My Darling Clementine Analysis

According to Studlar and Bernstein (2001), John Ford advocates the cinematic poetry and sentimental narrative toward both U.S westward history and his personal experiences since nineteenth-century. The conventions of western films on narrative and characters had massive success since cinema became the mass medium, which enable to showcase the historical wild West spectacle and nostalgic sensation in films (Studlar and Bernstein, 2001). My Darling Clementine illustrates with the audience falling for the Western films. Throughout the history of American westward expansion, My Darling Clementine implicitly reflects the progress of civilization in frontier towns such as Tombstone and the turning point from wild Western to moral society. At the …show more content…
In this instance, My Darling Clementine presents this classical storytelling of the Western that narratives the symbolic heroic theme under the frontier environment. Therefore, the essay will discuss John Ford’s Western film My Darling Clementine which represents the civilization of American westward during the Wild West period in terms of characters, environment and thematic meanings addressing to the scenes of the opening and O.K Corral.
The characters in Ford’s films embody the antithetic types of people as the representation of the morality of a society instead of individuality (Baxter, 1939), My Darling Clementine is no exception. Hero in Ford’s film most likely be an outsider to the town and consists an image of tough problem solver with morality, just like Marshal Wyatt Earp in My Darling …show more content…
In My Darling Clementine, the drunken Indian is expulsed the town that leads to Wyatt obtain the Marshal’s job. Despite the duty of Marshal to some extent represents the relative high moral stature than other, the prejudices of Native Indian disclose the historical phenomena in real life. In this context, the phenomena represents the existing cultural and religious values hold by American White towards Indian that is the sentimental symbol of ‘anti-humanism’. Indian is the sign of evil, wildness and in danger in Ford’s films, while this also discloses American’s fear and doubts upon the savages. Meanwhile, the combat between Wyatt and Indian emphasizes the image of warrior of Wyatt against wildness in white traditions. Thus, My Darling Clementine evolves the stereotypical heroic cowboy against the savage Indian in Western culture from an unconscious racist