Analyzing Evil: Lou Bloom From Nightcrawler

hello everyone and welcome to the 30 second episode of analyzing evil featuring lou bloom from nightcrawler this film gives us insight into a character that is essentially a direct manifestation of antisocial personality disorder and nightcrawler shows us the many components of this disorder that when used to their full advantage can turn someone from a socially inept criminal outcast into a ruthless and driven man who will stop at nothing and do anything to achieve his goals jake gyllenhaal's performance in this role is a sight to behold and the fact that he was so accurately able to portray a character with such an utter lack of humanity is truly noteworthy and deserving of the highest of praise in this video i'll be taking you through each component of the awkward depravity of lou bloom that leaves us viewers both captivated and horrified giving you the complete image of a man whose sum total of his soul ultimately amounts to a singular drive to satisfy his own shallow desires now without further ado let's begin let's start things off by jumping right into his appearance personality and mannerisms and applying them to the events we see unfolding during the course of the film lou is an awkward skittish and bug-eyed individual he seems very neat and put together but he has a gaunt and skeletal appearance which coupled with his intense stare make him an unsettling individual to watch in action his manner of speaking and the intensity and seriousness of his demeanor make him seem as if he's some kind of alien who learned how to be a human by watching corporate training videos it's obvious that his personality has contributed to the state we find him in at the beginning of the film that of a low level criminal who sunk to stealing and fencing scrap metal to keep himself afloat and i imagine that a man who's as standoffish and socially awkward as lou undoubtedly has trouble holding down any sort of job here in this initial scene we get a taste of the oddity that is lou bloom when he's confronting the security guard but our first impression of lou from this scene is that he's a bit of a smooth talker an experienced criminal who tries to lie his way out of a situation before making any rash decisions however this image quickly dissolves when we see the exchange he has with the foreman of the scrapyard which is our first instance of truly odd behavior from lou where he speaks to this man as if he's reciting verbatim from a pamphlet he received at a job fair mixed with a speech he may have lifted directly from a movie when this man denies him a job because lou is a thief rather than getting angry at this denial it's as if lou takes this moment to store a new tidbit of information about humanity that he was previously unaware of to improve his poor understanding of human relations this is the basic foundation of lou's interaction with people repetition of phraseology he's learned from various sources mixed with moments of clarity where his wide-eyed and expressionless face logs new understanding in his strange alien way we see this again when he's speaking with nina about the type of footage that her studio uses in their news segments intently listening to every word she says and asking curious questions like a child who's attempting to shape their existing assumptions of reality based on the words of others his interactions with his employee rick are much the same and in their first encounter the way he speaks to him reflects what you would expect someone to say when they're giving you an orientation for a position in some big corporation even after this first instance he speaks to him on an overtly professional level so much so that his speech is all but soulless and his disregard for any sort of conventional human conversation when interacting with people is readily apparent the way he speaks makes perfect sense when you consider what he says to nina during their interaction at the studio concerning his education here lou states that he's self-taught and most of what he's learned has come from his time spent doing his own research this isn't a bad thing but what lies behind that seemingly admirable drive to learn is the fact that everything about lou is artificial i don't think there's ever a moment during the course of this entire film where we get to see the true lou bloom it's as if there truly isn't a loo bloom and the man we see is only an entity who's pieced together his personality from the behaviors he's mimicked and the words he's assimilated into his memory from his studies into humanity even when he's alone he's constantly building upon this persona immersing himself in the profession he becomes enraptured with and even when he's seemingly enjoying himself while watching a comedic film he laughs as if he's practicing laughing showing us that he's always attempting to improve his falsified self in order to reach his goals there are moments where a small facet of human emotion shines through like when he's captivated with the image of la at the new studio or when he screams at his reflection in his bathroom but other than these scant few instances we find ourselves looking at a loo bloom who rarely breaks from the odd persona he's formed through years of mimicry he smiles and laughs and he attempts to form bonds of camaraderie with those he deals with but none of these emotions seem genuine and he somehow manages to seem both socially inept and sociable at the same time the only genuine aspects of lou are his desires lou has a desire to learn a desire to succeed and a desire to fit in with the world that he seems to be so out of touch with and these desires drive his motivations and the behaviors he exhibits in his efforts to bring about his desires and improve his outer self lou has a few useful tools in his arsenal to accomplish these goals namely an obsessive attention to detail manipulation negotiation and the frequent use of lies though lou's approach to every situation is odd it can't be said that he isn't prepared for them and we see him logging in small details like the tie ben waterman wears on fridays or researching everything he can about nina before going on a date with her everything that lou perceives is stored away to be used at the appropriate time like the tie the mention of which he uses to charm ben later on in the film his manipulation is often tied in with his propensity to negotiate every situation he finds himself in but it's most prevalent when he's dealing with rick whom he strings along constantly throughout the film promising him a comfortable position in his budding company by throwing around business jargon and vague assurances that leave rick in a perpetual state of confusion and small satisfaction negotiation is a part of who lou is and he'll take every opportunity presented to him to turn his situation to his advantage no matter the implications or negative consequences that may follow and his confidence in his skills as a negotiator only grow as the film progresses eventually coming to the point where he's amassed enough credibility and power to exact whatever he pleases from an individual lou is ultimately an intensely selfish man and he values no one higher than himself and views people as nothing more than avenues to what he wishes to achieve the scene where he's on a date with nina is the best and most disturbing example of this notion here we see lou complimenting her in a very matter of fact an odd way after which he speaks about the pros and cons of being alone and proceeds to tell her that he has a lack of