Jigsaw Killer

The Jigsaw Killer is a fictional character in the "Saw" film series. Jigsaw made his debut appearance as the primary antagonist in the first film of the series, "Saw", and later "Saw II", "III" and "IV". He is portrayed by American actor Tobin Bell.

Jigsaw is introduced in the series as Jonathan Kramer, [ [http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12275.html Tobin Bell Interview, SAW 4 - MoviesOnline ] ] a patient dying from an inoperable frontal lobe tumor that had developed from colon cancer.

In the series, Jigsaw usually builds deadly traps for his subjects, which are often a symbolic representation of what is seen as a flaw in the person's life. Jigsaw calls these tests "games", and tells the person the "rules" of the game usually by audio or video tape. The rules are tasks that the person must perform in order to pass the test and survive; however, the tasks often involve extreme self-mutilation (although there have been occasions where it is possible for the subject not to harm themselves if they are clever enough, such as the Hand Trap). On occasion, Jigsaw has used psychological torture for the subject's test.

Appearances in film

"Saw"

The Jigsaw Killer character was introduced in the 2004 film "Saw" through the character Dr. Gordon's recounting of his first killings. Jigsaw is described as a mysterious person who kidnaps people he sees as wasting their lives and attempts to "save" them by administering various inhumane tests. As opposed to other killers, Jigsaw does not actually intend to kill his subjects. The purpose of his traps is to see if the subject has the will to survive, and thus inflict enough psychological trauma for the subject to appreciate their life and save themselves from their own demons. As his victims increase, the media dubs him "The Jigsaw Killer"—or simply, "Jigsaw"—because of the jigsaw puzzle-shaped piece of flesh that he cuts from an unsuccessful subject, a practice explained in "Saw II" as reflecting the subject "was missing a vital piece of the human puzzle; the survival instinct". Throughout the first film, his identity remains mostly unknown; the unstable ex-cop David Tapp suspects he is in fact Dr. Gordon, one of the film's two protagonists, and near the end of the film Gordon and fellow protagonist Adam Faulkner are led to believe it is the hospital orderly Zep Hindle. Only at the end of the film is it revealed that the Jigsaw Killer was in fact a terminal cancer patient of Gordon's, John, who spent the entire movie posing as a corpse to watch the test he created for Adam and Dr. Gordon.

"Saw II"

Much of the character's backstory was revealed in "Saw II", revealing that he had become sick and had gone in for a check-up, where he learned from Dr. Lawrence Gordon that he was dying of colon cancer, with an inoperable brain tumor. From there, he stated that he began to see how many people took their lives for granted. He ended up driving himself off of a cliff, but survived the suicide attempt, and began his work to save people from themselves. John's work eventually got him the name of "The Jigsaw Killer", in spite of the fact that the circumstances and intentions he had while conducting his work did not make him a killer by definition. John never accepted the name Jigsaw, nor encouraged the media or law enforcement to call him by it.

In "Saw II", Jigsaw leaves a hint in one of his traps that leads police to apprehend him. There, he puts police Detective Eric Matthews through a test by showing him Eric's son Daniel trapped in a house filled with nerve gas, along with people whom, though far from innocent, Matthews had framed for crimes they did not commit. Jigsaw offers to let the younger Matthews survive if the Detective sits and talks to him, which ends with Eric brutally beating Jigsaw and forcing him to lead him to the house. Upon their arrival, Jigsaw is rescued by Amanda Young, one of his victims who, having survived her trap and seeing her captor as a savior, has become his apprentice.

"Saw III"

By "Saw III", a dying Jigsaw is bedridden and extremely concerned over Amanda's failure to allow her subjects a fair chance to survive her tests. In his desperation, Jigsaw administers a final test to Amanda, in order to see if she was truly capable of successfully carrying on his work. Being kept alive by Dr. Lynn Denlon, a test subject who is forced to perform brain surgery on Jigsaw at the risk of dying by her own trap, Jigsaw attempts to keep Amanda from failing her test. However, after she breaks down, Amanda shoots Lynn. Witnessing this, Jeff Reinhart, the vengeful husband of Lynn who is also being tested, kills Amanda with a gunshot to her neck. After explaining the rules of a final game to Jeff, Jigsaw is killed when Jeff slices his throat with a power-saw. Whilst dying from this wound Jigsaw pulls out a tape player and plays Jeff a tape explaining that he is responsible for the abduction of Corbett, Jeff's daughter, and that if Jeff wants her back he'll have to participate in another game.

"Saw IV"

While Jigsaw appears as a corpse in present-time at the beginning and end of "Saw IV", a tape found in his stomach during his autopsy assures Detective Hoffman that his games have just begun. A toe-tag on his corpse revealed John to be 52 at the time of his death. [http://a825.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/123/l_741c611338f9bb215c341849cf698dd0.jpgJigsaw's age] ]

"Saw IV" also explored Jigsaw's history, more so than previously done in "Saw II", rendering some of the content in "Saw: Rebirth" non-canon, instead showing a new backstory. From the story given in "Saw IV", John was a successful civil engineer who got into property development, and a devoted husband to his wife Jill; she ran a recovery clinic for drug users, to which he gave his belief, "Cherish Your Life". However, after a robbery and the reckless actions of a clinic patient named Cecil resulted in the loss of John's unborn child, he became detached and angry, which ultimately resulted in the divorce of John and Jill. After being told he had cancer, as first seen in "Saw II", and trying to kill himself, John began his work as Jigsaw, hunting down Cecil as his first test subject.

