Moral Choices as Centre Stage in the Stagecoach and the Player Films - Essay Example

Different representations of constituents of significant plot points in the moral choices as centre stage in the Stagecoach and The Player films In most films moral choices are presented in the development of plot (Casetti 25). There are different genres of films, which have been used to approach moral choices in different films. A moral choice presents itself when a person is faced with a choice between doing good and doing what is not good. These different films present moral choices in very different ways. For example, in the Stagecoach and The Player films, moral choices are at the centre stage in the development of their plots. However, the constituents of their significant plots and the moral choices are represented differently. This paper discusses the way these constituents and the moral choices are represented differently in these two films. The Player (1992) is an American film that belongs to a satirical genre and directed by Altman Robert. The film is based on Michael Tolkin’s screen play based on his 1988 novel by the name The Player. The film recounts a chilling story of Hollywood studio executive who kills a screenwriter after suspecting that he could be the one sending him death threats. The film’s plot is strewn with a series of instances when characters are required to make moral choices. Stagecoach (1939) is adapted by John Ford from Ernest Haycox’s short story ‘the stage to Lordsburg.” The story recounts a journey of strangers riding on a Stagecoach that passes via a precarious apache territory in New Mexico. Among the strangers are a prostitute called Dallas who is being driven from the town by members of the law and order league, an alcoholic doctor alongside a pregnant woman traveling to see her cavalry officer husband and a whiskey salesman. In their dangerous escapade to Lordsburg, the travelers contend with situations where moral choice is inevitable. In the film The Player, Griffin Mill had to make a quick moral choice when his life was threatened. He searched the person who was putting his life at danger to kill him. While they were fighting, he lost the game and decided to kill David Kahane, and he succeeded and got away with it. In the start of the film Stagecoach, Lucy Mallory is boarding a Stagecoach alongside a prostitute Dallas and an alcoholic doctor Doc Boone. She is warned by her friends not to travel along the two evil people. She had to make a moral choice to sacrifice her love for her husband or to avoid being associated with ‘those creatures.’ Lucy was heavily pregnant to take such a risk and was advised by Curley not to take the trip in her status, but she insisted that if her husband is in danger, she wanted to be with him, and it was as she resolved. These two scenes are different in the way each presents moral choice concept (Dudley 51), but they function to kick start significant plots in the two films. In The Player, Griffin Mill, when he was threatened by a rattle snake realized that he was attracted to June, the girlfriend to David Kahane, whom he killed. He had to make a choice to take her and have David’s thoughts haunting him or go against his pleasure pressures and betray his passions. On the other hand, June was aware that Griffin Mill was a chief suspect for having killed her former boyfriend, David Kahane; but she was in love with him and had to make a moral choice to marry a suspect murderer to her boyfriend or stay without a boyfriend and a husband. In a similar plot scene in the film Stagecoach, Dallas was also in a situation to make a moral choice when Ringo proposed to marry her. She was to choose to risk marrying him, or refuse in fear of her checkered past as a prostitute. In the following morning, Ringo had to choice to give up his revenge for plummers and marry Dallas or lose Dallas and avenge by fighting plummers. Both scenes serve to develop a plot in which moral choices are at the centre of the characters, but in a very different way. Moreover, at one point, Bonnie in the film The Player had to make a choice to object Griffin Mill suggested changes and lose her job or agree with him and retain her job, she chose to object. In almost a similar situation in the Stagecoach, the passengers are warned against traveling by Lieutenant Blanchard because of the insecurity from the Geronimo’s apache warriors. They had to choice to risk their lives by traveling through hostile apache Indian land. For example Samuel Peacock had to choose to remain or risk his sales business when he was restrained and encouraged by Doc Boone to remain. Each of the case above involves a risky choice, one by a group and another by an individual; and for plot development in both scenes, the characters chose to go the risky way (Hennig-Thurau et al. 252). In this case the constituents of a significant plot in presenting moral choices are different but thematically agreeing. In The Player, Griffin Mill had to make a moral choice to help perfect a film and lose his position in the studio, or leave the film to the last minute and salvage it to reclaim his position at the studio. This is a presentation of how an individual can avoid doing well for his own vested interests. In a different presented constituent of a moral choice scene, the passengers in the Stagecoach had to make a tough choice when they reached dry Fork and were informed that the cavalry detachment has headed to apache wells. Buck wanted to give up the journey and return, but the group voted for procession. Buck and Peacock had to make a choice to object to the group for their safety or to proceed with the journey and risk their lives, knowing that majority are not always right. Griffin Mill had to make a choice at the airport, on his way with June to Acapulco, when he realized that d DeLongpre was patrolling the airport and suspected that they might discover that he killed David, had a choice to risk or to lie that he had left his passport at home. In this case, Griffin Mill chose to salvage his position at the studio, but he had a chance of being virtuous and assisting levy to perfect the film scene to the highest standard. This is unlike in the case of Dallas, in the Stagecoach whose choice was slim because she was being ‘extracted’ from the community by the women league who had accused her of being a social misfit together with Doc Boone. As Dudley (1984: 51) argues movie makers employ moral choice concepts so as to allow plot development; but in a different situation and constituents. In conclusion, the film Stagecoach consummates its moral lesson with all characters resolving to either of the two groups; respectable and disrespectable. However, the ironic twist is seen because the formerly disrespectable characters proving to be the most virtuous, selfless and noble. Prostitute Dallas, outlawed Ringo kind and the alcoholic doc Boone uphold the highest moral characters compared to banker Gatewood, confederate Hatfield and the pregnant Lucy Mallory. In the film The Player, Griffin Mill is depicted as a person who is not virtuous. He makes his moral choices to his own interests, unlike his Bonnie Sherow who stands by her principles and loses her job. June also makes a choice that depicts her as a careless woman who does not care more than herself provided she attains her goals. However, the underlying factor is that the moral choices function to develop plots that are well weaved in the storyline with the audience being left to make their conclusions. Works Cited Dudley, Andrew. Concepts in Film Theory. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. Print. Casetti, Francesco. Theories of Cinema, 1945-1990. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999. Print. Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten, Andre Marchand & Barbara Hiller. “The Relationship between Reviewer Judgments and Motion Picture Success: Re-analysis and Extension.” Journal of Cultural Economics 36.3 (2012), 249-283. Read More