As the classic household back in the Western days, the women were responsible to cook and clean. It was frowned upon for a lady to be out doing men’s work, and a lady to be out on the hunt for a killer was unspoken of. That is why Henry Hathaway’s 1969 western film, True Grit, stands out so much. From a traditional western film, a woman is typically found inside of the house. Their duties are cooking, cleaning, and watching the children. In the presence of, one must be utmost polite and courteous. In the film True Grit, one of the main characters, Mattie, whose role is played by Kim Darby, is a young girl who’s bound and determined to catch and see to the hanging of her father’s killer. Mattie goes about this by hiring the West’s most tough and rugged U.S. Marshal, “Rooster” Cogburn play the one and only John Wayne. One might think this would be a typical story line where a young lady hires a U.S. Marshall to capture her father’s killer, …show more content…
The movie uses the idea of what life used to be like for men and women, and then goes against that idea almost completely. Rather than having the woman character stay at home and clean and take care of the family while the Marshalls go hunt down the killer, the movie has the female lead going out and tracking down the killer as well. Women were not supposed to be independent, and they were not supposed to be able to do things on their own and provide for themselves. Instead, they were supposed to be very dependent on men, and very soft-spoken people. Mattie Ross is a prime example of how a woman can do more than what a society believes she can do. True Grit is a movie that shows how the lives of men and women have evolved since the Western era. In today’s society, the idea of gender roles does not really exist. Women are now being accepted to do things that only men were allowed to do, such as shooting guns and working outside of the
In True Grit, Charles Portis highlights Mattie Ross crossing boundaries of her vengeful reprisal for her father’s murderer, in contrast to her religious standards of forgiveness towards sinners like Tom Chaney. By doing so, Mattie encourages Rooster Cogburn to adopt a less judgmental sensibility towards criminals.
Mattie is constantly talking about a person having “true grit” throughout the book. Her definition of having true grit isn’t being courageous and she isn’t referring to dirt. Having true grit to Mattie means having a rough side and being fearless. After Mattie’s father was murdered she was determined to avenge her father’s death at any cost. Before Mattie could go out and search for the man who killed her father she needed to attend to some of her father’s business. She needed to talk to man named Stonehill about some ponies that her father had purchased right before he was killed. In this scene of the book Mattie shows her grit because Stonehill didn’t want to buy the ponies back and Mattie showed her persistence and her abrasiveness. Eventually Mattie says that she was going to get her lawyer involved and he offered her two hundred dollars but she didn’t take it. Mattie’s wanted three hundred and fifty for the ponies but she told Stonehill that she would settle for three hundred and twenty-five. Another scene where Mattie shows that she is fearless and has a great amount of grit is when she shoots Tom Chaney and the recoil of the gun sends her flying into a hole. During the fall Mattie manages to get stuck upright in a small hole she tries to push herself out with her left arm and she realized that her forearm was bent in an unnatural attitude and she notices that it’s broken. While she was down there she see...
First of all, in plot, the works share the same event progression. An early start, a determined drive, a final showdown, and an attempt to continue the achievement. The intentions were to simply accomplish no matter what the circumstance. The Old Man set out early in the morning as indicated here, '…he began to row out of the harbour in the dark.'; In True Grit, Mattie, a girl bent on avenging her father's death, Rooster, a federal marshal, and LaBoeuf, a Texas Ranger, set off when, 'It was still dark outside and bitter cold although mercifully there was little wind.'; The dedication involved in the characters' pursuits becomes more evident later on. 'He is a great fish,'; the old man told himself, 'and I must convince him not to learn his strength…'; As it was also with the Mattie from True Grit. 'I knew both of them (Rooster and LaBoeuf) were waiting for me to complain or say something that would make me out to be a 'tenderfoot.' I was determined not to give them anything to chaff me about.'; Her intents were not purely superficial though. Her anger toward '… a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney,'; was a key factor in driving her to achieve her purpose. Finally, after toiling with the fish, the Old Man, '…took all his pain and what was left of his strength and his long gone pride and he put it against the fish's agony,'; in his last bout with the great fish. The same sort of event occurs at the same point in the story line in True Grit. 'Rooster said, 'Fill your hand you son of a bitch!' and he took the reins in his teeth and pulled the other saddle revolver and drove his spurs into the flanks of his strong horse Bo and charged directly at the bandits.
The 1989 film Do the Right Thing displays a story about racial tension in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. Spike Lee not only directed and produced this film but he was also the main character, Mookie. In spite of maintaining these three jobs, Lee incorporated cinematic techniques that allowed his film to unlock controversial ideals for both Caucasian and African-American viewers. Through the use of camera elements Lee was able to display emotions and tone of the scene without using stating it directly. Lee exhibited film methods such as low-angle shots, close ups, slow motion and panning.
Discriminating gender roles throughout the movie leaves one to believe if they are supposed to act a certain way. This film gives women and men roles that don’t exist anymore, during the 60s women were known to care for the family and take care of the house, basically working at home. However, a male was supposed to fight for his family, doing all the hard work so his wife didn’t have too. In today’s world, everyone does what makes them happy. You can’t tell a woman to stay at home, that makes them feel useless. Furthermore, males still play the roles of hard workers, they are powerful compared to a woman. However, in today’s world a male knows it isn’t right to boss a woman around, where in the 60s, it happened, today women have rights to do what they want not what they are
Charles Portis’s famous novel True grit published in 1968 was the basis of both the 1969 and the 2010 movie. The 2010 movie by the Coen Brothers covers a lot of stuff from the book, but I think they made the character Mattie a lot different then the book. In the book Mattie was a 14 teen year old girl who wasn't afraid of anything, and was not afraid to take revenge on her fathers killer Tom Chaney. Some of events in the movie made her look tough but the actor was too nice and cute to play Mattie. They also made her way more emotional than in the book. Even though they covered most of the events of the book I still don't like the way they made the movie.
