존 포드의 전후 서부영화에 나타나는 동화와 위협의 문제 (Assimilation and Menace in Ford’s Post-War Westerns)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 문학과영상학회
· 수록지 정보 : 문학과 영상 / 11권 / 3호 / 623 ~ 654페이지
· 저자명 : 강관수

초록

Melting pot is a metaphor for the assimilation process in America. Many people with different backgrounds are melted into a “new race of humanity” called an American. The West is a training ground for many people to become a ‘true’ American, so it plays the role of a melting pot in American history. Many people, including the immigrants, try to overcome the difficulties of a harsh Western life. With this experience can they be assimilated into an American society. Many people go to the West for the opportunities to make money and own their farms, but American Indian is sacrificed during this process.
Ford’s movies praise the exploration of the West, which is supported by the idea of manifest destiny. According to manifest destiny, America is destined to expand across the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean. Manifest destiny presupposes the threat of the hostile Indians, who are equated with the untamed and violent nature. Ford was sympathetic to Indian’s poverty and suffering, and he tried to help them. But most of his movies praise the value of manifest destiny. His early movies are the simple representation of manifest destiny, so Indians are suggested as something to be conquered.
Ford’s post-war westerns are different from his pre-war movies in raising the question of Indian assimilation. To deal with this, Ford shows the double strategy to describe the Indians, the good Indian and the bad Indian. The good Indians are assimilated into white man’s culture and make a peaceful living with the white men. The bad Indians are resistant to the idea of assimilation policy and American expansionism. To the white men’s eyes, bad Indians destroy the frontier village, and kidnap white women. So they are represented as a menace to the frontier society. Ford’s poster-war movies also show the white men’s prejudices toward the Indians, which make a peaceful assimilation impossible. These prejudices presuppose the superiority of white men’s culture and deny the idea of multi- culturalism. The world of the Western movie is not a multi-cultural one in which different values are respected and coexist. Ford is no exception. He does not violate the allowed boundary of America’s main discourse. He knows prejudices and hatred make assimilation and peace impossible, so he asks more tolerance and mutual understanding from both sides.

영어초록

Melting pot is a metaphor for the assimilation process in America. Many people with different backgrounds are melted into a “new race of humanity” called an American. The West is a training ground for many people to become a ‘true’ American, so it plays the role of a melting pot in American history. Many people, including the immigrants, try to overcome the difficulties of a harsh Western life. With this experience can they be assimilated into an American society. Many people go to the West for the opportunities to make money and own their farms, but American Indian is sacrificed during this process.
Ford’s movies praise the exploration of the West, which is supported by the idea of manifest destiny. According to manifest destiny, America is destined to expand across the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean. Manifest destiny presupposes the threat of the hostile Indians, who are equated with the untamed and violent nature. Ford was sympathetic to Indian’s poverty and suffering, and he tried to help them. But most of his movies praise the value of manifest destiny. His early movies are the simple representation of manifest destiny, so Indians are suggested as something to be conquered.
Ford’s post-war westerns are different from his pre-war movies in raising the question of Indian assimilation. To deal with this, Ford shows the double strategy to describe the Indians, the good Indian and the bad Indian. The good Indians are assimilated into white man’s culture and make a peaceful living with the white men. The bad Indians are resistant to the idea of assimilation policy and American expansionism. To the white men’s eyes, bad Indians destroy the frontier village, and kidnap white women. So they are represented as a menace to the frontier society. Ford’s poster-war movies also show the white men’s prejudices toward the Indians, which make a peaceful assimilation impossible. These prejudices presuppose the superiority of white men’s culture and deny the idea of multi- culturalism. The world of the Western movie is not a multi-cultural one in which different values are respected and coexist. Ford is no exception. He does not violate the allowed boundary of America’s main discourse. He knows prejudices and hatred make assimilation and peace impossible, so he asks more tolerance and mutual understanding from both sides.

참고자료

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