Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Most criticism of the popular arts has had as its raison d'etre an
assumption that these works have a particularly direct relation to our
society and can tell us a great deal about our culture and ourselves. But
the nature of that relation is so complex and little understood that much
writing on popular culture degenerates into narrow analyses of a
particular social phenomena, seen in a direct causal connection to a
corresponding narrow aspect of movies, rock music, print media, or
television. The result is seen in protests against violence in films,
protests that assume movie violence causes violence in the streets, or
"national character" portraits which find Americans to be violent
because our films mirror this trait.
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between a form of popular culture (mythology) and the culture that
produced it. Anthropologists Claude Lvi-Strauss and Vladimir Propp
believed that the structure of the narrative elements in basic myths
could reveal the structure of the society itself. The social, political,
economic and psychological organization of primitive societies could be
"read" in their mythology. According to Lvi-Strauss, myths, like
language, structure and communicate the world view and values of a
culture through repeated patterns of narrative "functions."
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vengeance. The third periodthe transition themewhich is
more logical than temporal, includes three films in the early
fifties; the story centers on a hero and a heroine who, while
defending justice, are rejected by society. Finally, the last
periodthe professional plotextends from 1968-1970 and
involves a group of heroes who are professional fighters
taking jobs for money." (p. 15)
Wright uses his descriptions of selected films from each period to break
down the structure of each of the four myths, with the individual films
serving as variants. This reduces the central myth to a series of narrative
units: both the narrative functions themselves (i.e., "The hero enters a
social group," first requisite function for the classical plot) and their
order form the structure of the myth.
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roles, and relations between social institutions and members of that
culture. He gives an excellent critique of Lvi-Strauss, rejecting the
anthropologist's psychological goal of using the study of myth to map
the structure of the primitive mind. Wright does not attempt to
demonstrate direct influence, i.e., that the values of individualism in
movies created the market economy. Rather, his aim is to "reveal a
significant structural and temporal correspondence between social
institutions and the Western." (130) His is the most thorough
application to date of structuralism to a film genre which is designed to
ground its analysis in socio-economic history.
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"In literary works by individual artistssuch as novels or
dramasthe desire is usually for complex, realistic
characters in situations that challenge social attitudes. For
this purpose, a binary structure is not appropriate. But myth
depends on simple and recognizable meanings which
reinforce rather than challenge social understanding." (23)
Actually, STAGECOACH has less depth than almost any of John Ford's
other Westerns, precisely because what ambiguity does exist in
STAGECOACH is at the level of the narrative action (where a
structuralist analysis must deal with it) instead of being rooted in
complex psychological characterization. The characters in
STAGECOACH each neatly fit into the theatrical action of the film,
forming a social microcosm in a crisis. Each has a function in this
microcosm, and their character is structured by the action. In Ford's
other Westerns, the dramatic action itself, as well as the visual style, is
created and manipulated to express internal, psychological dimensions
of the main characters: complexities which are greatly minimized in
STAGECOACH. Again, Wright's description of Vic (Arthur Kennedy) in
THE MAN FROM LARAMIE:
"People like him may exist in real life, but they seldom do in
Westerns." (72)
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And in parentheses, he describes Emma (Mercedes McCambridge) in
JOHNNY GUITAR,
This not only ignores the sexual urgencies which are at the heart of the
film, it implies motivation at a narrative action level where the
motivation does not exist. Vienna (Joan Crawford) is a strong,
independent woman who wields a man's power in the town. She refuses
to sell the saloon she worked to build, knowing that the coming of the
railroad will make her property enormously valuable. Her character is
deepened and complicated by the implication that she accomplished her
success at least partially through prostitution: both power and a dubious
sexual past are atypical for a woman in the conventions of the Western
genre. The other woman's, Emma's, psychotic hatred of the Dancing Kid
grows from an earlier rejected love; she has a maniacal desire to destroy
Vienna from sexual jealousy over both the Kid's friendship with Vienna
and Vienna's personal, sexual, and economic strength. The action of the
film is the result, not the cause, of the sexual dynamic. Wright's analysis
cannot admit subtlety of dramatic movement (generated by internal
psychological forces), complexity of characterization, or psychological
motivation.
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"good and strong." (57)
"In the classical plot only the hero is associated with the
wilderness." (121)
The hero is indeed part of this wilderness. But his association also
carries connotations of danger, wildness, and antisocial tendencies,
which must be exorcized in order for him to join the community, or he
himself must return to the wilderness. Thus the land and the hero, and
their relations to the building of a community, do not form a simple
binary dynamic. The relations among these elements of the narrative are
rich with complexity and internal tension, which is the very reason it can
express tensions of the modern culture. Wright's description and
interpretation reduce the necessary ambiguity, and this renders the film
impotent for its role as myth.
John Cawelti (The Six Gun Mystique, Bowling Green University Popular
Press) describes the way myth acts to reconcile the tensions caused by
modern society in a harmless, ritualized way. The potentially antisocial
urges created by the culture are thus eased: Westerns express both the
chaotic, dangerous impulses and the necessity of their suppression.
Wright ignores this complex expression in favor of binary oppositions
and their simple meanings, which lie on the surface of the narrative. He
is, of course, not entirely wrongoften the land is purifying and is the
hero's source of powerbut this provides only one of many possible uses
of this symbol in Westerns. The myth of the land is a complex element
whose use can involve one or more of its associated meanings, as in
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most John Ford Westerns where the desert of Monument Valley
functions as an enemy of the settlers and the natural home of the
murderous Indians. It also represents the hope for the civilization of the
future. Such a depth of meaning cannot be acknowledged in Wright's
analysis.
