In your textbook, Looking at Movies, by Richard Barsam, Barsam gives a detailed analysis of the construction of Stagecoach's narrative. In your response, pick TWO aspects of narrative that Barsam talks about that you think were particularly effective in the film and discuss cinematically how they worked to make Stagecoach such a successful film. Don't forget to use examples from the film to support your response!!!
Due: Wednesday, November 27
Stagecoach is a 1939 Western film, famously directed by John Ford, and it illustrates the tale of a group of near strangers, all travelling in a stagecoach from Arizona to New Mexico together. Due to the many different characters in the film, the narration is a really interesting aspect of the plotline. Although Ford utilized many different aspects of film to describe and make the narrative so elaborate, the two that seemed most important were setting and suspense.
ReplyDeleteThe setting, of course, is the old west, with extremely stereotypical cowboys and “Indians” running all over the place. In order to create such a strong narrative, Ford needed to have really strong verisimilitude, especially because of the necessity to make the viewer feel as though they were there, in the stagecoach, with the characters. If Ford had made the decision to shoot in a studio, the stagecoach wouldn’t have had as much leeway while getting attacked by the Indians, and in addition to that, having it shot in the actual west gave it extremely strong verisimilitude. The on location filming definitely played a part in the powerful narrative that the film held, and it upped Ford’s reputation as a director for sure. All of these aspects of setting combined with the (mostly) accurate (and totally not racist) costumes, mise-en-scene, and makeup were used to make the audience feel completely engulfed in western culture and captivated by the unique narration.
In addition to the setting, the suspense that Ford holds over the viewer is very important to the narration. Not only does the viewer almost never know what’s going to happen, the setting means that the Indians could attack the stagecoach at any time, leaving an overlying sense of unease at all times. The scene in which Dr. Boone has to sober up to deliver the baby has an extreme element of suspense, because the viewer doesn’t know if he isn’t going to sober up or not, and therefore it is an extremely tense scene. As the camerawork is quick cuts, the viewer doesn’t know if the action is resolved or not, leading to stressful editing. All in all, the suspense and setting leads to an extremely powerful and strong narration.
Two key elements of stagecoach that Barsam discusses are the setting and the use of suspense throughout the film.
ReplyDeleteThe west in stagecoach as portrayed in stagecoach are in the heyday of the wild era rife with cowboys and “indians.” Had ford been unsuccessful in constructing verisimilitude then the film would have fallen flat upon audiences an uninteresting and silly film. However Ford expertly demonstrates the feeling of riding a stagecoach through potentially dangerous of desert. The camera is always close to the subject capturing the cramped feeling of the coach’s compartment and when we’re shown the driver and sherif everything is shaking and around them is only desert.
Suspense primarily is created in two scenes through a use of long drawn out shots to keep the audience fully enthralled in the movie. Geronimo’s attack and The doctor sobering up create this suspense in very different ways however. In the former all involved parties know that things are going to pop off it’s just a matter of when it does while the latter creates the stress of running out of time and not making progress. Both create a powerful emotional response though which is the true success.
Two very effective aspects of narrative used in the film were suspense and setting. One very important aspect of the narrative was whether they would stay in an area that they were sure was safe or travel on to their destination, risking being attacked by the Indians. Without this suspense, the narrative would not have nearly as much drama or conflict between characters, both of which are important when trying to entertain an audience. The scene where they’re stopped at the town the army won’t go past with them, all trying to decide what they’re going to do is a very good example of this. Each character’s individual concerns, stories, personality, etc. come out in this scene, and conflicts between them as well. When they’re sitting at the table and no one wants to sit near the duke, we see a connection made between him and the prostitute and a clear divide between those two and the “polite” folk. In reality, the “polite” folk are of worse character than them, the fraudulent banker and the cowardly cab driver for example. Without the suspense of their decision weighing on all of them, the characters would be less developed and the story would be significantly less entertaining.
