Unforgiven is a unique, nontraditional western. It shows us not how good triumphs over evil, but how the consequences of violence are dire and permanent. There is an anti-violence message purveyed by the movie, we see that violence is ugly, the brutal beatings and death do not come in neat tidy package as typical westerns would normally show, we see the toll that violence has on the characters and the real message in the movie is not that violence is bad and should be avoided, it is that violence can solve problems but there is an enormous cost to its survivors. Unforgiven highlights that violence is not an easy tool to use and can turn against anyone at any time, including the people who have been using it the longest. In the end, Munny …show more content…
Munny’s character is very different than the typical hero in Westerns, he shows his vulnerability throughout the film especially when he breaks social norms like turning down sex, stumbling face-first into the mud trying to catch fever-ridden pigs, unable to hit anything with his pistol at target-practice, incapable of mounting his horse without a struggle or a fall, and barely putting up a defense while being brutally beaten by Little Bill. In the film the gunslingers defend the honor of prostitutes and not the rightous women in peril. Rugged cowboys are exposed as cowards and weaklings and liars. The law is represented by a man with a penchant for torture and sadism. Our self-reflecting protagonist resists his once violent ways only to become a cold-blooded killer again, suggesting that a Western hero is not necessarily “the guy in the white hat,” rather just the one who …show more content…
We are sympathetic to Munny because of his failing farm, his wife’s death, his loyalty to his friend and the fact that he has two children to support, but we are reminded time and time again that violence only leads to more violence and it is complicated and destructive. Munny does recognize that his actions cannot make up for his past atrocities, Killing for vengeance is still an immoral act, he seems to understand this when Little Bill says “I’ll see you in Hell, William Munny.” Munny answers “Yeah,” (Eastwood, 1992) and kills Little Bill. Munny’s story is not one of redemption, his salvation is everyone else’s destruction or vanquishment. The reason he gets to ride out alive is he was simply the most brutal, cool-headed of the mix, and even he acknowledges “he was always lucky when killing people.”(Eastwood, 1992) In the end, he isn't compromised by self-doubt the way Ned and the Kid are. When Munny gets drunk and goes back for vengeance, there isn't any attempt at justification; he's just a bloodthirsty killer looking for revenge. It's no longer about right and wrong: "Any sumbitch takes a shot at me, I'm not only gonna kill him, but I'm gonna kill his wife, all his friends, and burn his damn house down." (Eastwood,
Ellsworth was mean, and it was ugly. The stench of the its streets fell second to the odor of the unbathed saddle tramps who had just delivered 150,000 cattle from San Antonio to its freight yards. Adding to these smells were the blends of whisky, tanning leather, kerosene and carved carcasses, a revolting combination. Gunfights were spontaneous, either over a woman or a card game. When Wyatt crossed the Smoky Hill River into Ellsworth in 1873, he may have remembered the "rules of the gunman," but had no intention of employing them. The two main “rules of a gunman” were to take his time and always be armed. Although many people had warned him that it would be naive to go westward without being properly armed, Wyatt didn’t own a gun. All he hoped for was to find a peaceable job. But, only hours after hitching his horse in town he began to wonder if perhaps everyone was right. The most boisterous spot in town was Brennan’s Saloon, off Ellsworth Square; its faro and poker tables buzzed 24 hours, bartenders tapped beer and ...
My analysis begins, as it will end, where most cowboy movies begin and end, with the landscape.Western heroes are essentially synedoches for that landscape, and are identifiable by three primary traits: first, they represent one side of an opposition between the supposed purity of the frontier and the degeneracy of the city, and so are separated even alienated from civilization; second, they insist on conducting themselves according to a personal code, to which they stubbornly cling despite all opposition or hardship to themselves or others; and third, they seek to shape their psyches and even their bodies in imitation of the leanness, sparseness, hardness, infinite calm and merciless majesty of the western landscape in which their narratives unfold.All of these three traits are present in the figures of Rob Roy and William Wallace--especially their insistence on conducting themselves according to a purely personal definition of honor--which would seem to suggest that the films built around them and their exploits could be read as transplanted westerns.However, the transplantation is the problem for, while the protagonists of these films want to be figures from a classic western, the landscape with which they are surrounded is so demonstrably not western that it forces their narratives into shapes which in fact resist and finally contradict key heroic tropes of the classic western.
" The hero within: Six archetypes we live by.
Ours is a violent world where even the most common folk can find themselves faced with unspeakable horror through little or no intention. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the characters find themselves at the mercy of armed men because of a faulty memory and a few wrong turns. In Tobias Wolff’s “Hunters in the Snow,” a young man winds up shooting his friend in an apparent accident which culminates in a debate between saving that friend or whether it is more important to preserve the self. The stories work together to explore what humans will do when faced with terrible violence.
In the genre of western films, the hero plays a key role. Humanity portrays civilization overcoming the hostile country (Miller 66). In many films the American civil war is over, and people have turned their attention to more constructive pursuits. Battling nature to progress America's future, rather than each other. In between this wild country, fraught with danger and corruption lies the role of the hero. A hero is an individual with exceptional skills and through his abilities is able to rid a stricken town of the corrupt elements within. In many cases however, the hero's skills are not enough. His relationship with the community can define how successful his help can be.
