Paranoia in ‘Zoolander’: Cemetery Scene

Zoolander, Ben Stiller’s 2001 comedy, follows the titular character, male modeling superstar Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller), as he unravels a plot to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia. At once a satire of the fashion industry and pop culture at large, Zoolander incorporates familiar tones of paranoia films to further dramatize—and in turn, satirize—its subject matter. Finding himself ousted by the fashion world, Zoolander accepts a contract from fashion designer Jacobin Mugatu (Will Ferrell), unknowingly enlisting himself in a plot that goes all the way to the top.

In this clip, Zoolander and journalist Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor) covertly meet with J.P. Prewett (David Duchovny), a man who claims to have some knowledge of the plot in which Zoolander has found himself. Previous scenes featuring Prewett are similarly steeped in paranoia, reflecting tropes established in films like The Conversation and All the President’s Men, particularly the telephone exchange with an unidentified source. Up until this scene, Prewett has only leaked hints to Matilda and Zoolander, leading them to this meeting. Revealing the history of the fashion industry’s efforts to keep labor costs low, Prewett traces the role of male models in political assassinations dating back to John Wilkes Booth’s murder of Abraham Lincoln. When Zoolander realizes that Prewett was at one time “the world’s greatest hand model”, Prewett’s own insider identity is uncovered. Prewett himself was once selected to carry out a similar assassination plot for the villainous fashion syndicate, but his failure cast him out of favor in the industry. If Zoolander is to regain his fame as well as foil Mugatu’s plot, he must discern friend from foe in this outrageous conspiracy comedy.

Set in an empty, silent graveyard, this scene carries an ominous tone, emphasizing the high stakes of Zoolander’s predicament. The music, which quietly builds up to the moment the flashlight is dropped, supports the anxieties each character harbors. The editing charts the reactions of the film’s protagonists, framing Matilda and Zoolander as Prewett’s story deepens. Utilizing the angle on the cemetery, director Ben Stiller plays to the notion that the meeting is being watched, an element of the conspiracy thriller continually revisited in paranoia films. Furthermore, this shot shows that the meeting is taking place outside of Manhattan, beyond the crowdedness of the city that may endanger Prewett’s top-secret information. Prewett’s strangely preserved hand, encased in a hyperbaric chamber, accentuates the mystery of his character. Also, the casting of David Duchovny as Prewett plays to the film’s self-aware, dramatized paranoia. Duchovny became a household name for his role on The X-Files, the celebrated paranoid conspiracy series. Now, mockingly imitating such paranoia, Duchovny plays a “Deep Throat” foil in Zoolander’s plot.

While Zoolander is a slapstick comedy, it lampoons many of the themes largely associated with paranoia films. Lampooning ideas that originated in the paranoia films of the 1970s, Zoolander uses a self-awareness that exists both inside and outside of the film, casting the reflective anxieties of the Watergate scandal and the Kennedy assassination examined in Hoberman’s “Ciné Paranoia: Conspiracies Unmasked” in a much lighter, more laughable light. Stiller’s film endeavored to entertain audiences by applying elements of more serious films to less serious the less serious subject matter of the fashion industry and popular culture. Given that the film is still just as hilarious (if not even moreso) after more than a decade, I’d say he succeeded.