Opening Scene Allegory
The opening scene with Lou and the security is mini-allegory of what the entire film is about. Lou is attempting to break into somewhere using bolt cutters. He is approached by a guard who tells him the place is restricted. Lou says he’s lost and then explains he thought was a detour. This is the movie: Lou is lost and desperately wants to find a way to be successful, but he keeps being shut out the guardians of the good life. So he’s going to have to take a detour to bypass the guardians and get what he wants by taking it. Like he takes the guard’s watch.
Lou’s Aphorisms
Lou’s got a lot of sayings; little motivation one-liners. What FEAR stands for. What kind of gift a friend is. You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket. Not just his aphorisms, but his entire mode of speaking when he’s having a normal conversation sounds just like it what is: empty advice found in books, on bumper stickers, on posters and spouted by guys selling guides to success in infomercials. All this acts as imagery to define Lou as being without depth and guided by capitalist clichés.
Lou’s Job Interview
After the opening allegorical scene comes another that acts as imagery to further implicate Lou’s shallow understanding of the business advice he has made his bible. The job interview is not really a job interview in sense of the term, but Lou treats it as though it were. He’s actually just having a conversation with the scrapyard owner, but he actually indulges in a monologue that contains nearly every single cliché answer no applicant for a real job in a serious interview would ever think of giving: he’s a hard worker who sets goals who was raised to think highly of himself, but knows that hard work is the key to getting to the top of the mountain. The owner’s foul-mouthed dismissal cements the image of Lou as socially awkward and devoid of any critical understanding of all the surface-level bumper sticker business philosophy he’s soaked up.
The Challenger
Lou is making great money, but except for the tools of the trade he needs to make even more he doesn’t really seem to be spending too much on enjoying the finer things in life. Except for his flashy car. He could have bought a Mustang or a Camaro, two very popular vehicles in the same class as the one he chooses. Notably, however, he drives a car called a Challenger. And the Challenger probably gets more screen time than any character besides Lou. Because part of his plan to find that detour to success where he won’t be lost anymore is to challenge everything and everyone. Which he consistently does. The imagery of that Dodge Challenger racing through the night is powerful imagery of his intensity and speed with which he plans to get to the top of that mountain.
