Training Day | Exposing the Hidden Darkness of a Character
A color story on how a naive rookie takes down a seasoned vet.
New posts every Tuesday & Thursday!
Police drama about a veteran officer who escorts a rookie on his first day with the LAPD's tough inner-city narcotics unit. "Training Day" is a blistering action drama that asks the audience to decide what is necessary, what is heroic and what crosses the line in the harrowing gray zone of fighting urban crime. Does law-abiding law enforcement come at the expense of justice and public safety? If so, do we demand safe streets at any cost?
Starring Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris and Ethan Hawke as Jake Hoyt.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Training Day is one of those unforgettable iconic classics that imprint on the mind after a first glance — and seeing Denzel Washington who usually partakes in good guy lover roles lean all the way into his dark side was magnetizing. This film took a deep dive into the dark politics of protecting and serving when a good cop and bad cop battle about which side of crime they’re on.
Today we’ll look at glimpses of the film to explore how the visuals expanded the character work!
First, a color map:
Yellow = Everyday World
Blue = New World
Red = Danger (or Love, depending on story context!)
Black = Secret Identity / Hidden Agenda
White = Death / Endings
We’ll start with the opening image, which begins with a less-than-usual approach — the color blue, which often symbolizes when a character is in a new world.
Jake lies awake at night with the pressures of the world to provide for his family. He’s young, ambitious, and entering the new world of the narcotics department of the LAPD. We often see blue when a character has a new conflict or new characters to navigate that separates them from everything they’ve ever known. But, because Jake’s a fish out of water in the beginning, we see blue from the start.
We’re then introduced to a yellow hue; Jake’s now a far cry away from DUI’s and traffic stops. He’s entering a dark world that would become his everyday world. And so, he gets a call notifying him that he’s late to meet his new partner. Fuqua brilliantly reversed the usual order of colors to show Jake’s transition.
Now, notice Jake’s on a white phone: this invitation will be a matter of life… or death. His face is also halved between shadow and light: his character’s morality will come into question to challenge what kind of man he’ll be.
So Jake meets his partner Alonzo, who doesn’t make the greeting easy.
There’s so much to examine about the characters in this single shot!
Jake has entered what would become his everyday world — busting drugs on the streets of L.A. with his new partner (yellow). The transition from his old life into what is to be his new, everyday world makes green. The stranger at the coffee bar wears blue to display Jake’s point of difference.
But of course, we note the color red — Jake meets Alonzo drenched in red booths. Even the mirrored coffee signs are red. All of this is to give us the impending feeling of danger. The backwards signs shows Jake is in for a surprise / unexpected journey.
It’s also purposeful that we meet Alonzo from behind; when a character’s eyes / face are obstructed, that means they’re hiding a secret identity or agenda. Alonzo is also dressed in all black to show he has a secret identity.
Alonzo is short, mean, abrupt, and unfriendly against the warm, respectable, excited Jake. Let’s dive into the rest of the film to see how these characters stack against each other while fleeing from the dark side of L.A.!
To continue diving into the film with me, please consider becoming a subscriber! Posts are made available for free subscribers after three weeks of the posting date.
So, once aligned, the two hit the streets to find their first drug bust!
Alonzo targets two college guys driving in what appears to be a non-threatening buggy! His speeding, black car with old school bones looks like a monster next to the what the suspects are riding in! This alone shows gives us a peek into either Alonzo’s expertise on the streets… or his bullying nature. The film makes us question what kind of man Jake has just been paired with.
But again, the green of the buggy represents Jake’s transition between his worlds as he’s in a black car — essentially with a stranger whose real agenda soon comes to light.
And once the guys are caught, Jake is shot from a low angle, giving him a towering stance over our viewpoint against the sky. He’s made to look big, to give his character power and a sense of boundlessness. This will completely contrast the constricting corners Alonzo puts him in within the film.
Jake is also paired against the blue sky because he’s using the skills of his old world (blue) in this new, everyday world. He hasn’t yet learned the skills that will allow him to survive against narcotics, dark crime, and the soon-to-be dangerous Alonzo.
Jake rides around taking questionable orders from Alonzo, who’s both teaching and bullying him by imposing criminal activities on both Jake and the city he’s terrorizing. In the thick of the film, we see Alonzo’s true colors come out — Jake has officially been embedded in the everyday world (yellow) of drug busting under Alonzo’s rule.
Alonzo is shadowed to display the true nature of his character — he’s a dark man. This shot in particular shows him behind bars because he dominates everyone he’s in contact with, putting them in binding conditions to obey him or go to prison. Whether you’re outside or jailed, you’re trapped with Alonzo running the streets. The violet florals to his right symbolize his incessant danger.
But thanks to Jake’s bravery, it all comes to an end.
Aww, you motherfuckers! Okay. Alright! I'm putting cases on all you bitches! Huh?! You think you can do this shit... Jake! You think you can do this to me?! You motherfuckers will be playing basketball in Pelican Bay when I get finished with you!!!
Whew. A performance of the ages!
Alonzo’s mask of corruption over the neighborhood is finally exposed, and even though he offers a cash award to anyone who kills Jake, the entire town stands against him! Jake, the rookie, is a hero against this villainous vet who abuses his power — and lives to see another day to provide for his family.
Alonzo’s clothing has now revealed another layer — a white tee, stained with red blood. In his final moments, Alonzo is now the one endangered (red) and faces his own death (white). His black shirt pried open to reveal his true nature.
A victim of Alonzo’s is dressed in all white with a pop of a red tee — he is the one endangering Alonzo (red) with the threat of death (white). And officially takes his life.
A traumatic lesson for a rookie, but one he needed to succeed in this world.
If you like my film reviews please share! And thank you SO MUCH for being a subscriber! I really appreciate it!
x
Latasha