Film Club #1 - Enemy

[Heat]

This isn't so much a theory as maybe an observation of sorts.

Theory?(kinda)

Did you guys notice how when he was talking to Anthony, it almost seemed like he was staring in the mirror? He repeated multiple times; "You're crazy", and then Anthony pushed him against I think was the table and said "I'M CRAZY!?!?", which to me could possibly indicate that there is some sort of Fight Club theme going on here of different personalities. We can see this indication, again subtly, when his mother says "And give up that acting fantasy" to Adam, who is the teacher. However this becomes confusing when Adam's girlfriend points out a physical change in the ring mark on Anthony(pretending to be Adam), and says that Adam doesn't have that. This conflicts with the idea that it is similar to fight club, as in it being entirely mental, like for instance when, in fight club, tyler derden reviews a tape showing him throwing punches at nothing, and knowing he thought there was someone there, being evidence that it was all mental and he was imagining stuff, the physical difference between the two of something as subtle as a ring or dislike of blueberries contradicts this and adds to the theory that they are different people.

There are lots of different meanings you can take from this movie, i'm waiting however for someone to find something that gives concrete evidence of a single storyline taking place, like "When __ said __ it was clear she knew ___ and that __ was happening", or something like that.

Metaphors within the movie:

If you want to get philosophical, as I was also trying to brainstorm meanings on that spectrum for the movie, we can ignore the story and take a deeper meaning. What I took is that Adam was ironically the polar opposite of Anthony mentally, and personality wise. We can see this in how Adam sees what looks like him in a movie and instantly assumes sinister intention, or is freaked out afraid of it. Anthony hears him talk and doesn't really take any meaning from it, even though Adam clearly seems distraught in the phone call. This is also apparent when they are both in the room together, looking each other over, you can see clear cut differences between the two. The philosophical perspective I took is that;

#1. It could stand for how society tends to imagine themselves as a better, self. Anthony is successful, with a loving wife, and he is assertive, doesn't seem disturbed mentally. Adam in comparison almost seems crazy, he's not assertive in fact he's very passive, lives in an apartment, his girlfriend doesn't want to sleep with him as seen in the first part of the movie, and unlike Anthony who seems to have an interesting life, we can see an example later in the movie when he gets back from jogging, and wants to try something new(blueberries), Adam has a repetitive lifestyle, he repeats the exact same subject in class like three times at the beginning, exact same schedule. We can also see a very subtle but telling personality difference when Anthony goes out of his way to get blueberries, simply because he read they are healthy, but sometime around then Adam is visiting his mom who offers him blueberries, and he isn't willing to try them, instantly denying them. Anthony seems like a polar-opposite of Adam, an extravert as Adam seems like an Introvert. 

#2. The spider could represent our fears as human beings. Arachnophobia is the most common fear humans have. In the very very introduction, beginning scene we see a woman crush a spider, this was very very representative to me, after watching, that by the end of the movie Adam's fear had been crushed(either mentally or physically[Anthony being crushed in a car accident, or that Adam gained confidence mentally and was no longer passive, or afraid.]). We then see the spider, I believe the next time we see it is when the woman has a spider mask on, if we take this as a 'bigger' spider than before, we can also metaphorically infer it means that Adam's fear is growing. Near the end, after that the next time we see it is when there is a giant spider hovering over the city this entire plot is taking place, and regardless of previous instances given that this was right around the time that Anthony was saying stuff like "I'm going to take all your money and take your girlfriend", and Adam looked as mentally confused/distraught as ever, I think this image in specific has direct coorelation with Adam's fear growing out of control. It's getting a bit specific, but to add, the spider's arms when it was hovering over almost looked like tentacles, sticks, something representative of them connecting to something else. So I took this as meaning the arms were connected all around the city, and that metaphorically speaking represents how "Fear" at that late point in the movie has now entirely encompassed Adam's life, or taken control of it. We see the spider at the end as well, and I also think this is an incredibly telling moment. As he is expecting to find Mary, and pretend to live as Anthony we see him confronted with his fear, a giant spider in place of who he expected to be sitting there.

To intertwine #1, and #2, Adam finding the Spider at the end could mean how he has faced up to, and overcome his fear. If we take the dramatic, actual story out of the equation, and focus solely on metaphors, this is pretty apparent imo. Because at the end as Adam finds the Spider, if we take that as fear and think of Adam as previously being an introvert, non-assertive, and reserved, Adam looks his fear right in the face and doesn't flinch, he doesn't look fearful when it looks him in the face, he looks almost as if he expected it, or has seen it before and knows it all too well. So we could almost say the very beginning is actually a sequel type event, that's put at the beginning but is really in chronological order something that happens at the end. If that's the case, say for instance we take the very beginning scene and just chuck it on to the end. We would then see Adam encounter a giant spider, and then moments later see a very small spider, and him watch as a woman crushes it. 

Oh my god I just remembered the thing that connects this entirely, the woman who crushes the spider is pregnant! That is the most obvious coorelation in the entire movie, and possibly we can say that Mary telling Adam that she "Wants him to stay" is not only saying she knows it's Adam, but subsequently "crushing" Adams fear. The fact that it's Mary in the beginning says enough. So then, imagine again that the beginning sequence is thrown on to the ending instead, we see Adam LOOKING FOR MARY only to find 'fear' staring him in the face, and then afterwards we would see Mary crush Adam's 'fear' at the end. Adam's 'fear' could be that Mary would find out he wasn't Anthony, and when she says "I want you to stay" Adam's fear of her finding out, and of Anthony stealing his life is crushed as he realizes for some reason that Mary wants him over Anthony, and he doesn't need to be fearful anymore.

The Spider plays a huge role in the movie, so you might read what I said and think i'm crazy, but let me tell you for a fact that the directors, and makers of the movie did not just put a random spider in there for "no reason". It is clearly meant to serve some sort of meaning, or metaphor.



So that's my personal analysis, theories, and everything else of this movie at least for now, hope you enjoyed reading.



Edit: Just watched some youtube videos "explaining the movie" and they differ wildly from what I theorized. I'm curious to see how you guys interpret my personal analysis.