After going on for so long, most would say this violence was just a part of life, unchangeable. However, I believe that the creators of this movie saw a glimpse into what could have become a very real apocalypse in the near future of Earth: the development and dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. This film, released just six years after the devastation of Japan and the end of World War II, acted as a warning of what the future could hold, if this violent streak
In his book, The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta, author John Rollin Ridge introduces readers to a fictional character, who is a larger-than-life bandit. According to the story, Murieta set out on a path of revenge and organized a large band of outlaws to terrorize Californians. Murieta and his men committed terrible and bloody crimes (including robbery and murder). This pattern of criminal behavior continued until the band was pursued by mountain rangers, ending the story in a dramatic climax for the protagonist. However, this story is not an accurate depiction of the important elements of the “New” West according to author Patricia Nelson Limerick, in The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West. Instead, the character Murieta exemplifies many of the myths of the American West and the idea of innocence.
Have you ever felt so much guilt and shame that you want to kill yourself? Francis Cassavant in Heroes, by Robert Cormier, is a realistic and relatable character who has suffered from this feeling ever since he was little. Even as a child, he has felt unusual and out of place compared to everyone else. Francis’s characteristics determine his actions throughout his story and motivate him to join the army, beginning his expedition as a so-called “hero”.
Few Hollywood film makers have captured America’s Wild West history as depicted in the movies, Rio Bravo and El Dorado. Most Western movies had fairly simple but very similar plots, including personal conflicts, land rights, crimes and of course, failed romances that typically led to drinking more alcoholic beverages than could respectfully be consumed by any one person, as they attempted to drown their sorrows away. The 1958 Rio Bravo and 1967 El Dorado Western movies directed by Howard Hawks, and starring John Wayne have a similar theme and plot. They tell the story of a sheriff and three of his deputies, as they stand alone against adversity in the name of the law. Western movies like these two have forever left a memorable and lasting impressions in the memory of every viewer, with its gunfighters, action filled saloons and sardonic showdowns all in the name of masculinity, revenge and unlawful aggressive behavior. Featuring some of the most famous backdrops in the world ranging from the rustic Red Rock Mountains of Monument Valley in Utah, to the jagged snow capped Mountain tops of the Teton Range in Wyoming, gun-slinging cowboys out in search of mischief and most often at their own misfortune traveled far and wide, seeking one dangerous encounter after another, and unfortunately, ending in their own demise.
In “The Thematic Paradigm,” Robert Ray explains how there are two vastly different heroes: the outlaw hero and the official hero. The official hero has common values and traditional beliefs. The outlaw hero has a clear view of right and wrong but unlike the official hero, works above the law. Ray explains how the role of an outlaw hero has many traits. The morals of these heroes can be compared clearly. Films that contain official heroes and outlaw heroes are effective because they promise viewer’s strength, power, intelligence, and authority whether you are above the law or below it.
Unforgiven revises the structure of typical character roles from traditional Westerns and uses the image of whiskey in William Munny’s life to show his malign past. William Munny is portrayed as the vengeful anti-hero. Little Bill’s role is the evil, loathful anti-villain as the corrupt sheriff. Eastwood comments of the reality of classic Westerns through alcohol and how Munny uses it to cope with his dastardly past and how the West truly was a cruel society.
The image created for the outlaw hero is the “natural man.” They are adventurous but also wanderers, and loners. Outlaw heroes are more likely to commit a crime, use weapons and carry guns. The outlaw hero represents self-determination and freedom from conflicts. On the other hand, the official hero is portrayed to be “the civilized” man. He often follows the norms of society, and has typical roles such as a lawyer, teacher, and family man.
...nd a man of reserve against violence. Also as a man who will stand for the good of the community, protecting those who need protecting as the Vigilante of the western frontier. The Virginian was a true cowboy hero because he was a vigilante who followed his own moral code. The cowboy’s moral code was not dictated by the laws of society because he was an independent who was working to escape civilization. The Virginian was the first of the western heroes who gave the world someone to look unto as an example. He showed a very strong moral code which had a special responsibility to the protection and respect of women such as Molly. He also had a great many skills which gave him the realistic air that made the hero’s of the west so popular in the early 1900’s as the western frontier came to a close.
In "The Thematic Paradigm", Robert Ray explains how there are two distinctly different heroes, the outlaw hero and the official hero. The official hero embraces common values and traditional beliefs, while the outlaw has a clear sense of right and wrong but operates above the law (Ray). Ray explains how the role of an outlaw hero has many traits. "The attractiveness of the outlaw hero's childishness and propensity to whims, tantrums, and emotional decisions derived from America's cult of childhood", states Ray. (309) Ray also says, "To the outlaw hero's inconsistence on private standards of right and wrong, the official hero offered the admonition, you cannot take the law into your own hands." (312) The values of these two traditional heroes contrasts clearly. Society favors the outlaw hero because we identify with that character more. We see ourselves more so in the outlaw hero than in the official hero. The outlaw hero has the "childlike" qualities that most of us wish we had as adults. To civilians it may seem that the outlaw hero lives more of a fantasy life that we all wish to have.
Why does there seem to be so much violence in the Old Testament? Given the nature that God is holy, in the Old Testament, He punished sinful tribes by having the Israelites go to war with these tribes and the Israelites would emerge victorious and vice versa when the Israelites engaged in sins and idolatry. The violence in the Old Testament is depicted as a way for God to punish sin and immorality. What is the difference between killing and murder? Killing is the deliberate unpremeditated act of causing death while murder is the premeditated and deliberate act of causing death.