Boogie+Nights



In Boogie Nights, protagonist Dirk Diggler (formerly Eddie Adams) abandons his weak, unassertive father, his neurotic and emotionally abusive mother, and his job as a nightclub dishwasher in order to reinvent himself as a rising porn star. Beneath his dreams of “becoming a star”, what Dirk really wants is acceptance and love of his family, or a “family”, wherever he can find one. This is further illustrated through the insecurities and hang-ups of the characters of the ensemble cast, as well as Dirk, who are in a constant search for approval from the people around them. Boogie Nights illustrates the exhaustive efforts of its characters who engage in a perpetual state of searching for self-gratification and approval through the porn industry.

**1. Mise-en-scene (setting and costumes)**
====After his near-death experience and a night of pushing his wrecked Chevrolet Corvette down a road, Dirk returns to Jack’s home, in a scene highly evocative of the biblical image of the prodigal sun. Dirk, after squandering his money on a botched musical project with Reed and newly acquired addictions to cocaine and methamphetamine, returns “home” with his head hanging, weeping and asking Jack for forgiveness. In this scene, the role of Jack as a father figure is emphasized through his embrace with Dirk in their final reconciliation.====

**2. Editing**
====In the film’s climatic sequence, the use of intercutting between the scene where Dirk is beaten up by a group of thugs and the scene where Jack’s video experiment with Rollergirl goes wrong gives the viewer the impression that Jack’s anger and bitterness is directed at Dirk, in addition to being fueled by his increasing sense of incompetency, and his fear that he might be losing his artistic aptitude as a filmmaker.====

**3. Color (+ lighting)**
====In one scene, Jack sits with his new protégé in a scene uncannily reminiscent of his first meeting with Dirk. In particular, the red glow from the bar lighting is similar to that of the nightclub that Dirk used to work for. This similarity gives the audience the impression that Dirk is being “replaced” by the new actor, in effect making him jealous, thus emphasizing the growing tension between Dirk and Jack.====

**4. Cinematography**
====Anderson’s trademark use of continuous moving shots are seen here in Boogie Nights. One notable use of the long take is a two minute long continuous shot during Dirk’s first party at Jack’s house. The camera moves inside and outside the house, following different characters, and stopping at different places as if to “listen in” on the conversations that are taking place among the partygoers. Because of its large ensemble cast, the long take enables the viewer to gain quick but effective insights of the different characters and builds on their complexities. During this take, many of the characters’ insecurities are revealed through dialogue and their interactions with the other characters. For example, it is revealed that Little Bill’s wife often cheats on him with other men in public, which is a cause for his extreme embarrassment and contributes to his feelings of inadequacy as a lover and a husband. In addition to revealing a lot about the characters in very little time, Anderson’s use of continuous long takes enable him to emphasize the overall connectivity of the characters and the roles that they unknowingly possess in each other’s lives.====

====Anderson also uses the concept of familiar image in the film’s cinematography to show character development. During Dirk’s first experience with crystal meth, he watches Jack’s new protégé jump into the pool from inside the house, with the same, distant look in his eyes that Amber had as she snorted cocaine while admiring Dirk from inside the house, except Dirk looks on with envy, not admiration. This signifies Dirk’s descent into drug addiction, something Amber herself had long struggled with, which is also perhaps one of the lowest emotional points in his life as depicted in the film.====

Anderson emphasizes Jack’s role as a father figure to Dirk by positioning him in the same position in the frame, as he sits in a chair and watches Dirk and Rollergirl have sex for the first time. The shot of Jack sitting in a chair then fades into a shot of Dirk’s mother sitting in the same position, at home awaiting his arrival, a scene which soon turns into what is Dirk’s final confrontation with his mother.

In Boogie Nights, upbeat and lighthearted songs are often used as part of the diegetic soundtrack to underscore some of the film’s highly tense moments. For example, when Buck Swope tries to sell a hi-fi set to a prospective customer, he plays a fast-paced country western song on the hi-fi set in an attempt to convince the customer of its sound quality. Both the disdain expressed by the customer and Buck’s boss are made clear, which contrasts with the tone of the music. During the hold-up at the doughnut store with Buck, happy, generic Christmas music is heard in the background, which once again, is a stark contrast to what is happening onscreen. This could be Anderson’s way of saying that although Boogie Nights is, on the surface, a film about the porn industry, the viewer is encouraged to look deeper and investigate its meaning.
 * 5. Sound**

In Boogie Nights, Dirk finds comfort in looking up to father-figure Jack Horner, who sees talent in the “seventeen-year-old piece of gold”, and Amber Waves, a fellow porn star who acts as a mother-figure to Dirk. Unlike his costar Reed Rothschild, Dirk never gets to arrive at the conclusion, at least during the film, that he “cannot f**k forever”, which might be an appropriate ending in terms of character development. However, as far as happy endings go, this does not matter because Dirk finally reconciles with Jack, and they all live happily ever after until one of them finally OD’s or dies from an STD. But for now, Amber, Jack, Dirk, and Rollergirl are one big happy family who occasionally have sex with one another. ‍Far from being a family movie, Boogie Nights is, in fact, a movie about family.‍
 * 6. How the theme relates to everything**