Ideologies in the American Society Aging - Essay Example

The Thematic Paradigm Introduction In the essay “the thematic paradigm” Robert B. Ray portrays the image of someone who is frowning at individuals who see themselves or choose to portray themselves as the examples of the American hero. A deep analysis of Ray depicts someone who is willing to make Americans choose someone who depicts himself as a hero with less respectability over someone who is depicted as “a hero who does not have a lot of honour and respectability” (285). The irresponsible portrayal of teenagers was actually dazed and confused. Even though Ferris is shown as a character that is not bad, he is clearly shown as someone that any American kid should not desire to be. The traits that Ferris is seen to depict are that of a hero who is not that much respectable. Even though Ray tries to be critic of the American people for being obsessed and liking Ferris, it is clear that Ferris is a true hero. One of the claims that Ray makes is that there are some American heroes such as George Washington who are revered in the American culture. George Washington is depicted as the a hero who has official traits. “The outlaw hero is someone like Davy Crockett” (Ray 279). Themes and Ideologies in the American Society Aging The outlaw is seen as a reckless hero. The outlaw hero is depicted by Ferris Buleller. Ferris is a person that offers the kind of adventure that each person who was in high school once had. The depiction is a person with an attitude that is carefree and a person who has a pure sense of adventure. “Ferris is seen a someone who has values that are embodied in self determination and values that make someone to be free from entanglements” (Ray 279). The character goes out to do what is most desirable and yet is seen as someone who ha less care of the consequences of the actions that he takes. The fact that he takes a cut out of school and take a day in the city is enough to depict the character as an outlaw. He tries to avoid trouble by not meeting with any authoritative figure. The fact that Ferris gets stuck and sneaks behind his father is one trait that makes him be depicted as someone who could have lost the angelic image in an indefinite manner. From Ray’s perspective, there are some traits that American people favour. One of the traits that American people favour is age. Ray can be seen as someone who sees Americans as people who sway towards the stance of younger individuals. The is something that is much attractive when it comes to the picture of childishness outlaw (Ray 279. A good be example will be in a film that is country old western which will equate the characters inclination to a brawl that cannot be submitted due to the character’s tempters. The character of Ferris is portrayed as someone who does not need to get into a brawl so that the childish part is shown. One thing that shows Ferris as being childish is when he threatens Cameron that he will not be his friend if Cameron does not come to pick him. He also shows childishness by using pranks such as illness to miss school and avoid responsibility. One of the duality of Ferris’s age is that he is at a point where he is not an adult or a child. This brings complexity to the trait. The childish behaviour that are characteristic of Ferris are not the only traits that he portrays since there are some adult traits that he possesses. “There is some sound judgment and reasoning that Ferris portrays” (Ray 280). Even though there are some childish pranks that Ferris pulls, there is some element of wisdom that an adult can use to make Ferris conduct himself better. Society and women In American mythology, women and marriage are a representation of civilization. Therefore, the outlaw heroes distrusted civilization by distrusting women and marriage(Ray, 1985). Robert Ray reviews Lawrence’s “Studies in Classic American Literature”, where a clear pattern of flight is observed even among the Founding Fathers who had come to America to get away from something or everything. In some cases, this flight was undertaken by heroes alone as observed in Thoreau’s “Catcher in the Rye”, and in most cases, these heroes joined other men. The avoidance of women by these heroes is a clear representation of the entanglements of society, confining responsibilities, and the “settled life” that such a tradition tends to avoid. The outlaw hero is depicted as one who only sought uncompromising relationships with other men or a “bad” woman. In most cases, the “bad” woman still posed a threat to the outlaw hero as the marriage good still reveal the “good girl” clinging underneath. In most cases, Ray maintains that such “bad” women were killed off by American stories before the issue of marriage could arise in order to avoid the problem of settling down for the outlaw hero as seen in “The Big Heart”, “Destiny Rides Again”, and “The Far County”, among other stories(Ray, 1985). Subsequently, the all-male groups regarded women as a taboo, and they were only viewed as objects of lust. On the other hand, the official outlaws remained comfortable in the society, preeminently worldly, and