Blog Post #8, Baby

6. Themes

This film noir, Double Indemnity by Billy Wilder, displays multiple common themes throughout the film common to the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. In the movie, Barbara Stanwyck’s character is "Lady Macbething" Walter Neff.  Phyllis Dietrichson pretends to fall madly in love with Walter and he takes the bite. This reveals the dual identity theme in this film. Mrs.Dietrichson manipulates Walter to do what she wants and thus is able to excerpt her power through him. By manipulating him, she was able to accomplish the act of murdering her husband. At the end of the movie, Walter Neff also reveals the theme of dual identity when he makes the decision to confront her at her house and ends up shooting her.

Another theme related to Macbeth is the concept of power and absolute power. This theme is revealed in Double Indemnity as displayed by the characters Walter and Ms.Dietrichson. In the beginning of the movie, she allows Walter to believe that he has all the power and is in control by her act of falling in love with him and meeting him at his apartment. By doing these acts, she makes him feel comfortable in his position to murder her husband. However, Ms. Dietrichson holds the real power for most of the movie (until the end). Her manipulation allows her to remain almost one step ahead of Walter. She is able to learn inside information about the case because of Walter. She also displays the theme power when she manipulates him to kill her husband. This act shows how controlling she is in a passive and feminine way. This is extremely similar to Lady Macbeth. She holds the real power but when it came time to kill Duncan, she manipulated Macbeth into committing the deed.

Lastly, I want to explore the theme gender, more specifically, gender roles. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth assumes the role of a masculine and authoritative character. She then ends up developing into the weaker person in the relationship because she gets sick from the anxiety and dies. Macbeth developed from the weaker to the stronger person in the relationship. This also occurs in Double Indemnity. Walter, who in the beginning of the play was almost a puppet to Ms. Detrichson, ended up being the more authoritative of the two when in the end, he uses her hand gun to shoot her. On a separate note, Ms. Detrichson was able to hold power over Walter through sexual desire. He fell victim of her "charm" and fell for the trap.

Overall, there are many similar themes between Macbeth and Double Indemnity. The film is about the manipulation of individuals through gender roles to fulfill a desire or accomplish something. If I had to sum up the movie in one quote, I think it is trying to say: "things aren't always as they seem."
-Irish Proverb