Dog Day Afternoon: Cinemality

After watching this film, and looking at some information about it, I learned something very interesting. The film is based on a true story, an actual bank robbery that occurred in Brooklyn New York. It stars Al Pacino as Sonny and the actor who played Fredo in the Godfather as his partner Sal. The interesting part is this; the man who was 'Sonny' in real life planned the robbery while watching The Godfather earlier that day. Where is this film then? What are we looking at? This film is not a depiction of the real world, of a real event, it is not an attempt to reproduce the event, it is a rupture with the event, a movement into the realm of virtuality in the direction of a diagram of a common conflict between established and emergent power.

This film addresses a number of interesting issues. If we choose to read it as a tracing of events that occurred, to be judged by fidelity or promiscuity in relation to the 'facts' we may not see those issues. In order to see these issues we must view this film as a sort of a blueprint. It shows us above all Sonny testing a number of lines of flight within the situation that creates itself around him. He rejects all of them, but he points to them and then he steps back.

Is it a blueprint for a bank-robbery? Let's look at it from this perspective, when we do this we can see first of all that Sonny could use the crowd to overwhelm the police and facilitate his escape, but he does not. He merely incites the crowd by shouting at the police and giving them commands, chanting "Attica" and throwing money. The crowd is visibly on Sonny's side, they are very much incensed at the police and the apparatus of state because of the slaughter at Attica, and for other reasons more particular and personal. The crowd wants Sonny to empty the signifier of the bank robbery into something that they can all identify with, cheering louder and louder when he defies the police; however, he never does this, he even looks upset when the gay rights marchers show up to support him. Sonny knows how to deterritorialize things, but he reterritorializes on his wife, who is brought from bellevue. He does not care about the crowd or about the country, he is robbing the bank because he needs money so that his wife can get a sex change operation, his wife's becoming woman is his focus.

It is a blueprint for dealing with the media? Let's look at it from this perspective. What does Sonny do in his interview? He draws attention to the frame, asking the interviewer how much money he makes, a question the interviewer refuses to answer. He does not allow the media to remain transparent, he acknowledges that he sees himself on the screen. Sonny does not allow the ritual of the interview to be taken for granted, this ritual of making a person talk without letting the person speak. The reporter asks why Sonny is robbing the bank, a question that is fairly obvious, Sonny replies with an obvious answer, money the reporter then attempts to inflict the repressive norms of bourgeois society on him, and by way of this act to interpellate the audience in the name of these values across Sonny's body. Sonny causes this interpellation to break down, Sonny can only get jobs that pay 150 a week how can he support a family on that? "How much money do you make Mr. Reporter?"