The film Unforgiven starring Clint Eastwood as William “Bill” Munny, Gene Hackman as Little Bill Daggett, and Morgan Freeman as Ned Logan. Unforgiven is a revisionist western, or a western that questions traditional ideas and challenges some of the basis of a traditional western. Unforgiven challenges traditional ideas of the alpha male cowboy in general. In traditional westerns, the cowboy uses violence to get what he wants. Unforgiven criticizes this idea, as Bill Munny goes crazy and kills nearly everyone when he finds out that Ned Logan is dead. He seems to actively seek out violence and killing and death. Bill Munny seems to be a killing machine with no feeling and only revenge on his mind.
This film also uses the “other” to criticize the alpha male cowboy. While killing is no problem for Bill Munny, Ned Logan finds it very hard to do. He is quite the marksman, but he cannot bring himself to shoot at the outlaws. In a traditional western, the “other” as a sidekick would have no problem doing what the alpha male cowboy wants, especially killing outlaws. Even women as the sidekick “other”, such as Eula Goodnight in Rooster Cogburn, can kill men, like when she shoots an outlaw that tries to kill Rooster. Ned’s failure to kill the outlaw and Bill Munny’s success seems to question Bill’s restraint. The “other” is supposed to be able to kill without question and mercilessly, and an “other”, especially an African American other, is normally on a lower social level than an alpha male cowboy is. In this film, however, the alpha male cowboy seems to be a much lower level of a person than Ned Logan because he is merciless, ultra violent, and seems to have no regard for human life, whereas Ned Logan does. Unforgiven is a revisionist film because it revises the way that the viewer thinks about the alpha male cowboy.
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The film Unforgiven starring Clint Eastwood as William “Bill” Munny, Gene Hackman as Little Bill Daggett, and Morgan Freeman as Ned Logan is a revisionist western, or a western that questions traditional ideas and challenges some of the basis of a traditional western. Unforgiven challenges traditional ideas of the alpha male cowboy in general. In traditional westerns, the cowboy uses violence to get what he wants. Unforgiven criticizes this idea, as Bill Munny goes crazy and kills nearly everyone when he finds out that Ned Logan is dead. He seems to actively seek out violence and killing and death. Bill Munny seems to be a killing machine with no feeling and only revenge on his mind.
ReplyDeleteThis film also uses the “other” to criticize the alpha male cowboy. While killing is no problem for Bill Munny, Ned Logan finds it very hard to do. He is quite the marksman, but he cannot bring himself to shoot at the outlaws. In a traditional western, the “other” as a sidekick would have no problem doing what the alpha male cowboy wants, especially killing outlaws. Even women as the sidekick “other”, such as Eula Goodnight in Rooster Cogburn, can kill men, like when she shoots an outlaw that tries to kill Rooster. Ned’s failure to kill the outlaw and Bill Munny’s success seems to question Bill’s restraint. The “other” is supposed to be able to kill without question and mercilessly, and an “other”, especially an African American other, is normally on a lower social level than an alpha male cowboy is. In this film, however, the alpha male cowboy seems to be a much lower level of a person than Ned Logan because he is merciless, ultra violent, and seems to have no regard for human life, whereas Ned Logan does. Unforgiven is a revisionist film because it revises the way that the viewer thinks about the alpha male cowboy.