Now I have seen all of the Spaghetti westerns, but I have to say this is by far my favorite Eastwood film. The moment Eastwood rode in on his horse into the picture almost fading in like a mirage and left at the end of the film fading away into a mirage was beautifully done. The artistic setup of this film was captivating and was part of the reason why I was drawn into the film. I think I have a love for Westerns because of the beautiful scenery and sets.
To go back to our discussion in class on the rape scene was that it really wasn't as shocking to me as I thought it was going to be. I was expecting this horrible shocking scene where the woman was raped. I don't even know if I would consider what Eastwood's character did was "rape". The woman walked up to Eastwood and completely instigated the situation. Even though no one ever deserves to get raped, Honestly, myself being a feminist, i wanted her to at least get something for being such a bitch. While she was actually getting raped, she started to actually enjoy it. By that time I started to think that it was a cat and mouse chase, she wanted that to happen. I just thought this whole scene was very confusing and frustrating.
While reading the article I found it interesting how Eastwood wanted to be a part of High Plains Drifter because he compared it to the main character in High Noon. I thought it was cool how only 9 pages into the screenplay and he was hooked. From the other films he got to be in, he finally got to have revenge for those characters. Even though I have never seen the film Shane, from what we discussed in class, I can see how it is considered a "re carnation" of it. Although High Plains Drifter was in essence one of the first of its kind, it has taken parts in other Westerns and mimicked it within this one. Such as a scene in Fistful of Dollars, the drifter begins to take advantage of the town, milking it for everything its worth.
The compilations of Westerns helped to make High Plains Drifter into what it turned out to be.
You've seen all of them! hats off to you, my friend. Rape scene was a little shocking, I thought. Clint was out of line there. It is a great film, I agree with that. And the opening is also excellent. I also really love Westerns because I love the landscape. Always great scenery
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree about the rape scene. While that girl did need to be put in her place, I always cringe when it comes at the cost of gender equality--it just seems to me that scenes like that pound into our minds over and over again that women are weak and men are strong, women are dumb and men are smart, and that's just the way it is. Even if we don't directly feel as though scenes like that have an impact on how we view gender dynamics I think they have a more subtle influence than we realize or acknowledge, which is all the more damaging. And yeah when she started to enjoy it, I kinda wanted to cry. Stupid broad.
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