The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Navajo Joe, as spaghetti westerns, differ greatly from the classic western films of America as a result of different perspectives. A key element of classic westerns is the alpha male cowboy who, though he may be morally ambiguous, is ultimately the “good guy” whom the audience supports. This alpha male is most usually a white man – such as Ethan Edwards of The Searchers, Tom Doniphon of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, or Johnny Guitar – which reveals the American perspective of the heroic white male. However, these two spaghetti westerns – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Navajo Joe – do not follow this criterion and include no such white alpha male cowboy. Instead, both films set money as the driving motive for the plot, which suggests that Europeans see Americans as motivated only by their greed for wealth. In The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, many of the main characters, such as Tuco and Angel Eyes, are nonwhite; such an inclusion of so many Mexicans is unusual in classic westerns, which suggests that the spaghetti westerns are more focused on including minorities. The main white character, Blondie, is ascribed the title “The Good,” which is ironic in this spaghetti western; Blondie is motivated by money just as any other man in the film, and he kills just as much, but his being white and depiction as a sympathetic friend to Tuco enables him to become “The Good” while his rivals are called “The Bad” and “The Ugly.” Such a distinction in title amongst similar characters suggests that Europeans deliberately distinguish the prejudices in American society through spaghetti westerns; white men are seen as good, while minorities are described as ugly and bad. This dynamic is presented in Blondie and Tuco’s scam; Blondie is perpetuated as the heroic white male capturing the criminal Mexican, while Tuco’s life is continuously put at risk in order to continue with the scam. The fact that Blondie is labeled “The Good” right after he abandons Tuco in the desert and addresses Tuco’s outrage by saying “such ingratitude after all the times I’ve saved your life” implies that in American society, people expect to be thanked after treating others horribly.
Similarly, in Navajo Joe, there is no decent white man with good intentions, as there usually is in classic westerns. Duncan and his gang are motivated to steal money, while the townspeople are most concerned with protecting their money. Neither group cares about killing or sacrificing people to protect their interests. This lack of caring about other people is most clearly demonstrated in Dr. Chester, a seemingly upstanding man married to a respectable woman, but who is really working for Duncan and who kills an innocent woman to protect himself. With this depiction, it can be discerned that Europeans viewed Americans as people who claim to be the most righteous and infallible people in the world, but in truth are people who lie, steal, and cheat, and possess none of the qualities which they declare they embody. Overall, the spaghetti westerns work to reveal the imperfections of Americans and put them in a much darker light than classic westerns do to reveal the perspectives of Europeans on American society, and how they do not idealize American values as Americans do.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Navajo Joe, as spaghetti westerns, differ greatly from the classic western films of America as a result of different perspectives. A key element of classic westerns is the alpha male cowboy who, though he may be morally ambiguous, is ultimately the “good guy” whom the audience supports. This alpha male is most usually a white man – such as Ethan Edwards of The Searchers, Tom Doniphon of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, or Johnny Guitar – which reveals the American perspective of the heroic white male. However, these two spaghetti westerns – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Navajo Joe – do not follow this criterion and include no such white alpha male cowboy. Instead, both films set money as the driving motive for the plot, which suggests that Europeans see Americans as motivated only by their greed for wealth. The main white character, Blondie, is ascribed the title “The Good,” which is ironic in this spaghetti western; Blondie is motivated by money just as any other man in the film, and he kills just as much, but his being white and depiction as a sympathetic friend to Tuco enables him to become “The Good” while his rivals are called “The Bad” and “The Ugly.” Such a distinction in title amongst similar characters suggests that Europeans deliberately distinguish the prejudices in American society through spaghetti westerns; white men are seen as good, while minorities are described as ugly and bad. This dynamic is presented in Blondie and Tuco’s scam; Blondie is perpetuated as the heroic white male capturing the criminal Mexican, while Tuco’s life is continuously put at risk in order to continue with the scam. The fact that Blondie is labeled “The Good” right after he abandons Tuco in the desert and addresses Tuco’s outrage by saying “such ingratitude after all the times I’ve saved your life” implies that in American society, people expect to be thanked after treating others horribly.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, in Navajo Joe, there is no white alpha male cowboy as there usually is in classic westerns. Duncan and his gang are motivated to steal money, while the townspeople are most concerned with protecting their money. Neither group cares about killing or sacrificing people to protect their interests. This lack of caring about other people is most clearly demonstrated in Dr. Chester, a seemingly upstanding man married to a respectable woman, but who is really working for Duncan and who kills an innocent woman to protect himself. With this depiction, it can be discerned that Europeans view Americans as people who claim to be the most righteous and infallible people in the world, but in truth are people who lie, steal, and cheat, and possess none of the qualities which they declare they embody.
Overall, the spaghetti westerns work to reveal the imperfections of Americans and put them in a much darker light than classic westerns do to reveal the European perspective of American society, and challenge the ideology of American values.