ReplyDeleteThe setting is also very important. It adds to the suspense, by making the threat more real and separating all of the character’s (except maybe the duke) from their comfortable zones. Being on the road, in the middle of the desert makes everything much more capricious and the decisions they make more significant. It also leaves them wide open to being attacked. The additional weight on the characters and their decisions adds to the drama and suspense that makes the movie entertaining. In the ending battle scene, where they are attacked on the road, the setting plays a huge role. The characters are in an unfamiliar, uncomfortable place, they are clearly at a disadvantage, and we know that they’re most likely not going to win. In fact, we are sure they won’t survive when they run out of bullets. The suspense created here is only lifted when the soldiers come in as a deus ex machina.
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ReplyDeleteJohn Ford was easily an auteur of the Western Film Genre. In the Textbook Looking at Movies, Richard Barsam explains that it was extremely typical of Ford’s style to use dialog and visual images to convey the plot-line instead of a narrator. He instead uses the camera as the narrator’s perspective. This allows him to create suspense and drama with what the viewer can see and what happening off screen. This style is something that he carries through his films and interacts with the dramatic script to produce an eye catching effect.
DeleteOne of the things that happens in Stagecoach’s narrative if the Stereotypical characters. You have the Geronimo the Savage Indian, Peacock as the Frontier Doctor, RIngo the Drifter, Doc Boone as the Morally Bankrupt Banker, Lucy as the Determined Homesteader’s Wife and finally Dallas as the Hooker with a Heart of Gold. These characters all have something about them that makes them slightly undesirable and they have all been put into this stagecoach together and it creates an interesting ongoing exchange. To see how the characters spark off one another is why they were put into a stagecoach together. They are forced to be with each other and silently judge each other's flaws. Though, because the space is so tight and crowded and they are on such a long trip they all need to suck it up. Eventually everyone reveals the true character underneath their facade and they all end up connecting on a deeper level because of their ride and the battle against Geronimo.
Another dimension of narrative that Ford utilizes is the setting. It is the same area that has been used for a ton of Western Films and it is the very stereotypical Cowboy, Great Plains, Hot Desert space. It represents the frontiersmen moving west towards manifest destiny. There is a new introduction of social status which widely affects the film, because of Dallas. People are beginning the judge others on their action and social outcasting people from society, essentially creating the cowboy hero loner Ringo.
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In the Golden Age of American cinema arose what Richard Barsam referred to as “the classic Western” of 1939, John Ford’s Stagecoach. Western films dealt with the brute portrayal of American Indians, poor treatment of animals due to extensive stunts, and every narrative spoke of the “wild west”. What is most interesting about this film is it is truly a classic as it is made to be such a reality to its audiences by the use of repetition and diegetic and nondiegetic elements.
ReplyDeleteRepetition is an import element as it forces the viewer to truly face the harsh reality of devastating events. Robert Ebert stated “Stagecoach holds our attention effortlessly and is paced with the elegance of a symphony” this is important to note as the scenes leading up to dramatic events experience move at a seamless pace which only further emphasizes the repetitive shots we see in scenes with high tension. In the final showdown scene of this film where Ringo is left to fight two men is the most revealing of John Ford’s pacing technique. This scene is drawn out with editing techniques similar to those seen in in the Russian expressionist movement. An example of the repeated action of this scene is we first see a shot of the two men walking towards what we assume is Ringo, then we cut to a similar shot of their shadows walking in the same direction. This repetitive editing is repeated throughout this scene showing specifics of the battle from different angles and forcing the audience to continually see the violent actions of Ringo and his enemies. This technique puts the viewer in the center of the action and achieves a higher level of verisimilitude because we can truly see all of the realities multiple times.
Diegetic and nondiegetic elements also play a role in achieving great verisimilitude and allowing the audience to view this film as another reality. Richard Barsam speaks of how the only non-diegetic moments of this film are the opening and coming credits, and few instances with background music, this draws the viewer into the film as it most wholistically consist of purely diegetic elements. Instances where this non-diegetic music is used is solely in instances where there is a massive change in the plot, such as in the final scenes where “on the range.”
is heard. An important instance where diegetic sound is heard is in the grand battle sequence when the sound of a bugle horn is heard, signifying the end of the battle. Because nondiegetic sound is only heard during scenes of great tension, the audience is conditioned to feel tensions and anxious, this is why the bugle horn and diegetic noise in general is such an important element.
