The Thin Blue Line Film Analysis

Both The Thin Blue Line by Errol Morris and La Jetée by Chris Marker are movies whose diegesis revolves around their respective filmmaker’s unique theories on memory. My argument for this paper is that Morris’ stance on memory paints it out to be a fluid, changing subject and he does so through his use of highly stylized elements of mise-en-scene, sound, and straying from the codes and conventions of documentary-making. Chris Marker, on the other hand, portrays memory as a solid, immobile structure through his use of still images, editing, and a lack of color. By using the interviewing, or “talking heads”, element of documentaries, Morris allows key witnesses in the conviction of Adams to continue droning on, eventually starting to stain their own credibility. The simplest way to show the capricious nature of retention is to allow contradictions to naturally arise. By choosing to interview these people, with little guidance apart from a few questions, Morris conveys the ease with which memory is subject to change. For example, immediately after bragging about …show more content…
This unique appeal also extends to sound. Morris’ film is accompanied by a score by Philip Glass, notorious for creating repetitive patterns. In Glass’ work, it is the small, unexpected changes in the established theme that make his music intriguing. As multiple people are called upon to recreate the actions that transpired the night of the murder, the interest arises in the parts that don’t exactly align. What makes memory interesting is how multiple people can witness one event, yet not be able to tell the exact same story. The inclusion of Glass’ score supports not only the idea that the act of remembering is an artistic, fluid notion, but also the idea that it is the contradictions between reflections (even within the same person) that defines