The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Textual Analysis - Callum Horncastle

Textual Analysis of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The opening to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a close up of a stringed package being opened with a knife, nothing can be seen besides the package and the hands opening it.
 

The second shot shows a small knife cutting the string.
 

In these two shots, there have already been enigmas created.

What’s in the package? Who’s opening it?

The third shot shows the knife cutting the string once more, but from further away.
 

Only in the fourth shot do we see the person opening the package, a relatively old man. He is clearly rather old, seen by his white/grey hair, wrinkled face.
He also wears glasses, signifying that his vision isn’t pristine, another possible sign of his old age.

A few shots later when he finally opens the package, he removes a frame, with pressed lavender inside. This creates another enigma, and brings us to question the flower’s significance.

The man then checks the package to find it is from Hong Kong, China.

A fourth enigma is created, as we now question the relevance to Hong Kong, and why this old man would receive a package from there.

 

In the next scene, there is a zoom-out shot of the old man crying, creating a fifth enigma, why is he crying?

This opening does not bring any tension or suspense, which is rather strange for a thriller, the iconography of a thriller is not seen, no guns or creepy music.
The knife is merely to open the package, and does not show itself as a dangerous prop, regardless of the fact it could be used as a weapon. This gives the impression that the old man in the scene is harmless, and most probably a good character, or a non-violent one at least.

A few shots later, a black and white photograph of a young woman is seen, the shot slowly zooms in, before the title of the film is shown, this suggests that the girl in the photo is the girl with the dragon tattoo.

 

The next shot shows a hooded figure walking away from the camera, all of the next shots show this same person, always from behind so their face is never seen. This is where the aspects of a thriller are shown, as it brings the enigma as to ‘who is this person?’

After that, a shot of people sitting down are shown, and there is a very slow crab shot of a woman, her fringe is down to hide most of her face in the shadow. Her face is about to be revealed when the shot changes, this suggests that she is the same character from before, as the character is being hidden from the audience.

Comparing the female character to the old man at the beginning of the scene, it is shown that the girl is most likely the main character, and has a lot more potential as a protagonist.
The hooded intro makes her shrouded in mystery, but she still walks with an upright posture, this small addition to her body language gives a more positive impression.

The mystery behind her introduction keeps the audience quizzing on who she actually is, which is why she's most likely the main character, opposed to the old man, who is shown to be more of a side character.