Stagecoach is essentially the Western Movie Bible. The conventions displayed in the film are so archetypal and so ingrained in the genre that it could act as a guidebook for any other Western. Like Barsam says in the Story section of the Stagecoach study, the movie isn't so much about the escape from the Indians but the different figures that have come together in the stagecoach. Westerns often chronicle several distinctive personalities that have been gathered together to accomplish a task. Thus it is not about the plot per se, but about the concept of individuality and personality in the unforgiving frontier. Stagecoach, with its diverse cast of characters, establishes generic stereotypes that would endure for decades (i.e. the Southern Belle, the Drunk Doctor, the Gentleman/Gambler, the Outlaw, etc.).
ReplyDeleteThe setting is also important, because, not only does it establish generic convention by taking place in Monument Valley, Ford's favorite spot, but laying the thematic groundwork for all Westerns to come. Romanticizing rugged individualism and distinctive personalities, Ford created an idol of John Wayne in the minds of the American people. As the movie was created in 1939, the brink of the second World War, the one-dimensional depiction of Geronimo and the Indians allows for insight into the American exceptionalist perception of war and conflict. Mirroring the patriotic gusto with which the people condemned the Japanese and Germans (I don't intend to sympathize with the Nazi party, obviously), the good guys beat the Indians and make it home safe because, well, they're Americans.
Stagecoach is such an effective film because it is an immortal archetype for Westerns and many more "ship of fools" stories and a blueprint for a well-constructed narrative.
Stagecoach is a movie that uses many cinematic elements that make it a very unique Western movie. The different aspects of its narrative made this not only a successful movie but an effective one in showing different cultural aspects that John Ford tried to display. The movie is about a group of strangers that are traveling through the wild west to a town called Lordsburg. On their way there, they encounter the different dangers that anyone travelling through the West can face, most of all being the Indian attacks. In Looking at Movies the different cinematic elements that John Ford present are explained in depth as Richard Barsam dissects it thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteTwo of the more important aspects of this film that are emphasized by Barsam in Looking at Movies are the Diegetic and Nondiegetic Elements and the Characters. Almost everything in the movie is made up of diegetic elements except for the little nondiegetic elements such as opening and closing titles, credits, and the background music. Barsam talks about one song in particular that is usually heard in connection to Buck (Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie) that symbolizes his fear of dying “on the range”. The characters are also mentioned in this analysis as very important aspects of the film. All of the characters inside the stagecoach are considered major characters because the focus is on all of their lives as they try to get to Lordsburg. The difference between some of them is that some are round characters, and some are flat characters. Dallas, Ringo, Dr. Boone, and Lucy are round because their characters are flexible and unpredictable and possess many traits that the audience can relate to. THe others are flat characters because they are more one dimensional. One thing that is unique about this movie is that the main antagonist described by Barsam is Geronimo, a character with only an offscreen presence, but is very crucial to the plot because all of the characters are fearful of him.
In creating Stagecoach’s strong narrative, John Ford is sure to stick to the main focal point of the Western genre; suspension of disbelief. He does so through many elements, but specifically through his deterrence from using non diegetic sound in order to create suspense and his ensemble characters. The always use of diegetic sound is important for the plot of Stagecoach. When there is silence within the cabin, the fear rings stronger than any score could do. It is the reliance on the effects that his shots will have that shows the strength of Ford’s filmmaking ability. Making suspense throughout the film is done simply, but highly effectively by the Western heavyweight.
ReplyDeleteThe cast of characters creates a believable and relatable tale for viewers. The more characters he has, the more likely it is for people to connect to the plot through any one of the given characters. During the scenes of battle, we see many different ways that people deal with the hand they are dealt. It is important to show the varying perspectives for a continuation of the interesting nature of the film.