When it comes to Westerns, we must think of - the empty wasteland, the cowboy on horseback and the revolver. It can be seen that Western films, as a type of genre films, have formed a fixed aesthetic paradigm composed of many elements. In Westerns, the intense gunfights touch the hearts of every viewer. The righteous cowboy plays the sad ballad in the afterglow of the setting sun, which brings a kind of dramatic poetry. But it is always idealized and heroic. But this is not the case in real life. We rarely see so many noble, kind and brave people. All we can see are ordinary people who are kind and cowardly. It is not difficult to express one's bravery, but it is difficult to express the cowardice behind one's bravery. Human beings are extremely contradictory and complex as advanced animals, but it is because of complexity that we can become real "human beings". But in traditional westerns, "people" are glorified as omnipotent "gods". It loses the complex side of being human.
In 1952, the western film "Noon" was released, which is known as the "New Western". What's new is that it breaks the idealized characteristics of traditional western films and shows the other side of "human nature". This film has the fixed elements of western films, such as cowboys, gunfights, small towns and so on. But it also has elements that traditional western films do not have. In this film, the cowboy is no longer the protagonist, the heroic complex of eliminating violence and An Liang also does not exist, and the fierce gunfight is no longer the main plot of the film. Some are just a story of a sheriff who was cornered, faced with a cowboy who came to revenge, and had to ask people in the town for help, but for various reasons, no one stood up to help him. The cowardice and selfishness of people were revealed one by one in the process of the mayor asking for help. The innovation of this film is not only in the plot, but also in the form - the film time is exactly the same as the real time. The above two points can show its "new" side.
Let's talk about the story itself. From the core of the story, this story is a story that may have happened in any era. It's just that it has elements of a Western, so it becomes a Western. If the story is put today, it is about a migrant worker who is living in poverty. He borrowed money to treat his child before, and the debt collector will come to ask for money immediately, so the migrant worker has to borrow money from friends, but all of them are friends. There is no way to help him for various reasons. Can such a story become the modern version of "Noon"? From this point of view, the theme explored by the story also has a certain universal value. But it is precisely because of this universal value that the Western "Noon" is not as good as the previous Westerns. It does not allow us to "dream" any more. It will pull us back from our dreams and let us face brutal reality.
When talking about the aesthetics of tragedy, Mr. Lu Xun said: "Tragedy is to destroy the most valuable thing of human beings to show people". Noon does that to a certain extent. It shows the ugly side of human nature, but as a commercial film, in order to meet the audience's psychological expectations, its display is not very thorough, it can only be said that it shows a part of the ugly. The image of the protagonist of the film, the sheriff, is still very idealistic, he is so firm and brave. But in real life, I think as a person, even if he has a sense of justice, there will be times when he wants to run away. If the sheriff in the film wanted to give up several times, wanted to escape, and finally stayed because of the sense of justice in his heart, I think this film should be a little more real, and the ending of the film is still a traditional one. Happy ending, justice triumphs over evil. Although there is an ending where the sheriff finally threw the police badge on the ground and walked away, I think it may be a different situation in real life. Maybe this powerless sheriff can't fight at all. The evil side was eventually killed. If the ending is the sheriff is killed, I think it may be more shocking and regrettable than the happy ending.
As a film of that era, the innovative spirit of "Noon" has a certain value and significance for the current creation. Successive US presidents have watched this film many times because it tells us that we must have our own perseverance. Even in a situation of isolation and helplessness, you should maintain your original intention. But in terms of art, it is not so cruel, and it loses part of the beauty of art. Of course, because of this, it has gained a large number of audiences. Satisfy the audience's psychological needs.
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