Cold Vengeance (1935, Robert Bradbury) is a classic early western film. It takes place in the generic western United States, complete with classic saloon and mountain shots. The film also happens to star a young John Wayne. The plot centers around John Wayne’s character John Mason seeking revenge on the “man in the polka dot bandana” who killed his father. The viewers witness the journey of finding out who the “man in the polka dot bandana” accompanied with lots of plot twists and surprises. The film Cold Vengeance is an example of a classic western in that it has a clear revenge motivation with equally as clear good guys and bad guys. In short, there isn’t much if any moral ambiguity and directly appeals to the idealism that is captured …show more content…
in the american psyche. There is an apparent reason and motivation for the revenge that drives the plot.
John Mason’s father is shot and killed by bandits, therefore John Mason seeks revenge on the man who killed him. Thus, the entire plot of the movie is all focused on John Mason getting his revenge. This is also seen when Ben (John Mason’s miffed friend due to relationship drama) removes all of the bullets from John Mason’s gun before he is going to face Rudd. This theme is prevalent all across the western movie genre. Most likely because people associate the American West with justice. Not necessarily in a court of law justice, but pragmatic or an “eye-for-an-eye” justice. This is compelling for anyone as the simple concept of if someone does something wrong then they will experience the same or similar wrong on the same scale. This is extremely exciting as that is not how it works in today’s world. So in a way the theme of revenge is playing towards the idealism that is prevalent in American Society in regards to if someone does something wrong than equal justice will be …show more content…
served. There is also the blatantly obvious good guys vs bad guys situation that dominates the movie.
For one, the big conflict is between John Mason and Rudd. As Rudd and his gang not only shot John Mason but killed his father. But on a more interpersonal level there is the conflict between John and his frenemy Ben. But in the end, Ben comes through as a good guy once again and ends up dying saving John Mason with his last words being “It’s getting dark John!” Which is not only cheesy but pure. The obvious good and bad guys schtick appeals to the best, or at least the easiest to grasp part of human nature. It is human nature to root for the good guy, but I would say the desire to go against and dislike the villain is so much stronger. The lack of moral ambiguity is great because it is nice to know what is wrong and what is right. Today’s world is full of moral ambiguity, there are very few clear good and bad guys. Thus, the western movie genre takes advantage of this constant search for right and wrong by giving people a clear and concise answer. In this case, Rudd and his gang are in the wrong, John Mason and his cohorts are in the
right. Classic Westerns are at their core; idealistic. Idealism is sought after, throughout not only the US but across the world. This is why classic westerns, no matter how cheesy, no matter how nowadays politically incorrect, continue to be popular. These movies, Cold Vengeance included, appeal to the idealist in each viewer. This is what makes westerns truly timeless is that idealism is ingrained in the american psyche. No matter where someone grew up or how they grew up, therein lies an idealist. This is further supported in that at the time of classic westerns (1930s-1950s) the US was at an interesting place. The Great Depression, people were flocking to the movie theaters to escape their hard lives and this appealed directly to that sense of hope and idealism that exists within nearly every american. World War II required an entire country to rally around patriotism. The post-war period was filled with economic prosperity which meant people wanted to see american ideals displayed in film i.e. Westerns. Through exploring the themes of Revenge and clear morality, Cold Vengeance, while quite cheesy and gimmicky, manages to appeal to the core of americana; idealism.
The novel Nukkin Ya is a compelling book, written in the perspective of the character Gary Black, the author of the text is Phillip Gwynne. The novel is set in rural South Australia for Australian readers. The novel conveys a number of themes and messages including racial difference, love verse hate and the ability and choice to move on. These are depicted by the literally techniques of imagery, literary allusions and intertextuality.
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.
