American Film History Analysis Essay
The Reason Behind the Scene –Why We Keep Choosing
“If the outlaw hero’s motto was ‘I don’t know what the law says, but I do know what’s right and wrong,’ the official hero’s was ‘We are a nation of laws, not of men” (Ray 62). A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, by Robert Ray, looks at the various opposing values in America through the history of Hollywood films and cinema, which one vital value is the dichotomy of outlaw hero versus official hero. Official hero tends to be an idealogy of the law and society values, represented through characters such as police officers and lawyers, whereas outlaw hero tends to be more of an individual with own marks of traits, and own marks of actions. Ray discusses that in traditional films, how a single character can hold completely different traits , giving examples such as Terry, in the film On the Waterfront, who is a boxer but also a delicate person who also spends a chunk of time in taking care of pigeons as a hobby. But Ray’s most vital argument is about the thematic paradigm, the avoidance of choice, or the “denial of the necessity for choice” (Ray 63).
Americans audiences have this indecisiveness of choosing what values or character traits they would like to side with. The audiences want both the extremes, such as outlaw hero and official hero, but the crucial point is that they do not wish to make a choice. Each hero has his own personalities and beliefs that the audiences can connect to, but these are multifaceted cannot be categorized into “good” and “bad”. The outlaw hero surely exhibits more of a life of fantasy due to all the plentiful excitements and adventures, taking matters into his own hands of determining what’s right and wrong, but the official hero also exhibit a life of stability and comfort; a safety zone per say. The two different personalities and beliefs of the heroes are actually within us. We are a compilation of both of these values, therefore regardless of which heroes seem more
“If the outlaw hero’s motto was ‘I don’t know what the law says, but I do know what’s right and wrong,’ the official hero’s was ‘We are a nation of laws, not of men” (Ray 62). A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, by Robert Ray, looks at the various opposing values in America through the history of Hollywood films and cinema, which one vital value is the dichotomy of outlaw hero versus official hero. Official hero tends to be an idealogy of the law and society values, represented through characters such as police officers and lawyers, whereas outlaw hero tends to be more of an individual with own marks of traits, and own marks of actions. Ray discusses that in traditional films, how a single character can hold completely different traits , giving examples such as Terry, in the film On the Waterfront, who is a boxer but also a delicate person who also spends a chunk of time in taking care of pigeons as a hobby. But Ray’s most vital argument is about the thematic paradigm, the avoidance of choice, or the “denial of the necessity for choice” (Ray 63).
Americans audiences have this indecisiveness of choosing what values or character traits they would like to side with. The audiences want both the extremes, such as outlaw hero and official hero, but the crucial point is that they do not wish to make a choice. Each hero has his own personalities and beliefs that the audiences can connect to, but these are multifaceted cannot be categorized into “good” and “bad”. The outlaw hero surely exhibits more of a life of fantasy due to all the plentiful excitements and adventures, taking matters into his own hands of determining what’s right and wrong, but the official hero also exhibit a life of stability and comfort; a safety zone per say. The two different personalities and beliefs of the heroes are actually within us. We are a compilation of both of these values, therefore regardless of which heroes seem more