As I have previously argued, the costume of D-Fens can be said to reflect the 'everyman', but when we consider it is so bound up in the McCarthey-trial era Republican America, it could also represent right-wing middle-class suburbia. Yet a change occurs halfway throughout the film. Douglas's character, after killing the Nazi (standing up to fascism?) says he is "past the point of no return." As the audience we are led to assume that he has now become more sinister. This may very well be, but I believe a change in ideology has occurred.
If the shirt and tie of D-Fens is middle-class America, then this is now shed in favour of black overalls, surely a symbol of the working-classes; from a professional, nostalgic aesthetic to a more industrial, and almost Eastern European get-up.
It is from this point that the change in ideology occurs.
The first scene that occurs after this dress change is D-Fens walking towards a construction site. And already the local council's motives are questioned.
I don't think anything's wrong with the street. You' re trying to justify your budgets. -I know how it works. If you don't spend your budget,you won't get any money next year. I want you to admit there's nothing's wrong with the street!
In a world dominated by private companies doing the jobs that previously belonged to the public sector, this statement may make sense. No longer can we rely on our local officials to take responsibility for services rendered; rather like housing we are served by Aspire or Kier, and our hospital food by Serco. Under socialism, these services do not need to be run for profit, nor by external agencies.
The next scene involving D-Fens (or Bill Foster) takes place at a golf club. Already the bourgeois golfers assum Foster is the groundsman, to which his partner replies "if he is he's out of uniform," and "he's not a member, look how he's dressed." Incidentally, note how the upper class are now being presented; weak, innefectual and arrogant old men. It is more telling however, and more in keeping with socialist ideology in the response Foster gives to these models of capitalism after almost getting hit with their golf ball. (Itself an attack on the working class?)
"It's not enough you got all this land for your little game? But you had to kill me with a golf ball? You should have children playing here. Family picnics. You should have a petting zoo. ...instead of electric carts for you old men with nothing better to do."
What a perfect example of the socialist manifesto in regaards to community services. The same can also apply to derelict land and not just affluent areas. If land is derelict it is because it is not profitable for that land to be used, or the capital to invest may be too high. Likewise as an exclusive club in which members quite happily 'pay their dues', it is not profitable for that land to be used in a socially beneficial way.
Bill Foster then climbs into a plastic surgeon'sback yard and assumes the family there own the house. Again, he is representing anger and hatred towards the ruling class. To emphasise this he soon softens when he discovers the father enjoying a barbeque is just the caretaker, and even more so when he (wrongly) assumes he has accidentally hurt his daughter. He now finds affinity with the working-class in a more personal way.
In the end, his attempt to ensure his death in order for his daughter to receive the insurance money can be seen as the only solution to provide for her, and this has had to come from inside the capitalist system itself. And as such, death must occur.
I realise that on face value, Douglas's character, essentially, becomes more of a sociopath as the film progresses, and that the character of Prendergast has more to do with the issues of masculinity, but I believe applying a Marxist approach is still a valid exercise, regardless of the morality of the narrative.
