Issues in The Thematic Paradigm by Robert Ray - Movie Review Example

Robert B. Ray The Thematic Paradigm The Thematic Paradigm of American movie and literature created bythe Professor of the University of Florida Robert B. Ray reveals one of the main characteristics of the typical Hollywood movies. So, according to this theory all the typical movie heroes can be divided into two main types - the outlaw hero and the official hero. You can find them in any kind of movies, TV shows, even in the cartoons and etc. This division is also can be applied to the modern American music culture. But we shall start with the movie heroes. According to the Robert B. Ray, the outlaw hero is usually “embodied in the adventurer, explorer, gunfighter, wanderer, and loner” (Robert B. Ray). The most vivid examples of this type are such heroes as Robin Hood, Jesse James, Rambo, Batman, Huckleberry Finn, the Lone Ranger Bonny and Clyde, Jack Sparrow and etc. Sometimes the typical trades of such hero are grotesque. Usually the man of this type is quite attractive and charismatic personality though they are not always ‘good guys’. As an example we will take the captain Jack Sparrow who is definitely one of the most striking examples of outlaw hero. The proposed image of the hero is a rather curious and didnt appear by chance. Jack Sparrow - a pirate, a man without home, without a native land, without any roots. He is a robber and the only thing he does well is pirating. He is absolutely not a kind of Robin Hood, who robs the rich to help the poor. He is interested only in his own enrichment; he does not care about anybody else. He does not need friends; he craves for the absolute freedom without any social or moral obligations. He doesnt recognize any rules or laws. R. Ray pointed out in his work that: "Such hero represents a flight from maturity. He cant have true friends or family, but only evanescent acquaintances that come and go away in the course of the story. “The lifestyle of the outlaw may promise you adventure and freedom, but it also offers danger and loneliness” (Robert B. Ray). This hero represents an image of the ‘natural man’. Along with the outlaw hero there is the other side of the coin – the official hero. If the firs one is a romantic personage and could appear even in a shape of a pirate, the second one surely will be a lawyer, a politician, a military man, policemen or somebody of that kind. This hero is always ready to come to somebodies rescue and represents a powerful arm of the Law, or he can be just a family man, but all such heroes are always “comfortable with society” (Robert B. Ray). Very often this type of hero is embodied in the images of Founding Fathers, the Wise Old Men and so on. But the image of them, sometimes, gets garbled form like in the case of the Godfather. The most typical representatives of this official hero type are Atticus Finch (To kill a Mockingbird), Daniel Hillard (Mrs. Doubtfire), Mr. Smith (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) sometimes the character of this hero is embodied or based on characters of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. So this type is an image of the civilized man. These two types of heroes contrast with each other in many points but they are not just “Good Boys” and “Bad Boys” this contradiction lays much deeper, in the core of traditional American culture, literature, ideology, legends and mythology. From the one side it is the opposition of natural man versus civilized man; from the other – the opposition of individualism and collectivism. Exactly this idea was taken by adopted by Classic Hollywood and embodied in its well-known heroes. Robert B. Ray says that both types of heroes can be defined by their mottos, so is the outlaw heroes’ motto is: "I dont know what the law says, but I do know whats right and wrong," the official heros one is "We are a nation of laws, not of men," or "No man can place himself above the law." (Robert B. Ray). The most attractive feature of the outlaws is their childishness, which is especially high valued by Americans as a result of the Americas cult of childhood. The heroes’ indulgence for whims and emotions play the most important role and make the hero more charismatic. The situation with official hero is vice-versa. The attractiveness of this type of hero lies in his internal maturity and self-resistance. He is usually much older that the outlaw hero and always makes a weighted decisions unlike the firs type of movie hero. Peaking about official heroes Robert B. Ray asserts that: “the official heroes embodied the best attributes of adulthood: sound reasoning and judgment, wisdom and sympathy based on experience.” As we already said the division into outlaw and official heroes can be also applied to such people as, for example, rock musicians. They tend to use the image of bad boys. The famous rock band “Kiss” wad considered to be ‘the Devil’s followers’ and everything like that, so they used the image of the bad boys (outlaws). The whole culture of American rock music represents the outlaw culture, while classical and folk music more alike the official culture. The same we see in the books of American authors such as Stephen E. King and his Andy Dufresne from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption; Neil Gaiman and the hero Shadow from the book American Gods. These two heroes, actually, were the outlaws not only metaphorically, but they both were imprisoned, but they were still free within their souls and sought for freedom in reality. But there is a difference between them Andy Dufresne had a cold mind and logic, also with the course of the story he gets older and more mature, so he resembles an official hero; Shadow, in his turn, is much younger than Andy, he is more inclined to be aggressive and follows the course of his emotions. These are only two examples of a large scale of outlaw heroes in American modern literature. It is sometimes difficult to accurately define whether the hero belongs to the first or the second type. So we should mention one more type of American movie heroes – the reluctant hero. Robert Ray says that this type of hero can be defined as the person, who is can agree to be somehow involved into action only on his own terms. So this hero is embodied in the image of Huckleberry Finn, Dr. Gregory House, Hancock and etc. We also shouldn’t forget that a woman also can be an outlaw hero, but this happens much rare, in this context we should mention Bonny (Bonny and Clyde) and Sarah and Mary (Bandidas); and of course a woman could represent the archetype of the official hero as, for example Erin Brockovich from the film of the same name. R. Ray concludes that: “Despite the existence of both heroes, the national ideology clearly preferred the outlaw.” (Robert B. Ray) Maybe Ray is right, but I consider that all the types of heroes alternate each other in the course of time. I support of this idea I should say that the ideal type of the hero fall under the influence of circumstances; every significant historical even brings the new national heroes on the pedestal of fame. Like after the World War I and the World War II the most famous hero was that one who wore a military uniform. Each century needs its own hero, and for each time he would be of different type. For example, the Professor of English at California State University Jack Solomon says the following: “The terror attacks of September 11, 2001 brought official heroes (firefighters and policemen) back into favor” (Jack Solomon). This phrase confirms my point of view, and many other examples could be provided. In conclusion I want to say that the Thematic Paradigm formulated by Robert B. Ray reflects the inner world of the American (Hollywood) film production and it will never lose its actuality. References Richoux Matti Johansen. Frontiers in the American Mind. North American Area Studies. University of Oslo. 2012 Robert B. Ray. The Thematic Paradigm (article). retrieved October 1st from http://otiscatmann.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/rb-ray-essay1.pdf Robert B. Ray. A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, 1930-1980. Princeton University Press. 1985 Solomon Jack (professor of English at California State University). Official Heroes, Outlaw Heroes, and . . . Charlie Sheen!? retrieved October 1st from http://blogs.bedfordstmartins.com/bits/popular-culture/official-heroes-outlaw-heroes-and-charlie-sheen/solomon/ Read More