Untypical Western Genre in Jim Jarmusch’s Film Deadman
In the film Deadman by Jim Jarmusch we follow the character of William Blake, who shares his name with a nineteenth century British poet, as he travels on a train to the town of Machine where he has promise of work. Upon arriving Blake finds that his accounting job is already occupied and when he tries to confront the boss he is greeted with a shotgun. Deciding that leaving with his life is more important than leaving with a job, he quickly leaves the office, though not the premises as he gets lost in the many twists and turns of the building. After spending the last of his money on a bottle of alcohol he meets a former prostitute turned flower girl. He returns home with her as he has no where else to go and they are found in her bed by her fiancé who proceeds to shoot her and Blake and Blake returns the favor. Blake is the only one to survive, although he is gravely injured. Blake proceeds to steal a horse and leave town before he passes out only to wake up to find an Indian named Nobody tending to him. Blake and Nobody then seem to go on a skewed version of a vision quest while they are pursued by three bounty hunters who want Blake’s head. After quite a time of journeying and killing by Blake, who appears to have turned into a strange sort of Billy the Kid, he finally drifts into the sunset.
Deadman appears to be a play on the typical Western genre. It opens with a train scene, a familiar enough scene in a Western, and uses such expected devices as the use of the moving train wheels and pistons to represent the movement of time as well as quick blackouts which permeate the movie. We watch Blake as he views the other characters on the train, at first attired as we would expect in frontier type clothing, but slowly the characters and their clothing change. At first there are men and women, but slowly we get more men and then nothing but men. As this change continues the people begin to wear more clothing and appear more rugged as is proven by the scene of Neanderthal like men who wear bear skins and shoot buffalo from the train window.
Director Jim Jarmusch’s film Deadman displays many of the accepted conventions for Western genre films, but manipulated in such a way as to create a revisionist, rather than a classical, western. The most obvious example of this manipulation are the characterizations of the hero, William Blake, and his Native American partner, Nobody. Blake is an awkward easterner who travels westward unaware of the different rules governing western life, instead of the rugged, knowledgeable outdoorsman who “does what he has to do” to defend justice and honor. Nobody’s character is unusually independent, educated, and kind towards Blake, instead of the traditional Western genre’s violent, unintelligent Indian.
Our team presentation focused on three Latino gangs, MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), the Mexican Mafia and the Los Surenos gang. My part of the presentation was to provide information on the type of crime these three gangs are known to commit. The crimes committed by the MS-13 gang are varied, violent, and take place all over the country. The FBI even put together a task force called the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in December of 2004 to try to put a stop to this gang’s activities. (www.fbi.gov). Los Surenos or Sur-13, originally based in Los Angeles, has also branched out from turf wars with rival gangs to “for profit”, violent crimes across the country. The Mexican Mafia has a similar story to tell as well in regards to gang crimes, which again range from respect crimes, and retaliatory violence to crimes for profit.
The depiction of minorities, specifically women and Native Americans, in Western film has changed drastically from the early 1930's to the late 1980's. These changes represent the changing views of American society in general throughout the 20th century. In the early part of the century, women and Native Americans were depicted as a burden. Women were viewed as a form of property, helpless and needing support. These minorities were obstacles in the quest for manifest destiny by the United States. Western films during the early 20th century represent the ignorance of American culture towards minorities. As time progressed, society began to develop compassion for Native Americans and men began to see women as equals. The movie industry perpetuated the views of society throughout the last century. When Native Americans were seen as an "obstacle" in westward expansion, film directors supported these views on screen. As society began to question the treatment of Native Americans and women, the film scripts responded to these changes. By looking at western films over the last 60 years, the correlation between societal attitudes and film plots has changed the views of Native Americans and women. The two have worked together to bring the portrayal of Native Americans from savage beasts to victims, and women from property to equals.
In the illustration, Death’s Door, published first in 1805 as part of The Grave, William Blake is depicting the transition from this life into the afterlife. (Blake, 2008) Blake represents this transition as going through the door old, sick and feeble and coming out the other side as he was at his prime, a young muscular vibrant man. The illustration is a strong reflection of the Christian idea of life after death or. Blake depicts the move from this life to the next as one which will bring happiness and pleasure to those who pass through it. This illustration depicts death, as something to be welcomed, rather than feared when the time comes. The image represents a positive image of what death can be like and what one can have to look forward to in the afterlife.
