Once Upon the Time in the West is a great western movie which tells a story about a widow competes with a railroad tycoon and a cold blood killer who try to rob the land bought by her died husband. However, the main focus of this movie is not the story but the characters. All the characters have their own goals but the desire for surviving brought them together. The races behind the main characters are something that challenges the ideology at that time. Frank, he cold blood killer, who apparently is the bad guy in the movie, is a White American; Cheyenne, the bandit but also a ‘green wood hero’ is half Native American and half White American; Harmonica, the avenger, obviously a positive role, is a Native American.
The movie challenges the ideology for most Americans at that time, which is Native Americans are inhuman, fierce and cruel while those cowboys in the west are brave, tough and good, by totally changed the normal roles of a white man and a Native American in movies. The audience has to accept that the nasty, cruel killer is a white man and the mysterious, attractive, and innocent guy is a Native American who was hurt and humiliated by white men before. The change of roles help people give up the stereotype of a certain race.
Another thing the director did to challenge people’s ideology is that he chose Henry Fonda, the actor who always play a righteous man, hero or gentleman to play the role of a heartless killer which, in another way, challenged our habitual thought.
The music in this movie is very famous; almost every main character has their own music that represents their personalities. Another thing I found was very interesting is their attitude towards death. Being in a situation that people can die in seconds, no character in this film is afraid of death. Harmonica’s brother choose to die instead of linger on his brother’s shoulder; Frank wants to pay anything including his life to know who Harmonica is; Harmonica doesn’t want Frank to be killed by his rebellious followings; Mr. Morton wants to be close to the water even he is dying. Water is a symbol of hope and fortune in the movie. Frank and Morton try so hard to get it even at the cost of their lives.
I guess I hadn't paid enough attention in regards to some of the main characters being Native American. This causes a little bit of a change in perspective as like you said they had the main "good guy" portrayed as a Native American, the villain is a white American, and the outlaw who is half white and have Native American. I thought it was an indirect way of challenging the dominant ideology.
回复删除I sorta liked that all of the typical roles of a western were reversed. It was unpredictable and I like not knowing what's going to happen next. The director messed with many viewers minds by choosing Henry Fonda as the villain and I like that. He challenged not only the viewers but the actors as well.
回复删除I agree that no character is afraid of death and now that I think about it I take it as a sign that death isn't something that should be feared because it is inevitable. You can't escape it no matter how hard you try so why worry about it?
I think the part of attitude towards death you mentioned is really interesting. It must have something to do with the historical background, the chaos and danger in the west made these desperados not value life so much. I really admire them, probably just because I'm too cautious with my life.
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