Clint Eastwood told the Las Angelas Times that Unforgiven “summarises everything I feel about the Western”. So What does Clint Eastwood feel about the Western? Here are some notes I made whilst watching Unforgiven.
Sally, the American Indian character in Unforgiven gave Eastwood, as his character later in the film puts it, ‘the evil eye’. She is only in the film for about 2 minutes and during her screen time she is silent and looks at Eastwood with hatred- with no forgiveness at all. Eastwood’s Will symbolises protagonists in quintessential, old school Westerns (where American Indians were treated as cruel and immoral animals) and Sally looks at him with the evil eye because she knows it. In the film Will is old and past his days of race fuelled violence (just like the genre). However, Will seems to have forgotten those days, he has the ability to put it behind him, whereas Sally and the rest of the Native Americans haven’t-this brings an extra layer of pathos to the film. This meta-ness is what makes revisionist Westerns so interesting, in this scene ‘Unforgiven’ is a genre film apologising for its past. I find it interesting that Sally doesn’t speak, its almost as if she’s a ghost.
In standard, ‘old school’ American Westerns the female is merely an object in the film, often She is the damsel in distress or merely a sex object. In Unforgiven this is not the case. The first time Men are depicted is in the tavern, they are dirty, unrefined, they behave in quite a physical, animalistic way. The lighting in the tavern is dim, and often the actors have shadows across there faces so the audience only has a limited view of there expression-this is designed to make the audience feel threatened by the characters, to not really trust them. Not being able to see the actors full expressions means that the audience doesn’t have any cues that can lead them to understanding each characters motivations-this ambiguity means that the audience can’t identify (or empathise) with the characters. Women are depicted differently too men at the beginning of the film. They have an interesting, well balanced discussion in there well-lit bedroom. In this scene the conversation flows naturally and the characters show genuine care for one another. Eastwood covers this scene with nothing but close-ups and medium close-ups that allow the audience to see the pain and tiredness on the lady’s faces. By being able to see the emotion and humanity in the characters faces, the audience feels sympathy for them and in turn empathises with them. Because we see an intimate moment between the ladies (who are in there own private room away from the rest of the tavern) we are positioned to trust them as characters.
In the ‘Classic’ Western its an un-written rule that violence is the answer, however in a revisionist Western Violence isn’t put on the same pedestal. I found it interesting that the ladies, instead of taking violence into there own hands, put up a secret bounty to allow for others to do the killing. They got there revenge passively-without lifting a finger. This is quite intelligent and is far cry from the classic Western where women are nothing but objects. I also found it interesting that towards the end of the film The Schofield kid began to weep after he killed the man on the toilet seat, this is quite subversive because death is such a common occurrence in many Westerns. Its so common that many characters within them don’t deem it as a heavy, significant thing-its just a common occurrence. So when The Schofield Kid began to weep and empathise with the individual he killed (who would never exist again) I was rather shocked. It was interesting seeing so much emotion come to the surface, everyone else seemed hard and desensitised throughout the whole film yet when the Schofield Kid mourned and began to understand the significance of death it was a reminder to me that (even as an audience member) I shouldn’t be desensitised to death.
Animals and property are placed at a higher value than women. When Delilah the prostitute gets slashed in the face the culprits give 5 horses to the local Sheriff ‘Little Bill Dagget’. ‘Maybe we aint nothing but whores but by golly where not horses’.
The weather plays a significant role (the rain that comes in the latter part of the film foreshadows the impending violence). Wind also played a prominent role in the soundtrack-it was designed too unsettle the viewer.
Will (a symbol of the old Western) can’t jump on a horse anymore. This is either because the Western has changed as a genre to a point where many of the values that were deemed worthwhile are no longer so. And that the old Western and many of the conventions its so values are changing to a point where people set in there old ways (like Eastwood) can’t keep up. Its showing the new triumphing over the old.
The film had all the usual genre tropes. Steam Trains, Mountains that bring a sense of isolation, lonely individuals, a bounty, long shots mixed with close-ups, scraggly cowboys, violence.