Essay: The Bourne Identity

THE BOURNE IDENTITY 
 
The Bourne Identity conveys meaning and illustrates messages that are based off the producer's ideologies for the audience to decode through the four elements of representation: Camera, Sound, Editing, and Mise-en-scene. 

The beginning of the scene starts off with an extreme wide shot which is used as the establishing shot. It shows the view from the docks and large ships can be viewed in the distance. This is mainly for establishing the location of the scene - near a pier in France - and is the setting for the first part of this scene. Several cuts are made in transitioning where Bourne is walking towards the inner urban area, and these cuts show the brief ellipses of time. There is a constant orchestral music playing in the background as Bourne walks through the city and heads to the train station. This non-diegetic sound provides a sense of ease, and almost a sense of being lost as he wanders around. It also makes us as the audience a bit wary as to what is to come, sensing as if this is the calm before the storm. There is also a small moment of diegetic sound where we can hear vehicles passing by and people talking to each other in the background. The mise-en-scene is clear as we see symbolism and a clear contrast in the colour scheme of red and blue make its first appearance. We see the red in Bourne’s jacket and the red seats on the train as he makes his way towards the inner city. This, especially seen later on in the movie, will become a symbol of him starting his new life and living in the future and not trying to dig up memories of his past. The blue represents the cold and robotic feelings associated with his past and are seen in the uniform of the police in the park and the light on the snow creates a blueish glow in the dark of the night. 

 

As the camera pans to show the train passing through a tunnel in a snowy mountainous area, the camera uses an extremely wide shot to introduce the next segment of this scene. In addition to this, the background music changes briefly to emphasize the changing of scenery. It then cuts to a medium close up of Bourne in the train as he looks out the window and at his flickering reflection as the light flickers while going through the tunnel. The shot changes to a point of view shot where he is fiddling with the bullet that was removed from his back earlier in the movie. This could be seen as even though he is a step closer to his new future (interpreted by the red symbolism), he is still contemplating what his past life was and has yet to disregard it as it is one of the less important things of his life. The music playing somewhat softly in the background is synchronous as it takes on a contemplative tone, matching with some of the internal questions and conflicts that may be arising within Bourne himself. The iconography of the bullet is a large indicator that further emphasizes that this movie is a thriller, as it is a common prop found in many thriller and action movies. 

 

In the train station, the camera reverts back to a medium close up as he makes his way out. The diegetic sound is clearly the many other people located in the train station and their voices can be heard echoing off the walls. It is interesting to note that despite how with the many people and the overall business of a place such as this, Bourne still looks rather lost and alone. This could be alluding to the fact that he is very much alone as he still doesn’t know who he is nor what his purpose is at this moment, and is on a journey to discover this. The echoing voices and business of his surrounding could also stress this sense of urgency to discover who he is. 

 

The next shot starts off with a low angle of a wide shot, slowly panning upward as we see two policemen approach Bourne while he is sleeping on a park bench. The dim lighting of the park reflecting on the snow in the darkness of the night gives off a blue hue. This coupled with the blue uniform of the policemen link to the symbolism implied as he used to be part of an undercover government organisation which the CIA was associated with makes this a clear indication that this has something to do with his past. The crunch of the snow underneath the men’s boots is another use of diegetic sound as well as the few lines of dialogue, “I don’t have any papers”, in which the interaction is shown with shot/reverse shot camera shots. When the eventual fight breaks out and Bourne comes to the realization that he is not an ordinary commoner the camera snaps from a medium close up to a wide shot continuously until the final moment where there is a 180-degree turn and both policemen are on the ground unconscious. The camera uses an eyeline match as his gaze extends down to the officer’s gun which is now situated in his hands. This is yet another use of iconography as the gun is a major indicator that points toward what this movie is centered around and that it is also an action/thriller genre. 

 

The final part to this scene includes Bourne disarming the gun and running away where the camera uses a dolly shot to show his final attempt to remain unnoticed as he takes off his jacket. This could be seen as a natural instinct coming from his past and old life as it is only natural for that part of him to hide and remain hidden. There is little to no background music as this moment heavily relies on Bourne coming to terms with who he really may be. 

 

Stuart Hall’s reception theory also comes into play here as the director and co-producer of The Bourne Identity was Doug Liman, and although he was careful not to cram his political views down the audience’s throats, he jettisoned much of the content of the original novel beyond the central premise, in order to modernize the material and conform it to his own beliefs regarding the US foreign policy.