William Blake is remembered by his poetry, engravements, printmaking, and paintings. He was born in Soho, London, Great Britain on November 28, 1757. William was the third of seven siblings, which two of them died from infancy. As a kid he didn’t attend school, instead he was homeschooled by his mother. His mother thought him to read and write. As a little boy he was always different. Most kids of his age were going to school, hanging out with friends, or just simply playing. While William was getting visions of unusual things. At the age of four he had a vision of god and when he was nine he had another vision of angles on trees.
Washington, Booker T. "1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech." Speech. Cotton States and International Exposition. Atlanata. 18 Sept. 1895. History Matters: The U.S Survey Course on the Web. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Lennard (2010) reminds us that the models merely provide an outline, a structure, and a direction. She also emphasizes the models are used to facilitate a method of exploration which is extremely important for client self-awareness and continual development. Coaching is centered on unlocking a person’s potential to maximize his or her own performance. Focusing on improving performance and developing skills is essential for an effective coaching outcome (Fielden, 2005). The use of a model can lead to greater insight and understanding by simplifying and clarifying this process.
Coaching and mentoring are not about learning to do something the right way, but are about helping to lead an individual to find their own way of doing it practically and efficiently. Coaching and mentoring sessions are guided with theoretical models, which help focus both the coach and the coachee in attaining desired outcomes for problem situations. However, even with the aid of theoretical models not everyone can coach another person. The first and far most important attribute of a coach is the ability to build relationships with the coachee in that the coachee feels safe and trusting towards the coach, without the capability to interact with the client there may be a lack of progress or motivation. Another important skill of a coach is not to judge.
Coaching, however challenging, is a great way to influence the lives of others while also building their character. For as long as there have been sports, there have been people teaching the sport to the players and making them better at it. Coaches must have certain qualities in order to obtain success. One must also look at a coach’s motivation for his job, his passion for what he does, his methods for coaching, and how he became a coach in order to fully understand him. There are many questions someone may want to ask a coach about his profession if they are interested in coaching. Some questions would include: Why did he choose this as a profession? How did he get into coaching? What does one have to do to get a job as a coach? How does a coach become successful? I aim to answer all of these questions and more in my paper.
Sir William Blake was known for his lucid writings and childlike imagination when it came down to his writings. Some will say that his writings were like day and night; for example, "The Lamb" and "The Tiger" or "The Little Boy Lost" and "The Little Boy Found." Born in the 18th century, Blake witnessed the cruel acts of the French and American Revolutions so his writings also, "revealed and exposed the harsh realities of life (Biography William Blake)". Although he never gained fame during his lifetime, Blake's work is thought of as to be genius and well respected today. "The lack of public recognition sent him into a severe depression which lasted from 1810-1817, and even his close friends thought him insane (William Blake,)". Blake once stated, "Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you (http://brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/william_blake.html )."
The theme of the suffering innocent person, dying and being diseased, throws a dark light onto the London seen through the eyes of William Blake. He shows us his experiences, fears and hopes with passionate images and metaphors creating a sensibility against oppression hypocrisy. His words come alive and ask for changes in society, government and church. But they remind us also that the continued renewal of society begins with new ideas, imagination and new works in every area of human experience.
William Blake was one of those 19th century figures who could have and should have been beatniks, along with Rimbaud, Verlaine, Manet, Cezanne and Whitman. He began his career as an engraver and artist, and was an apprentice to the highly original Romantic painter Henry Fuseli. In his own time he was valued as an artist, and created a set of watercolor illustrations for the Book of Job that were so wildly but subtly colored they would have looked perfectly at home in next month's issue of Wired.
One way that Blake manifests the theme of a man being corrupted though experience is with imagery. For instance, in “The Echoing Green,” Blake creates imagery that portrays children playing “on the echoing green” with their families “sitting under the oak” (10, 13). The imagery paints a picture of a perfect
It is through the city itself, and the people who inhabit it that Blake elects to convey the harsh reality of the progression of time on the fallible nature of humans, and the enduring nature of machines. It is in “marks of weakness, marks of woe,” of passerby’s that the speaker identifies the sense of depression that has descended like the smog of an industrial city, upon its inhabitants. This entity that takes with it the hop...
Mandelbaum, Allen, trans. The Metamorphoses of Ovid. By Ovid. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & company, 2008.