reliable source? Who is Keyser Söze? What is shown in the movie, the known, is used to interpret the unknown in the movie. This is when signifiers come into play. Signifiers are used to interpret a subject through the use of common symbols that is taught to us by our society. Even though we, as the audience, know for a fact that Verbal is a criminal, we listen to his story of what had happened at the pier. The audience disregards the fact that Verbal could be lying. Why is this so? Besides him being the only one who could provide the answers to Agent Kujan, he is also seen as a vulnerable character because of his physical condition of being a cripple. Since all of the answers revolve around his character, we are subjected to listen to him alone and believe what he has to say. The signifiers act as the known information in which the audiences base their interpretations on, otherwise called as the unknown.

"the unknowable is forever condemned to being described in the terms of the known" (149).

            Most people would think at first that Verbal is just a member of the group, not Keyser Sӧze himself, because of his physical condition. His physical condition of being a cripple is a signifier itself since we connected the leadership position to someone being strong. This is because "Our identities only take shape in response to already given codes, to the 'hailing' of the law" (pg. 46). Therefore, as audiences, we assume that Verbal cannot be Keyser Sӧze because he is not physically capable of being a leader. We base our assumptions on social norms and stereotypes. Since it was shown that Verbal is physically challenged, the audience assumes that someone of higher power and is physically strong would be Keyser Sӧze. Since it was mentioned that Keaton was an ex- cop, the audience assumes that Keaton is physically fit to be the leader. This shows that our social identity is shaped by how people view us as individuals since people's opinion shapes our social identity as well. The external factors pressure us into forming an ideal identity in which we show others to influence their perception on our character. As for Verbal's case, he shows his other identity by pretending to be a dumb and limp man to hide his persona of being Keyser Sӧze. He does this in order to maintain his powerful and anonymous persona. As Nealon and Giroux mentioned, “we freely and willfully make ourselves subjects in all of our responses" (pg.46). This makes ourselves as subjects to other people's perception of our character and traits that we want them to see.

            At the beginning of the movie, the directors made it seem like Agent Kujan has greater power and control over Verbal. They did it by using social aspects that the audience is familiar with. Through using these social aspects, such as Agent Kujan's position of being the investigator of the incident and Verbal's physical condition, they are able to amplify Verbal's 'self' at the end of the movie. How so? Agent Kujan's pretenses of Verbal being an honest and dumb character influenced the audience's opinion, as well as Agent Kujan who came to think that Verbal is ignorant of Keyser Söze's identity. The audience relied on Kujan's claims since it came from a trusted character in the movie. This does not only show that the audience is subjected to Agent Kujan's opinions, but that Agent Kujan is subjected to Verbal's claims as well. Agent Kujan tells Verbal, "Because you're a cripple, Verbal. Because you're stupid. Because you're weaker than them." Since Verbal was already characterized by Agent Kujan as a dumb and honest man, he was put in the position where he can make up stories. Verbal can easily hide his other persona of being Keyser Söze because Agent Kujan is convinced that Keaton is Keyser Söze. Keaton's bad reputation of being the ex- cop helped Verbal convince Kujan to some of his lies. By the end of the movie, the audience sees just how sly Verbal is when it was shown that he can walk properly and also when Agent Kujan figured out that Verbal made up lies on the spot by using objects in the room they were in. Verbal's lies give him power and control over how people perceive him. He believes that his other self, Keyser Söze, is a powerful criminal because of his reputation as a criminal leader. He believes that his anonymity as Keyser  Söze gives him so much power that he compared it to the Devil. He said, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that... he's gone." However, he is only subjected to how people view and react to his social roles of being the vulnerable man and being the mysterious criminal leader. This is because Verbal is an individual who "is constructed or interpellated as a subject by the institutions of modern life" (Nealon & Giroux pg. 44). Therefore, it makes him subjected to the components of his society and culture.