Future sequels

It has been confirmed that Tobin Bell will appear in both "Saw V" and "Saw VI", reprising his role as Jigsaw. He has officially signed on for both of these upcoming sequels. [http://www.cineman.ch/en/entertainfo/tobin-bell.html Entertainfo - Tobin Bell ] ]

In other media

"Saw: Rebirth"

The character of John Kramer is also featured in the comic book, "", which is set prior to the events of the first movie. It filled in some of John's history, showing him as a toy designer at Standard Engineering Ltd. who was too lazy to do much with his life, ultimately ending his relationship with Jill. "Saw: Rebirth" also reveals John's discovery that he had terminal cancer and outlined how his subsequent failed suicide attempt impacted his train of thought. His relationships with Lawrence, Zep, Paul, Amanda, and Mark were explored, along with his transformation into "Jigsaw".

"Saw: The Videogame"

A horror news site named "Bloody-Disgusting" has reported that Jigsaw's character will feature in "", which is currently in production. [http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/9027 BD Horror News - Jigsaw Ready To Play (Video) Games With YOU ] ] it is to be released in October 2009 for all platforms.

Characterization

Character analysis

The producers of the "Saw" films have sought to differentiate the Jigsaw Killer from other horror-film killers. Darren Lynn Bousman, the director of "Saw II", "III" and "IV", has stated on the character's role "He's not Jason or Freddy. He's not even Hannibal Lecter. He's a person with extreme beliefs and he really thinks he's making a difference. He's a vigilante if anything. He thinks he's making a difference." Tobin Bell, the actor who plays Jigsaw, describes his character's role as being more of a scientist or engineer and "he thinks very specifically and very pragmatically". [ [http://movies.ign.com/articles/660/660958p3.html Tobin Bell IGN interview] ]

Bousman mentioned that "Saw III" was intended to contain a scene in which Jigsaw showed remorse for his actions after seeing the results.

As a result of his cancer and a failed suicide attempt, John decided to dedicate the rest of his life to teaching people to appreciate their own lives. The producers of "Saw III" and director Darren Lynn Bousman see Jigsaw, [Saw III: Audio Commentary] not as a serial killer, but a "scientist" who is determined to initiate the survival instinct in his "subjects", believing that humanity no longer uses its instinct of survival. [Saw II: Jigsaw Lecture scene]

While the character's discovery that he has cancer is acknowledged to be the "final straw" that drove him to his actions, Bell has stated in an interview that "His terminal cancer is one of the elements of his life but he's as angry over the fact the world is going to hell in handbasket because it's no longer the survival of the fittest; it's the survival of the mediocre. That drives him as much as anything else. He doesn't just talk about his frustrations, he does something about them, and he puts himself on the line. His cancer was about one element in about 130 elements that caused him to create the world that he's created." [ [http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=17413 A Dinner Date with Saw IV | UGO.com ] ]

Jake Huntley wrote of the complexity of Jigsaw's character in the "Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies". Huntley described the intention behind Jigsaw's actions, and evaluated the extent to which they can be analyzed to fit into the philosophies associated with Deleuze, Darwin and Nietzsche:

cquote|The subject of one of Jigsaw's games is therefore always presented with an opportunity, the aim of which is to reinvigorate the potential of the subject, jump-start the survival instinct and instil a celebration or "savouring" of life. In Deleuzian terms, it is the potential of life that is at stake... It is this that gives Jigsaw's games their Deleuzian tone, the urgent revitalisation of life occasioning new experiences to be learnt and assimilated: such as the perverse, singular and aberrant situation of waking to find a man-trap secured around your neck. There is then the instruction to live or die, to make your choice, to survive the encounter with affect, or the affection-image... There is no thrill, sadistic or otherwise, in setting these games; they are throws of the die by the subjects, aleatoric opportunities... As Jigsaw makes clear to Detective Matthews during their conversation in "Saw II", where Jigsaw's motivation and philosophy are most comprehensively explored, "I've never murdered anyone in my life. The decisions are up to them." Whilst it probably wouldn't stand up in court, he is at least correct in his usual, carefully literal sense. The decisions, the choices, the selection of a potential, are in the hands of the subjects of his games and he only intervenes in order to keep the game within its rules so a decision can be reached. The subjects are faced with a shocking choice that forces them to acknowledge what Deleuze identifies as the virtual – that is, the unacknowledged aspects of our experience with reality.

