The Broken Gate
The first image we see of Lou Bloom is his using bolt cutters to pry down a chain link fence. A security guard stops him, tells him the area is restricted and that a broken gate proves he’s trespassing. All this serves as a symbol of Lou’s loser status at the beginning. He is not able to get into the restricted area he wants so much: financial success. So he will have to do whatever possible to break down the gate obstructing him.
Lou's Plant
Aside from video equipment, the only thing that Lou seems to care about in his seedy apartment is a weedy plant growing on the windowsill. He’s shown watering it and then later even refers to it when the police interrogate him. Lou says that a friend is a gift, but it is clear that he has no idea what that saying means because his only friend in the world seems to be his plant. He certainly tends to it in a way unlike any other relationship he cultivates.
The Watch
The camera lingers on the guard’s wristwatch for just long enough to cement that it belongs to him. After the confrontation, the watch belongs to Lou. In the blink of an eye, the watch becomes a symbol of foreshadowing: the loser is going to start getting what he wants.
The Challenger
The only really expensive investment Lou makes after he starts pulling in money is his car, a Dodge Challenger. The car is featured in enough scenes for it to qualify as co-star status. The name gives its symbolism away: Lou is going to challenge every norm in the nightcrawler news stringer business and, by extension, the entirety of local L.A. news.
Lou’s Discourse
Throughout the film, Lou’s manner of discourse is alienated from reality. His vocabulary is fraught with empty buzzwords and vaguely philosophical aphorisms gleaned from too many motivational posters and websites. His manner of talking with other people acts a symbol of the essential emptiness of his core as a human being. He is polite to a fault, does all the recommended things like looking people in the eye and enthusing optimism, but like the lady once said about Oakland: there’s no there there.