            A persona is a person's social role or character that they play. The persona is then considered as a part of a social actor's 'self' and does not characterize him or her as a whole. Since Keyser Söze, Verbal's other persona, is just a part of Verbal's being, it could neither be categorized as a subject or self. Verbal's other persona of being Keyser Söze is used as a social position in which Verbal can maintain to have a perfect and powerful 'self' or character. Since Keyser Söze is a part of Verbal's social identity, this component of him is subjected to Verbal's actions and position as a social actor. Verbal's persona of being Keyser Söze is dependent on Verbal since any ideas or actions made by Verbal will be analyzed by other members of his society through categorizing him by using the mainstream and ideological beliefs. Therefore, even though Verbal controls how people may view the character of Keyser Söze, both are still subjected to be analyzed and categorized with the use of already formed social categories.

            An individual's persona could then be compared to gender and race in Nealon and Giroux's The Theory Toolbox chapter on Differences. This is because all three components are "subject positions in the sense that we outlined when talking about 'subjectivity'; they are social categories of recognition that define us within a certain social context" (Nealon & Giroux 160). These social categories are a part of an individual's identity. Within different sets of groups, an individual's identity could be viewed differently or the same in some ways. It depends on how a group interprets an individual's actions. The name Keyser Söze, as a persona, terrifies both groups; criminals and non-criminals. However, they may view Keyser Söze differently. The criminals may see Keyser Söze as a leader while non- criminals like the police might view him as a nuisance, someone they need to immediately put in jail. Meanwhile, Verbal is viewed very differently because of how he wanted others to perceive him. The perception of  an individual's persona may be different to him as a social actor, but the persona is also a part of the defining factor of an individual.

            Analyzing a cultural text also brings about the question of who holds authority over meaning. Is it the audience or the director? The director controls how the movie, The Usual Suspect, goes. They know what will be the beginning and the end of the movie. The audience, however, does not. As aforementioned, they only interpret what was presented to them. The audience forgets the fact that Verbal is also a criminal and believes his lies. They look for answers to the question presented to them in the beginning of the film of who Keyser Söze really is. The audience forgets that the story and the signifiers presented in the story are not the only determining factors for the interpretation of the film. As the audience, they take part on how the movie is interpreted. The director of the movie tries to control how the interpretation of the audience goes, but not all of the audience think the same way. Since the director of the movie generalized the audience's direction of interpretation, the audience still has control to how they interpret the meaning of the movie. The control over authority of the cultural text that the director held is taken away from them by the audience. The direction of interpretation differs because the audience themselves are also subjects of their society. Each one of the audiences has different subject categories and positions that define them as well. The audience's differences contribute to the fact that the audience's interpretation of the film differs from one another.

            While watching a movie or reading a text, people unconsciously analyze and interpret the cultural text given. This is because as human beings, we are motivated to solve for the unknown. To know the unknown, the audience tries to connect it to the mainstream of the society, and in itself shows that there is no 'unique' event or individual. Analyzing a cultural text, however, could result into different interpretations of that text because of how several individuals perceive it. In the movie, The Usual Suspects, interpretations of the text could also lead to interpretations of which character, in the audience’s opinion, holds more power over another. The audience bases it on social and cultural norms that are already formed within their society. The social structure provides a given standard to which the audience bases their assumptions on. Identifying the subject roles of the characters leads to an easier comprehension of the cultural text. Since interpretation is done by the audience, they control how meaning is perceived as. This is why most of the audience would focus on Verbal's character. Verbal's character provided most of the information in the movie. In the end, the audience realizes that most of the information Verbal gave out were lies. This impacted the end of the movie since it answers the question of who Keyser Söze really is. It also makes the audience realize that Verbal did speak some truth about Keyser Söze's identity of being devil- like. The unknowable would be solved. Verbal's character was built- up through the use of subjectivity in order for the audience to realize in the end that, even though Verbal looked vulnerable at first, he is Keyser Söze. 

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Works Cited

Nealon, Jeffrey and Susan Searls Giroux. "4: Subjectivity." The Theory Toolbox: Critical Concepts for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. 35-50. Print.

Nealon, Jeffrey and Susan Searls Giroux. "10: Differences." The Theory Toolbox: Critical Concepts for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. 157-191. Print.

The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Kevin Spacey and Chazz Palminteri. Gramercy Pictures (I), 1995.

Meltzer, Franҫoise. “Unconscious.” Critical Terms for Literary Study. Eds. Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990. 147-162. Print.