Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Civilization VS. Wilderness in "Once Upon A Time in the West"

During the course of the Western unit we have been asked the same question, who wins the battle between civilization and wilderness. In the movie Once Upon A Time In The West I would say the fight came out a draw.
On one hand there are the people who represent civilization such as Harmonica, Cheyenne, and Frank. Harmonica wins because he gets what he wants in killing Frank, and he is able to run back into the wild and be free. An example of civilization losing is the fact that Mr. Morton died. He was the main person responsible for the rail road which was the main source of civilization.
On the other hand civilization also came out on top. First of all Jill came from civilization, strayed away from it when she met Cheyenne, Harmonica, and Frank, but in the end went back to civilization when the railroad and town were being built by her house. It is also apparent that civilization won because even after a long struggle the rail road and town were built, and the people settled down. It could also be argued that the wilderness died because Frank was killed. Frank was the picture of wilderness. He didn't have a set home, he went wherever he wanted, he killed many people with no consequences, and he was a horrible business man. His death shows us that if you live like a ruffian you will get burned.
In the battle between wilderness VS. civilization you could argue in some way that each side won. In my opinion since you can argue both sides, both civilization and wilderness win in a way.

1 comment:

Meaghan said...

i have found that i have also been thinking that most of the time both of them win at the same time