The theme of the story “the firing squad” by Colin McDougall is: every actions has its consequence with no matter either it is ethically correct or incorrect. the decision affects you and other, so always be careful with decisions, supported by simply “‘Squad!’... ‘Unload! Rest!’”(pg. 86). At the beginning of the story, the theme first developed by “But now, the confirming order was in his hands and the train of events must be set in motion.”, represents the execution could both run or not follow by General Vincent’s deposition on Private Jones, and it will change all the plot of the story. He decided to execute Jones even he is innocent, and Captain Adam appointed as an executioner. Next, For Adam, who named coward, two path is given for him:
The short story “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin portrays the theme that sometimes your best isn’t enough. This short story starts out with a stowaway found on a spacecraft by an EDS Pilot, but this stowaway was a teenage girl named Marilyn. All Marilyn wanted was to see her brother on the planet called Mimir, she was willing to pay a fine, do her share of work, anything, but unfortunately, according to the laws of nature and man, she had to leave the ship or else the ship would crash. Or in other words, she would die. Within the last few minutes of her life, she gets to talk to her brother on Mimir and tell him goodbye. As she steps into the airlock, she prepares herself for what was about to happen. After she is killed by the soul sucking,
Westerns have been around for many years. Some would consider westerns to be American classics because they describe early life in a mostly undiscovered America. In class two western films were watched and discussed. These two westerns were High Noon and Shane. On the surface, these movies are categorized as the same genre and look very similar but after further inspection it can be determined that the movies have a lot of differences. Of course, both movies share the same central theme of law versus social order, but the way each movie portrays this central theme is very different. This universal theme between the two movies can be investigated through, setting, violence, view of family, how women perceive guns/violence, and the choice of
I believe that the film does indeed conform to a certain type of narrative structure expected by other films of this style. This film, through and through, is a Western, even starring one of biggest names in Hollywood Westerns, John Wayne. We’re thrown into a world of sturdy, rugged men riding around on horses, decked out in cowboy hats and belt buckles. Wayne portrays the archetypal man, honorable, reliable and
“ It’s crazy, all that blood and violence. I thought you were supposed to be the love generation”. Conservative mother, Estelle Collingwood says to her daughter Mari in the beginning of Wes Craven’s cult classic The Last House on the Left (1972). With the war in Vietnam in full swing and the long term effects of the Manson family murders, the peace and love counter culture was at the end of an era. American society had become more violent and corrupt, as were the films Hollywood was starting to release. And with the new generation’s style of filmmaking and recent MPAA rating system, filmmakers were pushing the boundaries of their films and shocking audiences and critics to the core. With new filmmakers kicking down the door of Hollywood every year, it’s no surprise that soon-to-be horror icon Wes Craven would fit perfectly into the new generation of Hollywood. Craven’s early films fall into the exploitation category. They were severely gruesome, repulsive, appalling, and ended up being banned in several countries. Craven would go on to make films that reflect on contemporary society by using a number of recurring themes and formal filmmaking aesthetics that included:
Revenge is a fairly strong emotion; it’s wanting to retaliate towards those who wronged you. Revenge is such an uncontrollable form of retaliation that it can result in a destructive outcome or be carried out successfully. Although the results may vary, revenge sums up to one thing which is pain of some sort, affecting both parties or just one. Throughout history, we see many tales of revenge and redemption. Often revenge does leave the one carrying it out feeling victorious, but this can suddenly change as the process of karma generally begins in some tales.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire, takes place in the Land of Oz. It actually takes place forty years before The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum, and it tells the story of how Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, became so wicked (Fiction Book Review). This book was written in 1995. Maguire wrote this book in the early 1900’s when he was living in London. At this time, the Gulf War was just starting. Maguire was intrigued by the headline in the British Newspaper, the Times of London, that said, “Sadaam Hussein: The New Hitler?” Months later, there was an incident where several young schoolboys kidnapped and killed a toddler. While the British press was paying attention to the crime,
The storyline is normally about a hero who comes to a town to bring peace and drive the villains out. A hero is usually seen as a vigilante as he is not told to come to help but does anyway. The hero often appears as a quiet, secretive, mysterious person who may make the audience admire him one minute and dislike him the next, he is also a very smart, cunning and adaptable which are all good values in a hero. The villain is usually fixed to one idea he thinks it is a smart cunning person but in the end is always defeated. Many scenes are set around the Saloon (bar) and there is quite often a romance involved with the hero and a local girl, the villain competing for her affections! There are two different types of villains in typical westerns Native Americans and white villains (cowboys).
In the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen assert that society has lost the moral on which it was built. The Coen brothers develop this claim by manipulating the traditional characteristics of a Western film in order to create an anti-Western through which they depict the hopelessness of humanity within the current state of society. Through their use of mechanics such as innovative camera angles, sound manipulation and editing the film adaptation successfully portrays the immorality of society as an abyss of depraved humanity.
Revenge is such an enormous part of a being human. It is something that no matter how much you try to avoid part of you will persistently lust for it. When you are hurt in any way your natural instinct will always tell you to make the one who hurt you feel just as bad if not worse as how you felt. It is such a natural and powerful feeling, that when revenge is incorporated into a story it makes it so much stronger. Revenge will make you see so many more sides of characters and make them seem much more complex. Revenge can give fictional characters a more human quality. That is why so many writers use it as their theme.
Fiction and Novels Have a Place In The Curriculum Angie Thomas, the author of The Hate U Give once mentions in her novel that “Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.” Like many of her other quotes she expresses real life situations through her book. One of Angie thomas’s quotes in her novel that also refers to real life situations are “When I was twelve, my parents had two talks with me. One was the usual birds and bees...
The characters in a non-revisionist Western comprise of a strong male cowboy, who want to kill an antagonist who wronged the protagonist, typically for vengeful purposes. This is not the case in Eastwood’s Unforgiven. William Munny, the protagonist, is a famous ex-bounty hunter trying to escape his past by living as a pig farmer. When the Schofield Kid asks if Munny wants to join him for a bounty hunt, he responds, “I ain't like that anymore. ”(Eastwood, 1992)
The ironic use of the visual imagery of Westerns and the appropriation of a famous Western narrative, repurposed and rehabilitated, are what makes this film a film of the latter phase of the Western