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The fictional event is treated like a parable. The vicissitudes of the conflict
between characters are retold in a higher key in terms of the vacillating des-
tinies of the values that the conflicting characters represent.
In order to get a clearer picture of the form of analysis sketched
above, consider this abbreviated example. In Straw Dogs, a mild-mannered
18 Themes of The General
mathematician is insulted and assaulted by a tribe of local bullies. Eventually,
the mathematician successfully retaliates. The story seems to be nothing
less than a spectacular rehearsal of a sort of grade school fantasy involving
the smartest yet puniest kid in the class avenging himself on the class
toughs who have humiliated him. The way the standard dramatic analysis
would proceed with this example of thinly veiled wish-fulfillment might be
to assign the mathematician the value of civilization, while the bullies are
construed as savages. In this light the story would be read as a gradually escal-
ating struggle between barbarism and civility. Finally, a point is reached where
the mathematician adopts a series of sadistic measures fully on a par with
the practices of the cruelest headhunters. The dramatic conflict resolves itself
as the representative of civilization sheds every restraint on violence and
brutality. Retold in this abstract, generalized mode of discourse, the theme
emerges, indeed virtually drops out civilization must indulge in savagery
to survive. Irony upon irony, to maintain civilization, which, from one per-
spective, is to transcend savagery, one must, at times, become savage, i.e. the
cost of maintaining a society, where violence is restrained, is sometimes unre-
strained violence.
Limitation of the Dramatic Approach
The type of analysis sketched above can abort in a number of ways.
Obviously, there is quite a lot of room for error in the move from a charac-
ter to the value that he or she is taken to instantiate. Moreover, even where
the conflicting values are acceptably identified, the resolution of the conflict,
in terms of the attitude or perspective it is said to evince, may be open to
varying interpretations. For instance, with Straw Dogs, someone might argue
that the theme that emerges from the mathematician s rampage is that a
civilized man is actually the most destructive and savage beast because, in
him, calculation and ingenuity are driven by the fiercest energy, that is, that
which has hitherto been repressed. The point here, of course, is that since
the data may support many interpretations, there is a high possibility of error
and inconclusiveness in this form of analysis.
Though the limitations discussed in the preceding paragraph are quite real,
my reasons for avoiding a dramatic approach to The General are otherwise.
Any interpretative venture, not merely the dramatic analysis of themes, runs
the risk of error or of inconclusiveness. Abandoning dramatic analysis
because of this would be dubious unless the alternative approach to be
Themes of The General 19
adopted lacked these limitations. Yet, what interpretative approach can claim
such advantages?
I abandoned the dramatic approach to The General because it is inappro-
priate rather than inconclusive. Simply stated, I think the dramatic conflicts
of The General, including both the social and romantic conflicts, are themat-
ically insignificant. Hence, looking to the dramatic structure of the film for
thematic clues is misleading.
I do not mean to insinuate that dramatic analysis is not without applic-
ability, but only that it provides little appreciable insight. Certainly, for a film
like Sunrise, a dramatic approach makes perfect sense. Here, the reason is
quite clear. In Sunrise, the dramatic approach, as an analytic tool for iso-
lating themes, is matched by a similar creative procedure on the part of
the filmmakers. Murnau and Mayer elaborate their subject via a system of
conflictive structures including country versus city, light versus dark, night
versus day, pure versus fetid, natural versus artificial, and marriage versus [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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The fictional event is treated like a parable. The vicissitudes of the conflict
between characters are retold in a higher key in terms of the vacillating des-
tinies of the values that the conflicting characters represent.
In order to get a clearer picture of the form of analysis sketched
above, consider this abbreviated example. In Straw Dogs, a mild-mannered
18 Themes of The General
mathematician is insulted and assaulted by a tribe of local bullies. Eventually,
the mathematician successfully retaliates. The story seems to be nothing
less than a spectacular rehearsal of a sort of grade school fantasy involving
the smartest yet puniest kid in the class avenging himself on the class
toughs who have humiliated him. The way the standard dramatic analysis
would proceed with this example of thinly veiled wish-fulfillment might be
to assign the mathematician the value of civilization, while the bullies are
construed as savages. In this light the story would be read as a gradually escal-
ating struggle between barbarism and civility. Finally, a point is reached where
the mathematician adopts a series of sadistic measures fully on a par with
the practices of the cruelest headhunters. The dramatic conflict resolves itself
as the representative of civilization sheds every restraint on violence and
brutality. Retold in this abstract, generalized mode of discourse, the theme
emerges, indeed virtually drops out civilization must indulge in savagery
to survive. Irony upon irony, to maintain civilization, which, from one per-
spective, is to transcend savagery, one must, at times, become savage, i.e. the
cost of maintaining a society, where violence is restrained, is sometimes unre-
strained violence.
Limitation of the Dramatic Approach
The type of analysis sketched above can abort in a number of ways.
Obviously, there is quite a lot of room for error in the move from a charac-
ter to the value that he or she is taken to instantiate. Moreover, even where
the conflicting values are acceptably identified, the resolution of the conflict,
in terms of the attitude or perspective it is said to evince, may be open to
varying interpretations. For instance, with Straw Dogs, someone might argue
that the theme that emerges from the mathematician s rampage is that a
civilized man is actually the most destructive and savage beast because, in
him, calculation and ingenuity are driven by the fiercest energy, that is, that
which has hitherto been repressed. The point here, of course, is that since
the data may support many interpretations, there is a high possibility of error
and inconclusiveness in this form of analysis.
Though the limitations discussed in the preceding paragraph are quite real,
my reasons for avoiding a dramatic approach to The General are otherwise.
Any interpretative venture, not merely the dramatic analysis of themes, runs
the risk of error or of inconclusiveness. Abandoning dramatic analysis
because of this would be dubious unless the alternative approach to be
Themes of The General 19
adopted lacked these limitations. Yet, what interpretative approach can claim
such advantages?
I abandoned the dramatic approach to The General because it is inappro-
priate rather than inconclusive. Simply stated, I think the dramatic conflicts
of The General, including both the social and romantic conflicts, are themat-
ically insignificant. Hence, looking to the dramatic structure of the film for
thematic clues is misleading.
I do not mean to insinuate that dramatic analysis is not without applic-
ability, but only that it provides little appreciable insight. Certainly, for a film
like Sunrise, a dramatic approach makes perfect sense. Here, the reason is
quite clear. In Sunrise, the dramatic approach, as an analytic tool for iso-
lating themes, is matched by a similar creative procedure on the part of
the filmmakers. Murnau and Mayer elaborate their subject via a system of
conflictive structures including country versus city, light versus dark, night
versus day, pure versus fetid, natural versus artificial, and marriage versus [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]