physical touch and affection in his life something which he wishes to acquire from nina which is a strange way of attempting to court someone to say the least however this can't even be considered courting as this whole conversation is once again just another moment of negotiation and manipulation from lou he has absolutely no desire to see the happiness of nina in this situation and is instead looking solely at providing for himself a way to satisfy his own desires without regard for nina's feelings i imagine lou could care less whether nina actually enjoys whatever intercourse takes place between them and whether or not she's miserable during this highly abusive and manipulative relationship would make no difference whatsoever to lou because at the end of the day he would be satisfied and that's the only thing that matters in that same vein he has no regard for the safety or well-being of anyone in general and we frequently see him endangering not only the life of rick with his reckless driving but the lives of the countless people he's putting at risk as he speeds through red lights and swerves haphazardly through traffic towards the end of the film rick gives us quite the perfect summation of lou's understanding of people stating that lou doesn't seem to understand people at all this is mostly true as he understands what their desires are as that is really the only thing he understands about himself but outside of that he has no idea what it is to have normal human emotion or any understanding of what it means to operate within the bounds of normal human society he has no regard for social norms no respect for anyone's feelings and we often see him breaching the boundaries of many individuals personal space whether they be dead alive or injured we see his blatant disrespect for any and all rights and situations where one should be treading lightly or not at all like when he's attempting to get gruesome shots of a crime scene or the testimonies of witnesses at those scenes bringing himself too close to the action placing his camera in the face of dying victims and bombarding people in the midst of these scenes with questions that are wholly uncalled for in stressful and sensitive situations this is most evident when we find him manipulating crime scenes in order to improve his own shots and especially when we find him in the home where the triple homicide took place where he completely ignores the fact that a man lying on the floor is still alive preferring to get the perfect shot of this man lying face down in a pool of his own blood rather than helping him in any way that he can lou has absolutely no regard for human life whatsoever and if he needs to defile and disrespect dead bodies to obtain a perfect shot sabotage a competitor's vehicle to take them out of the game or cause the death of his partner to ensure the success of his own business he will do so with no remorse or guilt taking these terrible actions without a shred of identifiable emotion on his face the greatest example of this is of course the actions he takes in pursuit of a bigger story by withholding information about the identities of the perpetrators of the triple homicide in granada hills lou uses this information to create a situation where he can extract the maximum amount of harrowing footage he possibly can by placing police officers in a predicament in which their only option is to engage in a shootout and a deadly car chase these actions result in the death of rick both of the perpetrators three police officers and the wounding of four more with one lying in critical condition in the hospital not to mention the dozen crimes detective fontieri states were committed in the process all of this death and destruction occurred for one reason and one reason only ambition lou's ambition fueled by his utter lack of empathy destroyed all these lives with intent and precision that is sickening to behold had this been anyone with a conscious a foray into that house in granada hills would have possibly resulted in the preservation of a life but in the hands of lou bloom the only thing that comes of this discovery is further death death that was a hundred percent avoidable in the end in this world of depravity and morbid fascination with violence lou bloom comes out the ultimate victor elevating himself from a common thief to the head of a film company creating for himself a carefully crafted image of a man who doesn't really even exist and at this end who exactly is the young person that is lou bloom he's a man who holds deep within himself absolutely nothing that could be construed as true humanity to fill this void that is his person his only option is a poor mimicry of the people he's observed in his lifetime and the frequent repetition of phrases and taglines he's acquired from his research the man we see in this film is the empty vessel of a human being who embodies nearly every aspect of antisocial personality disorder employing his lack of empathy to use and abuse people to further his own ends we are lucky to have found lou in the situation we find him in as a man like lou bloom placed in a position of higher power or authority would be one capable of committing atrocities on a mass scale that would be on par with the most brutal dictators in history instead a future we'll likely never get to see for lou is still one of power and authority and as he ascends the ranks of the news hierarchy in la who knows how many lives will end as a result of his remorseless rise to the top it should be noted that lou isn't the only one to blame here as a world where popular news media is more concerned with what's shocking and exciting is one that is based in reality and his abuse of people in unfortunate situations wouldn't occur if it weren't being enabled regardless when it comes down to it lou bloom is the perfect sociopath a soulless monster who has no respect for anybody but himself and one who views humans as nothing more than tools for him to achieve his own ends his abuse and manipulation of people in concert with the loss of life and suffering that occurs as a result of his actions is unforgivable and whatever sliver of humanity lies behind the empty eyes and a motionless mask of little bloom is buried under an avalanche of evil thank you all for tuning in to this episode of analyzing evil and i hope you've enjoyed what are your thoughts on lou did i miss anything let me know down below and leave a suggestion for a villain you'd like to see featured in a future episode while you're at it if you liked this video and want to see more like it appearing in your feed click the subscribe button to keep up on the latest episodes and feel free to leave a like while you're at it thank you once again to all of my existing subscribers for your continued and incredible support if you'd like to support the channel even further consider signing up as a patron over on patreon you can find a link to patreon in the description of this video thank you to everyone who signed up so far and a most vile thank you to those whose names you're seeing on screen now join the channel's discord server to interact with myself and the community and follow me on the social media platforms listed in the description for occasional updates on the channel as always thanks for watching and i'll be seeing you soon you

Channel: The Vile Eye

Views: 469,056

Rating: 4.9684148 out of 5

Keywords: Lou Bloom, Jake Gyllenhaal, Movie, Film, News, Analysis, Evil, Villain

Id: 1wHtToZZCfs

Length: 14min 45sec (885 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 09 2021