1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the
screening.
Unforgiven is a
classic American Western. We follow Clint Eastwood as he searches the west to
hunt down and kill a couple of outlaws who slashed up a woman’s face. This film
can be seen as a revitalization of westerns being that it showed respect many
of the great early westerns such as Stagecoach
and The Searchers. All of these
three movies follow the tale of an outlaw, played by Clint Eastwood and John
Wayne in their respective movies. The
Searchers and Unforgiven both
have a very obvious connection being that the outlaws in each of the stories
are out looking for men that have done some kind of wrong to a woman.
2) Find a related article (on the film, director, studio,
actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) and summarize the content. You may use
the library or the internet.
The article “Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven and the Western
Tradition” is a review of the film Unforgiven
and is a critique on Westerns and how Unforgiven
fits into that category. The article states that the film attempts to
justify the motives of Munny, and does a fairly good job even though his
actions are not in fact justified. However the article also states that some of
the motives of the main characters do not add up with typical westerns. The
article states that the motives for each of the characters in the film were
either for glory or money which is opposite of traditional westerns. The
article states that a typical western is about a man of leisure and that
involving a desire of material wealth will take away from the story. Also the
article makes a point to say the Munny does not start off alone as a typical
westerner does; Munny begins his journey with the kid and Ned. Overall the
article appeared to be pleased with the film but ultimately seems to be rejecting
it as a true western.
3) Apply the article
to the film screened in class. How did the article support or change the way
you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?
This article was a good review of the plot of the story and
brought up some good points critiquing the film as a western that I had not
previously thought of. However there were a few main points that I did not
completely agree with. The writer of the article makes the point about how
Munny doesn’t start off on his own unlike many other westerns. This is a point
in which I half agree on because even though this is true, I still see Munny as
a lone ranger type simply working with others. This same type of situation can
be compared to The Searchers in the
sense that both characters end up working with other people in order to
complete a shared objective. A similar argument can also be made regarding the pursuit
of wealth. In Unforgiven, Munny, Ned
and the Kid are on this hunt for the sake of getting a reward. The search for
wealth or a reward can also be said about The
Good the Bad and The Ugly, another one of Clint Eastwood’s films. The
article was a good critique of the film but I think it didn’t see the bigger
picture of the film. I see the film as a very classic western tale that uses
many concepts of traditional or classic westerns.
4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your
personal opinion, formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text
material and the article.
Unforgiven is a
near perfect modern take on the classic western genre. Many comparisons can be
made to this film especially from classic westerns such as, Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Good the
Bad and The Ugly. I see the film as some kind of combination of all three
of those films. There are saloon shoot outs much like in Stagecoach, a man searching the west for a woman or in this case
fighting for a woman similar to The
Searchers, and lastly making a long journey for money like in The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Out of
all of these three films I especially see a strong connection to The Searchers. The main characters in
both films appears to be fairly alone in their lives, even though they each
have some kind of family with them in the beginning. Also both films seem to
focus heavily on the journey to their final destination and then when arriving
at their final destination the story they thought they knew has changed. For
example, Munny heard a list of terrible things that happened to the one prostitute
from the kid, when fact the story was much exaggerated. More important than the
final destination of both characters is the concept that both the protagonist
are looking to provide some kind of rescue or salvation to a woman, which each
film executed very well. The film was directed and acted wonderfully by
Eastwood and in my opinion he left the movie feeling like a true western.
CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 1) ( ) I have not handed in this assignment for any
other class. 2) ( ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other
classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 3) ( ) If I used any passages word for word, I
put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 4) (
) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in
the text of the paper. 5) ( ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally
read. 6) ( ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in
another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 7) ( ) I did not
so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 8) ( ) I
checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and
ideas used in my paper.
Name: _Joe Katulak_______________ Date: __3/10/14________
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