Dead Man Western Analysis

The Edge of a Western How does a Western film look when it is written backwards and the themes are put on their head? This is how Jim Jarmusch envisioned his take on the Western when he directed Dead Man. The film is about an ordinary accountant William Blake, played by Johnny Depp, who is traveling to the town of Machine to start a new life. When Blake finds that there is no job for him, a set of unfortunate circumstances forces him into becoming a wanted man. Along with an American Indian guide, played by Gary Farmer, Blake forges a journey that leaves behind a trail of dead men in his path in order for him to transcend into the spiritual world according to the mentor Native American, Nobody. This film did hold on to some basic Western formulas, yet it reversed the genre and created a film that contradicts the definition of the Western brand.Through his character development, offbeat setting, and the edgy music, Jarmusch made a darker edgier western film. Right from the start Jarmusch flips the genre in his rendition of the Western in the character of William Blake (Johnny Depp). Blake comes from the east and he does not have a checkered past that matches the checked suit he is decked …show more content…
The town Blake comes to settle down is called Machine. The train fireman (Crispin Glover) asks Blake why he would travel, “all the way out here to hell” (Dead Man 1995). His statement is not one of excitement in being a part of “its openness” (Cawelti 23). His face actually is a precursor to what the town of Machine looks like, all dirty and corroded by the introduction of industrialism. Jarmusch 's vision was not that of positivity in the expansion of the west, it was a town that showed the negative aspects of progress. Even though it is supposed to be the west, the scenery is filmed in such a way that it looks confining and deary. The scenery in this film interpreted as stifling, not amass with