In Cold Blood

Director and screenwriter Richard Brooks influences the viewers of In Cold Blood, to think not only certain things about the murder and murderers in the plot, which is based on a true story and nonfiction novel, but also tries to shape viewers' ideas about certain social issues. In particular, sex becomes a theme throughout the movie and given how particular characters respond to sex, shapes the viewers' sense of the character. Sex through Perry's eyes, is seen as a horrific, violent action. While the viewer gets a glimpse into why Perry is so opposed to sex and why perhaps he's so troubled, ultimately the viewer ends up with less sympathy towards Perry, seeing Perry almost replace his sexual drive with violence and murder. Towards the middle
of the film, Perry and Dick have made their way down to a whorehouse in Mexico but are about to leave. As this scene begins, Perry is pouring himself a drink and packing up his things, while Dick and a prostitute begin to undress and dance. While packing, Perry comes across pictures of his mother and father, in addition to a picture of himself as a little boy with his mother. When he turns back to where Dick and the prostitute are, he sees the prostitute in the bathroom putting on perfume. He imagines that the prostitute is his mother. The scene is intercut with images of him as a child watching his mother with a younger man, along with him as an adult in the whorehouse. The image shows the viewer that as a child, Perry watched his mother with this younger man then watched his father walk into the house and catch his mother in the adulterous act. Afterwards, he throws the man out the door he proceeds to hit Perry's mother with his hat before taking his belt off and lashing her repeatedly. In addition to this incident, which portrays sex in an overtly violent way, the way the scene is shown also has an effect on the viewer. The scene cuts sharply from a close up of Perry, to this childhood image. Perry's face is shaking, with sweat beads and a horrified expression. This shows how affected Perry was by the instance he's remembering. The images of Perry's childhood, show not only his mother with a younger man, but also show Perry as a child watching it all with his siblings. These cuts, lead to a sympathetic view of Perry and make the viewer understand or at least empathize with how horrible the experience must have been.
In addition, the lighting in the scene reinforces the ideas behind the scene.
Perry's face, both as a child and an adult, is lit well. This allows the viewer not only to see the horrified expression on Perry's face, but also to connect that it's the same expression on his face as a kid experiencing the moment, as well as an adult remembering the experience. His mother's face is lit pretty well too although when she lies down with the man, the scene becomes extremely dark. This lighting and shot intercuts, show the universal good versus evil, light versus dark, argument, but it also touches on the nature of sex. The sexual acts in the scene are darkly lit or not seen at all. This shows sex as something to be hidden and not seen. It's weird how in both instances, both as a child, and as an adult, Perry is in the room with two people who are involved in sexual activity but yet, he doesn't actually see them doing it. When his father is beating his mother, he focuses his attention on his father, and not his mother who has just been involved with sex. Not only does this show Perry's disinterest in sex, or adverse feelings towards sex but also show his interest in violence. Throughout the film, Perry's most interesting relationships are with the men in his life. Watching his father use violence against his wife seems to enforce to Perry that violence is an okay response to
things. Another scene in the movie, which is intensely filled with sexual overtones, is when Perry is retelling exactly what happened in the Clutter home the night of the murders. Dick sees a picture on Mr. Clutter's desk of Nancy and menacingly looks up at the second floor. After seeing Perry finishing tying Nancy and Mrs. Clutter, the viewer, while watching Perry walk down the hall hears a very faint "please don't." When Perry looks in on Nancy, he sees that Dick is about to rape her. He pulls Dick off of her and proceeds to tell him that he won't have his way with her but instead should get Kenyon's radio. Again the lighting in this scene helps to reinforce the negativity of the act that Dick attempts.
In the hallway, Perry's face is brightly lit. In contrast, Dick's face in Nancy's room is a silhouette. In order to stop Dick, Perry turns his flashlight on Dick and Nancy before pulling him off. Again this connection between dark and light, symbolizing good and bad helps the viewer to understand that Perry is the one who is extremely against this sexual act. Based on the lighting, Perry seems like a good guy who knows right from wrong. However, the forcefulness that Perry uses to pull Dick off of Nancy is reminiscent of the way his father pulled the man off of his wife. This connection, shows Perry's negativity towards sex in general and not just
rape. The violence that is used in both sex scenes is important to understanding Perry. While the viewer feels sorry for Perry perhaps, because he's had to witness this horrible thing as a child and it's scared him and his sexual appetite for life, the scene in the Clutter home, continues with Perry shooting the Clutters. What was sympathy for Perry turns into terror. While Perry can't stand thinking about sex and has a horrified expression when Dick offers Nancy to him, he turns around and is able to quickly pull the trigger on people he didn't know. Despite the pity that the viewer gains with the way sex is portrayed through Perry's eyes in the film, the effect is negated by the violence that Perry partakes in and Perry becomes creepier and more like a criminal or killer than he had before.