Hollywood Genres: Gun Crazy

627 Words2 Pages

The two movies, Gun Crazy and Bonnie and Clyde, hinge around the notion of violence. The major themes that these movies address are violence, and general crime. Each movie indicates some elements of order and elements of chaos. This explains why the classical narratives and Hollywood genres address the issue of chaos and order as they prevail in society. Comparing the two elements, it is evident that Bonnie and Clyde draw much from Gun Crazy in many aspects. There is mass shooting in both the movies, which is an indication of violence that exists in their respective societies. The characters become entangled in criminal activities with different motivations. There are various factors which trigger the pairs in both the movies to carry out crime in the society. This study seeks to prove that classical narratives and Hollywood genres are structured along the lines of conflict between order and chaos through their inherent themes within their social and ideological contexts.
Gun Crazy portrays the idea of chaos in distinct ways. As a young person, at the age of 14, Bart Tare robs a hardware store and makes away with a gun. The issue of robbing a store represents existence of chaos in the society since stealing is not a virtue but a vice that exist in the world. A later marriage between Bart and Laurie triggers the genesis of the existence for chaos portrayed in the movie (Lewis, 1950). After the marriage, the couple runs out of money and as such, Anne gives Bart a stark choice. It is either he joins her in a career of crime or she abandons him. Both these characters are the epitome of chaos. In Bonnie and Clyde, chaos begins to occur when the two stars meet at an episode when Clyde is attempting to steal Bonnie's mothers car. Bonnie ...

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...ly towards eliminating chaos in the society and establishing order.
Ultimately, it is clear that classical narratives and Hollywood genres are structured along the lines of conflict between order and chaos, the law breakers cause chaos as per the genres, while the police and the FBI in each case take to implement order by arresting the people who bring about chaos. Unruly civilians also carry out crime in order to establish chaos. The authority represented by police and FBI implement order by following lawbreakers in order to ensure that they are sentenced as appropriate.

References
Lewis, J, H, dir, 1950, Gun crazy, Retrieved from, http://viooz.co/movies/19511-gun-crazy-deadly-is-the-female-1950.html /. (Accessed February 26 2014).
Penn, A, dir, 1967. Bonnie and Clyde, Retrieved from, http://www.sockshare.com/file/21CFED1064F7D713# (Accessed 27 February 2014).

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