I love how Willis mentions that
John Wayne booked one of his first gigs working as a prop man on a set. This is
very relevant to my life because as an actor I understand that things totally
happen by chance in this industry. It’s about being in the right place in the
right time and that’s exactly what happened in Wayne’s instance. They noticed
his size and quality of movement, which got him a job. It wasn’t about his
talent or his acting skills. He was praised for his size. He became one of a
kind. So much so that they believed no one else could do what he did. I think
this is ridiculous. I’m sure there were other actors that if given the
opportunity could carry themselves in the same way Wayne did. Wayne, of course,
had his size on his side, but the article explains that his character and
physical orientation was contrived. It took a while and a lot of work for him
to become the elegant mover John Wayne is known to be.
People were impressed with how
fluid he was, but from the article it appears he put in a lot of side work, as
an actor should. He worked out his movements and he choreographed each step,
which is incredibly commendable, but that doesn’t mean no one else was capable
of doing what he did. Every choice he made added to his image. The clothes he
wore accentuated his movements and the phrases he made his own were consistent
with every other choice he made. His movements appeared to be effortless
because he practiced them to be that way, which is exactly what an actor is
supposed to do. It’s funny to me how is praised for creating this consistent
character, when in reality, that’s what most actors do. That is literally their job.
It seems to me that once he became
an actor, he became obsessive with upholding a public persona congruent with
his onscreen self. In fact, he turned down roles that would make him look weak
or like a “coward.” It’s wonderful that he was famous enough to have the
liberty to pick and choose his own work, for that is a luxury most actors don’t
ever have. But, a lot of actors want to play roles that stretch them, take them
out of their comfort zones, or are contrasting to other roles they have played.
So, this makes me think it’s possible that maybe it wasn’t that he didn’t want
to play other roles but rather that he couldn’t play other roles.
I loved reading Cohan’s analysis of
North by Northwest. It’s crazy how
much effort has been put into defining and critiquing manliness throughout
America’s past. I think finally, especially with my generation, we are finding
less of a need to specify what it means to be a man in America. Today, people,
men and women, have much more freedom to walk to their own beat instead of
being tied down by idealized images of what a man or woman should be. And,
thank goodness we have made that progress. Of course there is still a power
struggle, or rather a struggle for equality with men and women today, but it
seems absurd just how obsessive men were with upholding their image and
remaining strong and powerful. After WWII, when men were defeated and changed,
instead of allowing for a recovery period and offering support for men, the
media publicized titles like “The Decline of the American Male.” They criticized
men for allowing women to overpower them and essentially called them weak; they
were “no longer the masculine, strong-minded men who pioneered the continent
and built America’s greatness.”
In North by Northwest, they clearly showed Roger’s dependence on women
and hinted to his loss of control, but they couldn’t just let that play out. In
the end they had to put the man back on top, making him the savior. The article talks about how he is going to bring her back to New
York because if he takes her it puts him in control. And, he brings her back to
a life of domesticity and showing the audience that her future belongs in the
home. Additionally, they couldn’t allow Eve to look like too sexual a
character, so they fixed this by making her settle down. This is still a trend
we see in scripts today: the men powerful and complex, while the women are much
less interesting and often cast into a life of washing dishes and picking up
the kids. But, I am hopeful it will not always be this way. I think as my
generation enters the world of film and TV, we will see a shift in the stories
being told. This will come from more women as well as more open minded men
entering the industry.
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