Ilya's take on the movie is that it is all about values in a monetary sense. My take on the movie is that it is all about values in an ethical sense. To me, the movie is questioning morality in every scene. Take the very first scene, for example, where the man cuts up a prostitute. Justice is not served because the sheriff only asks the criminals to pay a financial punishment. Murder or violence are not morally right. The fact that the women send assassins to kill the two men is not morally right. There is no justification in murdering them, especially when the victim isn't even that hurt. The morality behind Munny's acceptance of the assassination can be questioned. Munny is a confusing character because his character is blurred between a hero and a villain. Another scene that questions morality is the part when Ned asks Munny if he wants to go upstairs and join him in his enjoyment of the prostitutes. First of all, it was surprising for Ned to ask this because he seemed as if he was above those kinds of actions. Munny refuses, indicating the uncertainty of his character's rectitude. This movie seems to be stating that there are no heroes, because everyone possesses something malicious in their character. The movie also degrades violence. For example, Munny has seen this lifestyle and all of the consequences that follow. This is ironic because fun action-packed violence is expected in these western-type films. Rather than glamorizing violence, this movie has a rather pejorative take, much unlike most other westerns.
Oh yeah... and MSIT is in the championship. Surprising huh? Well, it's not.
Pretty damn good post, old friend. Not shabby at all.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point in noticing that this film portrays a morally ambiguous world, rather than a Manichean one like most Westerns do. I don't think there's been a single character thus far who has shown wholly good or evil traits.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that violence is not tolerated in Big Whiskey is very ironic, but it is acknowledged by the film that Little Bill is a unique kind of sheriff for a "wild West" town.
My prediction of the movie being about values was just a prediction because we only saw the introduction when i wrote it, but as the movie progressed it showed my hypothesis right. I only used monetary or bartering values as examples because they were the only examples i had at hand. Your expansion on the theme was well done and reinforced my prediction.
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