willing to assume even the public duties that required personal sacrifice. According to Robert Ray, political figures such as Lincoln and Washington are particular examples official heroes(Ray, 1985). Family was also an important part of these heroes as portrayed in various popular stories such as “Life with Father”, “Little Women”, and “Cheaper by the Dozen”. Official heroes fully succumbed to civilization codes, committing themselves to proper manners, dressing, and behavior, and attainment of the things despised by outlawed heroism, respectability and settled life. Politics and the Law The outlawed hero distastes political solutions and collective societal laws and instead bases his/her decisions on individual points of view and observations relative to situations. Tocqueville’s writing “The Philosophical Approach of the Americans” reveals the distaste among outlawed heroes in holding another individual’s word as proof of something(Ray, 1985). Such distaste is evident in the traditional distrust of collective activity and politics, and of ideology as the rationale for that activity. It was ideological to disavow ideology as it discouraged political intervention in America in during the nineteenth century when the economic and political power was in the hands of a few privileged individuals. The individualism mythology has disposed of individuals to isolation from the larger society into a small circle of friends and family, with such a small society created according to his taste (Ray, 1985). The hero leaves the rest of the society to independent of his concern. Besides the distaste to political solutions, the outlawed hero showed a great ambivalence about societal law. In this case, law is portrayed as the standards within the society, as an ideology that is collective and impersonal imposed on individuals without their consent(Ray, 1985). As such, the law represented the basic things that were sought to be avoided by the mythology. The outlawed hero was a representation of the Americans who sought to run away from imposed systems and to find for themselves and within themselves reasons behind various things in the society. Case in point, in most operations involving mental activity, each American depends on individual judgment and effort. Such a sense of inadequacy of the law in relations to the needs of individuals as identified by their hearts led to the development of a tradition in which legends would celebrate legal defiance with reference to a given natural standard. For instance, Thoreau thought it best to go to jail as opposed to paying taxes while Billy, a kid, killed the sheriff’s posse for ambushing his boss(Ray, 1985). Such a mythology led to a transformation of all outlaws into heroes, who rectify laws that are socially unjust. In addition, this mythology portrayed the law as a tool of villains, thus betraying a fundamental pessimism concerning the access of individuals to the legal system. As opposed to the outlaw hero’s stance of knowing the right and the wrong and not the law, the official heroes maintained a stance of defending the law above men(Ray, 1985). The official heroes warned against taking the law into one’s hands as much as the outlaw hero insisted on the individual standards of wrong or right. In most cases, the official heroes comprised of politicians, lawyers, and the legal system’s executors. For official heroes, it was important for one to be sure that they were right about something before proceeding with it(Ray, 1985). As such, official heroes believe that laws are important in creating a level ground within the society for individuals from different, social, political, and economic backgrounds to interact without prejudice. Conclusion It is evident that there is a significant contrast between the values associated with official heroes and those associated with outlaw heroes. It is clear that each of the traditions has its pros and cons. As such, as much as the extreme individualism associated with outlaw heroes promoted selfishness, the official heroes’ push for respectability also threatened to incorporate either repression or blandness. As much as the outlaw tradition offered promises of freedom and adventure, it offered loneliness and danger. On the other hand, as much as the official tradition offered promises of comfort and safety, it also offered boredom and entanglements. It is through the existence of such contradictory traditions that the mythology of the denial of a necessity of choice is fostered by most American writers. This mythology view situations away from the normal course of American life, which require individuals to make decisions, as temporary. In this case, for a hero to fit in both views of heroism, it is important to avoid commitment to a single set of values, and instead embrace improvisation, ad hoc solutions, and individualism to handle crises. Reference Ray, R. B. (1985). A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, 1930-1980. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Ray, Robert B. "The Thematic Paradigm." Signs of Life in the U.S.A. ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. Read More