I am writing a film review on the 1976, classic movie Rocky. In this review I will explore the main character Rocky, along with secondary characters Adrian, Pauley, and Mick. I will compare Rocky’s self-concept and self-esteem to the secondary characters. Identify whether the characters are nourishing or noxious individuals. Finally, we will describe how the main character is perceived by other characters.
In the 1950’s becoming a wife, having and raising children and taking care of the home was the primary goal for most women. Post war brides were marrying young, having children at significant and unrivaled rates, and settling into roles that would ultimately shape a generation. This ideal notwithstanding, women were entering the workplace like never before and changing the face of American business forever. In the movie The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit directed in 1956 by Nunnally Johnson, we get an inkling of the type of voice American women would develop in the character of Betsy Rath. We are introduced to a wife and mother who leverage her role in the family to direct and influence. The decade of the 50’s signify the beginnings of the duplicity that women would embrace in America, being homemakers and independent women.
The tapes are the centerpiece of the story and the largest motif for showing the impact that people have on those around them— even if they do not realize it. While it would be easy to write a paper on every person on the tape and how they made an impression on Hannah’s life, the focus is on Alex and his story. Alex’s story affected many people – not just Hannah. Alex’s Best of Freshman Class and Worst of Freshman Class list affected everyone whose name made that list. Hannah is not afraid to call him out on that fact; "There are some sick and twisted people out there, Alex – and maybe I'm one of them— but the point is, when you hold people up for ridicule, you have to take responsibility when other people act on it" (53). Sure, the way this list objectified women let them be handled like they were toys for men, but it definitely hit every girl’s self-esteem. The perfect example of this is the fight that Hannah and Jessica have in the café. The whole fight started over their names being on that list. While Alex made the list as a fun joke, he unknowingly ruined a friendship; Isolating Hannah further. “It’s a punch in the stomach and a slap in the face. It's a knife in my back..."(68). Alex's quest for popularity in a new school left him unaware that the choice he was making to pass around a list, a list that idolized the way his
...ilms such as Mrs. Doubtfire to communicate that even though the main character was not a war hero or a gun wielding macho man, he was in fact a man who had plenty to fight for in his own world. Through the shifting away of the masculinized hero of the 1980s giving way to the family focused man of the 1990s, film and society molded themselves to represent what each other needed and wanted to see. Even though it is a comedy filled with insane antics of a man in a dress, Mrs. Doubtfire is able to bring forth a story that shows that there is plenty worth fighting for at home without the needs of excessive violence. It also shows us a subtle and heartwarming difference in the attitudes of the American people about what identity we wanted to promote and what type of person we wanted to believe in, the unrealistic super hero, or the father with vices with a heart of gold.
Mattie Ross, True Grit’s protagonist, clearly matches the quest hero description. One aspect of quest heroes is that they see the necessity for change in their world. Something calls them to adventure, perhaps a spark from inside the hero, motivating them to seek that needed change. In this novel, Mattie personifies these traits of the quest hero type. One way she fits the quest hero archetype is that she realizes the need for change when she learns of the lack of effort being done to imprison Tom Chaney, her father’s murderer. When she visits Fort Smith’s deputy, he shows her the long list of desperadoes to be caught before Tom Chaney. Shirking responsibility, he claims that Tom Chaney “‘is now the business of the U.S. Marshals’”(26). Clearly, his apathy towards working to apprehend Tom Chaney will not help Mattie achieve her goals. Mattie, exasperated, realizes that if she wants Chaney in jail, she must take things into her own hands. She swears, “I would not rest easy until that Louisiana cur was roasting and screaming in hell”(25)! If necessary, Mattie will kill Chaney to answer the call of revenge surging from her intense hatred of him for cold-bloodedly killing her dear fat...
Moreover, the film Mildred Pierce follows the struggles of a hard-working mother, Mildred Pierce, as she divorces her husband and supports herself and her spoiled daughter, Veda, by starting a successful restaurant business chain. In different ways, the film challenges the notions of masculinity and femininity as gender roles are reversed with different characters but identify this, you have to look at the films ideology. Ideology is a system of ideas that structure and make sense of society. If you look at 1940s America, post World War 2, the society at the time adhered to a very hegemonic patriarchy in which men were the ones with power, the ones providing for the family; where as the women of the time were seen subordinate and were more
The film, Gran Torino, by Clint Eastwood, follows the life of a Korean war veteran and his relationship with his Hmong neighbors as they battle to overcome the trials that they are faced with. The character that struggles the most in the film with fighting the social norms is Thao. Thao is constantly being pushed by the influences in his life to be their idea of a man. There are two cultures that have an active influence on Thao in the film which are Hmong and American. Within these cultures, Thao has individuals who are attempting to subject him to their notions of masculinity, which are Walt, his family, and the Hmong gang. Thao’s experience with overcoming and sometimes conforming to these influences are put in an interesting perspective when analyzed through a the lens of panopticism.
First off, in Carol Clover’s novel “Men Women and Chainsaws” the narrative is focusing on how women overcome their challenges throughout varies films. Clover focuses
Sex, love, depression, guilt, trust, all are topics presented in this remarkably well written and performed drama. The Flick, a 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning drama by Annie Baker, serves to provide a social commentary which will leave the audience deep in thought well after the curtain closes. Emporia State Universities Production of this masterpiece was a masterpiece in itself, from the stunningly genuine portrayal of the characters of Avery and Rose, to the realism found within the set, every aspect of the production was superb.