The Cinematic Heroes of American society
In this paper I summarize Robert B. Ray's essay, "The Thematic Paradigm" and talk about my reaction to it. In it he talks about the cycle that exists between American society and the American Cinema. Recurring themes and characters in films, specifically the two "heroes of American society" the "official hero" and the "outlaw hero", easily represent the ongoing cycle.
In his article, “The Thematic Paradigm”, author Robert B. Ray describes how American cinema, has showed the same themes that the American people have come to value. Ray defines this by talking about the symbol of American film, the hero, and the two personas that hero takes shape in the movies. The author has good judgement in his essay when he points out how the American cinema reflects our society throughout similar themes and heroes.
Ray claims in his essay that the society and culture of the United States has made a great influence on its cinema. Ray supports his claim by illustrating the traits the American film industry has and how Americans have reacted to them. He also points out how American movies have especially shown the given traits by producing two semi-different versions of the American hero: the “outlaw hero” and the “official hero”. Ray describes the role of the relationship between the two heroes, “An extraordinary amount of the traditional American mythology adopted by Classic Hollywood derived from the variations worked by American ideology around this opposition of natural man versus civilized man” (Ray 378). Ray outlines the recipe for the heroes with a list of three necessary components: “Aging”, “Society and Women”, and “Politics and the Law”. Here, he discusses differences such as, “outlaw heroes represented a flight from maturity, the official heroes embodied the best attributes of adulthood” (Ray 380), and explains the details surrounding the two difference ways of thought the heroes hold. Ray goes on to continue giving key characteristics the heroes hold, before finishing off by giving multiple examples of these heroes in American film.
On relatively most of the points discussed by Ray in “The Thematic Paradigm”, I agree with him. I think people like movies with the two heroes that Ray talks about in his essay to because while few of us remain the same little kids that grew up watching Spiderman or Superman, our imaginations are still captured by the actions of people that do things out of the ordinary or take action on things bigger than themselves. We wish we could live like those heroes, and we try to, by enjoying them through movie films. What I did not like about Ray’s essay is how he gives dated or older examples of American films. While this may be because the essay is old or because the examples are classic, it still makes it kind of hard to understand the concept Ray talks about when the examples are not the most relateable. The two heroes are present in many modern movies, sometimes both in the same movie. In The Avengers, Captain America represents the “official hero” while Ironman represents the “outlaw hero”. I think these characters captures the imaginations of the public, because we all want to believe that we too, can be more than an ordinary person in our seemingly uneventful lives.
Ray’s “The Thematic Paradigm” truly shows how the American film industry has both inspired and been influenced by the society that flaunts to view the movies. This can all be characterized by the repeated use of American heroes in these such movies.
Work Cited
Ray, Robert B. “The Thematic Paradigm.” Signs of Life in the USA. Seventh Edition. Eds. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 377-386. Print.
Ray claims in his essay that the society and culture of the United States has made a great influence on its cinema. Ray supports his claim by illustrating the traits the American film industry has and how Americans have reacted to them. He also points out how American movies have especially shown the given traits by producing two semi-different versions of the American hero: the “outlaw hero” and the “official hero”. Ray describes the role of the relationship between the two heroes, “An extraordinary amount of the traditional American mythology adopted by Classic Hollywood derived from the variations worked by American ideology around this opposition of natural man versus civilized man” (Ray 378). Ray outlines the recipe for the heroes with a list of three necessary components: “Aging”, “Society and Women”, and “Politics and the Law”. Here, he discusses differences such as, “outlaw heroes represented a flight from maturity, the official heroes embodied the best attributes of adulthood” (Ray 380), and explains the details surrounding the two difference ways of thought the heroes hold. Ray goes on to continue giving key characteristics the heroes hold, before finishing off by giving multiple examples of these heroes in American film.
On relatively most of the points discussed by Ray in “The Thematic Paradigm”, I agree with him. I think people like movies with the two heroes that Ray talks about in his essay to because while few of us remain the same little kids that grew up watching Spiderman or Superman, our imaginations are still captured by the actions of people that do things out of the ordinary or take action on things bigger than themselves. We wish we could live like those heroes, and we try to, by enjoying them through movie films. What I did not like about Ray’s essay is how he gives dated or older examples of American films. While this may be because the essay is old or because the examples are classic, it still makes it kind of hard to understand the concept Ray talks about when the examples are not the most relateable. The two heroes are present in many modern movies, sometimes both in the same movie. In The Avengers, Captain America represents the “official hero” while Ironman represents the “outlaw hero”. I think these characters captures the imaginations of the public, because we all want to believe that we too, can be more than an ordinary person in our seemingly uneventful lives.
Ray’s “The Thematic Paradigm” truly shows how the American film industry has both inspired and been influenced by the society that flaunts to view the movies. This can all be characterized by the repeated use of American heroes in these such movies.
Work Cited
Ray, Robert B. “The Thematic Paradigm.” Signs of Life in the USA. Seventh Edition. Eds. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 377-386. Print.