Symbolism In The Movie 'Midnight Cowboy'

THEMES FOR PATH III:
THE PATH OF THE NOBODY “Mediocrities everywhere, I absolve you….I absolve you….I absolve you all.”
F Murray Abraham’s lines
As Antonio Salieri
In the film “Amadeus”, 1984

I

“Midnight Cowboy”: An elegy for the Nobody in society
In 1969, the movie, “Midnight Cowboy”, directed by John Schlesinger, was released to the public. It rapidly won critical acclaim for the brilliant performances of Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman.
As if to prove the point, the film eventually won three Oscars, for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.
But it was a perturbing film, based on themes of homosexuality, abject poverty and debilitating sickness which culminated in the death of one of the principal characters.
If James Leo Herlihy intended to write a scandalous

Joe Buck hoped to make big bucks (pun intended) by offering his services as a hustler or male prostitute in New York.
(Insert music example “Everybody’s Talking” here.)
Symbolism from the start
The astute moviegoer might have noticed subtle use of symbolism in the opening scenes. Since the purpose of a bath was to clean the body, it could also be interpreted as fresh start, in this case, a different line of work and in a different city for Joe Buck.
The derelict cinema and its badly maintained signboard, with some missing letters from the words “The Alamo” and “John Wayne”, hinted at the forthcoming decadence and downfall of the two principal characters in this story.
In 1836, about 186 defenders held out in a fort called the Alamo. They were outnumbered by a Mexican army, estimated to be about 2,000 strong, led by General Santa Anna. The defenders were wiped out. Among these men were Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and Colonel Travis. Therefore, the reference to the Alamo could be said to be an allusion to defeat rather than victory.
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