This, in effect, is the particular game that Jigsaw himself plays – one where the organism might be failing but the flow of desire succeeds and endures. Jigsaw might resort to discussing Darwin's "little trip to the Galapagos Islands" to provide a theoretical underpinning for his project and echo Nietzsche in talking of the will to survive, but this merely misdirects investigators and witnesses in the same way that the gruesome traps and freely-flowing gore earn him his unsettling serial-killer soubriquet. Jigsaw's games are designed to crack open the world of their respective players: the challenges are nearly always relevant to the subject's lifestyle in a symbolic or literal way, bringing them to (painful) self-awareness, prompting a reappraisal of their squandered potential.cite web|url=http://irishgothichorrorjournal.homestead.com/SawHuntley.html|title="'I Want To Play A Game': How To See Saw"|publisher=Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies|page=1|date= 2006|accessdate=2008-03-22]

Huntley also argued that the jigsaw pieces that John cut out of the flesh of his failed test subjects was not intended as a mere stylized signature, but rather that it had a much deeper philosophical reflection. He stated that:

To add to this, Huntley also analysed Jigsaw's intentions in taking in protégés as stemming from the terminally ill character's desire to overcome death itself, and argues that this is further evidence of his thought-process being characterized by Deleuzian philosophy. Huntley argued:

Jigsaw is depicted in the "Saw" films as being extremely intelligent in the areas relevant to his actions. In "Saw: Rebirth" he is depicted doing extensive study in multiple fields to gain knowledge for designing his tests, and recurring director Bousman himself has described Jigsaw as being "extremely educated" in an interview. [cite news |title= Saw IV: Tobin Bell Talks Jigsaw, New Characters & Crazy Finale!!|url= http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/9104|publisher= Bloody Disgusting|date= 2007-06-13|accessdate=2007-07-26]

Symbolic representations

Jigsaw is usually seen wearing a black theatrical robe with a large hood and red lining, sometimes with the addition of a pig's head mask, when running traps or abducting victims. On the commentary track for the first "Saw" film, it was explained that the producers originally wanted Jigsaw to have the red robe with black interior. Thinking that the red robe was too vibrant for the film, they reversed the robe to make it black with red interior.

On the commentary track of "Saw IV", several discussions occur about Jigsaw's decision to use references to pigs in the series. In the series, the producers explained that Jigsaw was a spiritual person, however have never revealed what religion he follows. In "Saw IV", Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill explains Jigsaw's organized and planned lifestyle, stating that she had conceived their miscarried son Gideon, with Jigsaw planning for him to be born in the year of the Pig. On the commentary track, the producers explain that in the Chinese Zodiac, the pig stands for fertility and re-birth. Jigsaw is seen several times throughout the series with figurines of clay soldiers and buddhas, further symbolizing his reference to various Asian cultures.

Jigsaw's puppet Billy was originally built as a gift to his son before Jill had miscarried. After the miscarriage, Jigsaw rebuilt a larger, more menacing version of Billy, and used him in video messages explaining the purpose and rules of his subjects' games.

Tobin Bell

Speaking about his character, actor Tobin Bell says, "My wife mentioned to me that she read an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer's mother about his childhood. And she said he was a perfectly normal child. He had friends like everyone else, he participated in the same kind of activities. In terms of your question about icons, if you begin to think of people like that, it's a deadly thing to do. You have to think of someone like Jigsaw from a very specific point of view. He doesn't view himself as some kind of diabolical psychotic. You know there's a little bit of evil in everyone. It just gets carried further. Most of us have some sort of moral fiber that restricts that. Some framework. And then others because of their lives and what happens to them, the thing develops in some other way. You know, I've played a lot of different kind of guys. Jigsaw's a fascinating person. And it's up to the filmmakers to do what ever they want to do with where he's coming from and to shape it and make it something meaningful and fits into the picture." [ [http://movies.ign.com/articles/660/660958p3.html Ign: Saw Ii Q&A ] ]

Reaction

As early as October 2005, an interviewer for IGN was willing to describe the Jigsaw Killer as "the next Freddy" in terms of iconic status as a modern horror film character [cite news |first= Eric|last= Goldman|title= Saw II Q&A|url= http://movies.ign.com/articles/660/660958p1.html|publisher= IGN|page= 2|date= 2005-10-24|accessdate=2007-07-26 ] , a comment that deeply touched Leigh Whannell, the screenwriter of Saw. A review of "Saw II" in the "San Francisco Chronicle" praised Tobin Bell and Jigsaw as being "more terrifying than the movie villains in Hollywood's last five horror films put together – even though he's in a wheelchair and hooked up to multiple IVs." [ [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/28/DDG17FEJ0A1.DTL&type=movies FILM CLIPS / Opening today ] ]

Despite the mystery of the character's identity created by the filmmakers in "Saw", Bell's depiction of Jigsaw was used in promotional posters for "Saw III" and "Saw IV". [ [http://www.movieweb.com/news/52/15052.php Limited Edition Saw III Posters Made With Tobin Bell's Blood ] ] [ [http://www.movieweb.com/news/10/22010.php New Saw IV Poster ] ] Action figures of Jigsaw have also been produced by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association. [ [http://www.necaonline.com/article/detail/18 www.necaonline.com || National Entertainment Collectibles Association, Inc ] ] [ [http://www.necaonline.com/article/detail/134 www.necaonline.com || National Entertainment Collectibles Association, Inc ] ]

References

External links

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* [http://www.officialtobinbell.com Official Tobin Bell Website]