Joe Frady: A Symbol of the Times

Throughout the 1970's, there was an expanding subculture in the American society, which disapproved of the government and questioned their actual motivations. In the 1974 film The Parallax View, the audience was able to relate to the main protagonist Joe Frady and his struggles because they had similar thoughts and feelings which Frady personified towards the government. Frady symbolizes the sense of alienation, the feeling of powerlessness, and the evasiveness of the truth, which were growing …

…and that is to find the truth behind the assassination of senatorial candidate Carroll that took place in the opening scene of the ensuing cover-up. At the beginning of the film, Frady doesn't even believe in a conspiracy behind the senator's death, but begins to believe when his ex-girlfriend prophesizes her own death by saying that someone is trying to kill her. He then starts to question everything that is around the supposedly closed case.