John Malkovich

The 1999 film Being John Malkovich, screenplay written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze, is a highly philosophical film that deals with the ability – or inability – to truly ‘become’ another individual. It follows the story of Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) and his experience of finding a portal that allows the user to ‘become’ the celebrity actor John Horatio Malkovich (played by John Malkovich). Within this narrative, the film also address ideas relating to cinema theory, especially in response to the appeal of film spectatorship as a mode of escapism through becoming someone else, and therefore the film can be classified as metacinematic.
The appeal of cinema to the modern spectator is its ability to work as a distinctly audio-visual
The film reiterates the importance of celebrity star status in allowing desires to be achieved in the scene with Craig inside Malkovich telling his manager he wants a career change, “ I would like to redirect my career so that from now on the name John Malkovich will be synonymous with puppets” to which his manager simply replies “Sure. No problemo. Poof, you're a puppeteer.” The following scenes are a montage to the success of this venture exaggerating the ideal way spectatorship of film and film stars allows the audience to project their desires and achieve an escapism. While Craig in in Malkovich, Malkovich’s physical appearance and mannerism warps to those of Craig’s. He grows longer, greasy hair and a belly in addition to slouching further and adopting Craig’s careless mannerisms. The fusing of Malkovich and Craig’s identities can symbolise the way that spectator, represented by Craig, and actor, obviously represented by Malkovich, are joined together in the cinematic experience of the