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mediocre poetry), the richness or shallowness of the work's meaning
derives from its style or form to at least as great an extent as from its
narrative elements. Films are not "told and retold" so that each specific
expression fades into the background. A film is a rigid and carefully
constructed visual/narrative work; its form is as individual as that of a
painting or a novel. This individual expression is the syntax, the style of
the work. In precise contradiction to Wright's position, we can no more
ignore that style than we can usefully reduce great literature to a series
of general plot lines.
Not only does Wright's method leave out altogether the expressive
articulation of style, but also the process of description in his book leads
to a further reduction of the films. These descriptions become
unacknowledged interpretations upon which Wright then bases his
further social interpretations. He refers to this relation:
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work."[4]
The internal logical contradictions of this statement are many. How can
these unique elements "embody" the meaning and be necessary for its
communication but be extraneous to it? Earlier Wright said "realism"
resulted from complex characterization and did not apply to myth or
Westerns. This statementand the whole of structuralist theory in this
kind of applicationtotally ignores that, in fact, units of "meaning" are
not absolute, isolated, discreet elements. Meaning is determined by the
form of the communication and the context of the message as well as by
the informational units of the message. The word "nigger," for example,
means very different things when used in different situations and among
different people. Wright's position that his general narrative functions
mean the same in each film is simply wrong and is the basis upon which
he reduces films to a few descriptive sentences.
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descriptions, which he appears to have written to fit the basic myth.
Thus the requisite narrative structure he "finds" is often tautological. A
film is a classical Western because it adheres (at least in his description
of it) to his structure of classical Westerns. For example,
Actually, Ringo (John Wayne) kills the men he set out to kill. Either
Wright is simply mistaken about this one film, or we can see the very
great extent to which he must go to make a film "fit." If Ringo "gives up"
his vengeance only after he has achieved it, is this a useful way to
describe the narrative action of this film? Ethan's "giving up" his
vengeance in THE SEARCHERS, which could be argued either way
based on both the narrative action and the psychological dynamic, is one
of the many less extreme examples which fill the book.
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and that publicity is important, he finds justification for ignoring these
effects in two examples of big-star commercial failures, and conversely,
a few "no-star" commercial successes. He correctly sees that
"it seems big stars and publicity are neither necessary not
sufficient to create successful Westerns" (14).
But film is a commodity, and like kitchen cleanser, the most widely
purchased one is not necessarily the one that best does the job.
Advertising and distribution are complex, and people neither buy Comet
nor BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID simply because each
meets their expectations. Wright's naive assumptions of the validity of
his selection of films jeopardizes his study, especially when he picks
from the list of top box office films only seventeen to analyze in detail. If
his method of choosing a sample does not substantiate the claims he
makes for it, his conclusions are correspondingly implicated. Thus he
acknowledges that the "pattern of change" in meaning he finds from the
classical plot to the professional "is difficult to recognize without the
restriction of success." (14) Wright's conclusions about the change in
values required by the shift in U.S. institutions and ideology from the
self-regulating market of Keynesian economics to a planned economy
and the expression of this change in Westerns is fascinating but fanciful:
"In Westerns, the classical plot shows that the way to achieve
such human rewards as friendship, respect, and dignity is to
separate yourself from others and use your strength as an
autonomous individual to succor them. This plot exists in the
context of a restricted but active market economy. The
vengeance variationin the context of a tentative planned
economyweakens the compatibility of the individual and
society by showing that the path to respect and love is to
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separate yourself from others, struggling individually against
your many and strong enemies but striving to remember and
return to the softer values of marriage and humility. The
transition theme, anticipating new social values, argues that
love and companionship are availableat the cost of
becoming a social outcastto the individual who stands
firmly and righteously against the intolerance and ignorance
of society. Finally, the professional plotin the context of a
corporate economyargues that companionship and respect
are to be achieved only by becoming a skilled technician, who
joins an elite group of professionals, accepts any job that is
offered, and has loyalty only to the integrity of the team, not
to any competing social or community values" (186-7).
The very compact neatness and clear linearity of this summation are
Wright's analysis' worst enemy. Neither our popular culture nor our
economic base and their interaction produce values and national
character which are this one-dimensional. Wright fails to allow the
relation between a society and its popular culture the complexity which
is necessary to its operation. Indeed, his analysis obscures this
complexity through its insistence on dealing with the very most
superficial issues in films: schematized narrative action units. This is the
kind of analysis whose authority is dissipated when one or two
exceptions are evident (and countless exceptions exist even in the films
he mentions, not to mention those he leaves out), because his
interpretation is so tight it can allow for no variation. To reduce the
dimension of the interrelation between society and its art is not to
understand or illuminate that relation.
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but words partake more than visual signs of fixed "dictionary meaning."
Especially when the elements of visual language are as "dictionary-
meaning" free as a camera movement, lighting, composition, etc., the
methods of linguistic analysis become less and less appropriate.
We can say that a close-up involves the viewer with the subject, but we
must recognize that the sign "close-up" can be used to disgust, to
alienate, or to invade as well as to create involvement. The point-of-view
shot is generally an equally involving one with a strong subjective
element; it puts the viewer in the position of the subject. But it too can
be used to create suspense, tension, and alienation when no subject is
given. In other words, we can identify how visual signs create meaning,
and we can define a category of possible meaning for a specific sign (i.e.,
low angle shots tend to give their subjects exaggerated power and
dominance), but we cannot determine the exact meaning for each use of
the sign.
Notes:
1. See Henry Nash Smith, Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol
and Myth, Harvard University Press, 1960; and Jim Kitses, Horizons
West, Indiana University Press, 1969, Chapter 1, "Authorship and
Genre."
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2. Film Comment, Summer, 1971, p. 76.
4. New Left Review, #55, May/June 1969, pp. 66-70. Review of Signs
and Meaning in the Cinema.
6. Henderson, p. 76.
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