Themes And Ideologies In The American Society - Case Study Example

The Thematic Paradigm Introduction The American cinema portrays two types of heroes, the official hero and the outlaw hero, who achieve similar goals in the course of their heroism as much as they are opposite. In “The Thematic Paradigm” by Robert Ray, he describes the distinction between the two heroes in which case the outlaw hero is associated with gunfight, adventure, wandering, exploration, and loneliness. In this case, the outlaw hero formed that part of an imagination among Americans that values freedom from entanglements and self-determination. As such, the outlaw hero is uncivilized and employs violence as a way of solving any situation regardless of its nature. In Hollywood, the outlaw hero’s view of civilization is portrayed as a life in marriage with a woman. A woman helps a man to settle down and attain calmness in his life. Only those women that allow their husbands to proceed with their self-determined and adventurous lives are deemed as female outlaw heroes. In terms of characterization, the outlaw hero is seen to be against societal standards and in preference of defining justice at the individual level and not by the society’s collective law. Contrary to this, the official hero is more modernized, civilized, and quaint. In his description, Robert Ray points out that the official hero may be portrayed as a lawyer, teacher, farmer, politician, or family man. In this case, the official hero represents collective action as part of the American belief, and the legal processes that replace individual definitions of right or wrong. As such, this is the kind of hero that each parent wants their children to grow up to be one who embraces law in solving life’s injustices. This paper review the description made by Robert Ray concerning how Hollywood portrays the competing values of the official hero and the outlaw hero. Themes and Ideologies in the American Society Aging The outlaw hero is depicted as childish and having the tendency of tantrums, whims, and emotional decisions that have been derived from the cult of childhood among Americans(Ray, 1985). Ray reviews Fielder’s observation of how American literature tends to uphold the view that an individual that falls short of adulthood is guaranteed innocence and insight. American literature offered privileges to children, and they were not confined by societal rules. Such a notion set in motion the outlawed actions as related to daily affairs. According to Fielder, the developed childhood image has created a new approach to adult life outside the law, yet permissible in the society. Out of this life, various careers have been created within the American film industry, with the development of stories such as “Easy Rider” or “On the Road” which involve adult characters who try with desperation to postpone responsibilities through holding onto adolescent lifestyles(Ray, 1985). Contrary to the outlaw hero who represents an escape from maturity, the official hero embraces adulthood and the related attributes including sound judgment and reasoning, sympathy and wisdom as defined by their experiences. “Autobiography” by Franklin and “Poor Richard’s Almanack” are but examples of traditional texts that have been developed in the view of the adult nature of the official hero, and they are highly persuasive to the extent that they can appeal to outsiders. Nevertheless, it is interesting for Ray to note that American mythology and literature has scarce mature heroes and an abundance of outlaw heroes. This is a clear indication of the ideology among Americans in relation to their vital preference for youth, to the level that the country itself has been associated with this quality. The American stories have time and again distorted the wise old man’s stock figure, depicting him as useless, mad, or evil(Ray, 1985). 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. Read More