Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Days of Heaven -- or Hell?
Days of Heaven explores the making of America with an almost mythical depiction of the settlement and industrialization of the American West. Much like other films of the New Hollywood which emerged in the era of the Vietnam War and Watergate, it questions some of the sacrosanct myths of American history and revisions traditional Hollywood genres such as the Western. What is the film saying about progress and prosperity in the founding of the West? What is it saying about the American Dream and the pursuit of happiness? Is America a land of liberty and justice for all -- or just an intricate confidence game?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Days of Heaven is showing that the “American Dream” is a concept that doesn’t actually exist. Bill and Abby worked extremely hard to get themselves out of poverty. For Bill, it was extremely important to make a life for both his girlfriend and his little sister Linda, who narrates the story. To some point, Bill is successful in achieving a good life when the farmer was fooled into thinking that they were all siblings. When Linda narrates, during that time she talks about how content she is with life and how it’s nice to live without having a care in the world. This film seems to have a take on the American Dream similar to the Great Gatsby in the fact that they both show that they don’t exist. By gaining wealth through immoral means, both Bill and Gatsby show that money can’t necessarily buy you happiness. They both fail to reach the American Dream because they are both extremely unhappy and end up dying at the end with an unfulfilled life. The ending of the movie also shows that for a farmer in the west, whether or not you achieve the American dream is completely out of your control. In the case of the farmer, he was extremely wealthy to only end up devastated by locusts and the fire that incinerated his land. I think that this movie is showing that the American dream doesn’t exist, and even if it did, it would be extremely hard to achieve out west because your success relies on external elements.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete