“Something’s Wrong in Some of Those Neat, Little Houses” How Narrative and Stylistic Elements Communicate Theme in Alan J. Pakula’s Paranoia Trilogy

Alan J. Pakula’s Paranoia Trilogy consists of three films released in the 1970s: Klute (1971), The Parallax View (1974), and All the President’s Men (1976). The films have traditionally been considered as a trilogy despite not depicting a continual story with the same characters over three films. Instead, the films are grouped together because they are the product of the same director and share similar themes of societal fears including fear of the unknown, fear of corporations and government, and fear of surveillance encroaching on previously private spaces. The purpose of this study is to analyze the narrative method over the three films to see how the films communicate these fears and anxieties to audience members through narrative and stylistic techniques. The findings show that the films use narrative gaps, making strange of familiar spaces, and various stylistic techniques including cinematography, editing and sound design to create a mood of fear and anxiety.