The Dissolution of the American Dream

In this essay I shall analyze similarities and differences in Paris, Texas and Fool for Love, and the Dissolution of the American Dream.

The end of both plays strongly suggests to the viewer reconciliation between the characters, a final understanding of what things are and should be. The feeling of finality and mutual understanding, be it violent and painful (Fool for Love) or peaceful and melancholic (Paris, Texas) originates mainly from the cinematic elements of the work. Shot duration, transitions, sound and color components not only underline the understanding of the plot, but also enrich it with new meanings, providing means to und erstand the characters perception.

The cinematography is more impressive in Fool from Love. The very agitated and conflict ridden end requires a large panoply of effects. Fool for Love, is the story of Mae and Eddie, half-siblings, haunted by the image of their father while sharing an incestuous relationship and their attempts to either reconcile or break away from each other. The father also seeks understanding and redemption in his children, although he is an imaginary character. The two other characters are less defined, both the Countess and Martin being instrumental in defining the relationship between the siblings and their father. The end of the movie represents a violent and uneasy peace between the characters, and their final understanding of their relations. The imaginary father haunting Mae and Eddie is left behind as both of them finally manage to reconcile with what they represent both independently and in relation to each other and then separate for the last and final time. The end arguably begins with the long shot of the Mercedes Benz through the motel windows. The shot represents the beginning of an event that has two values for the artistic continuity of the movie.

First of all, in the context of the logical development of the drama it shall prompt the moment when the characters, after previously making their peace shall separate, all searching for their own independent existence. The Countess blowing up Eddies truck will give him the means to leave the scene after his reconciliation with Mae. The aforementioned peace is not a sexual one. Mae and Eddie finally accepted both their si bling status and their separation, but in spite of the understanding none of them is likely to change without violently reacting to it.

The violence unleashed by the Countess provides also for the setting that shall mirror the main characters internal turmoil. The ever-changing tempo of the movie, together with the camera angles and movement and the lighting and visual metaphors will allow the director to transpose a psychological conflict into a physical one.

The slow motion Mercedes seen through the windows of the hotel provides a linkage between the previous scene, when Eddie and Mae come together, and the following one, when the old man obsession abandons them both. Such a change is bound to be violent, and the slow movement of the car manages to be both soothing and full of menace. The emotional components are determined by an entire series of effects.

The old man is placed in the 1 and 3 nodal points, practically insuring that he is the first characte r to be perceived by the public. Mae and Eddie are placed in the 2nd and 3rd nodal points, which, together with their location in the foreground suggests their direct implication in the action. The implication of the placement is not fulfilled in the following action, for during the entire shot none of the siblings move, which leads to believe that their importance to the scene is psychological. When the old man exclaims: Well, I aint stayin he disappears beyond Mae and Eddie embracing for a second, during his diagonal left to right movement.

The hysterical tone of voice and the meaning of the words are underlined by a symbolic visual construction. The shot shifts to a Medium Long Shot as the camera does a Nodal Pan movement, and the old man exits the door. The tempo of the shot, combined with the sound and the different lines drawn across the screen both by the direction of movement and the set lead point out the tired apathy that set on the motel bar after the emotio nally intense moment before. After the movie peaked with the embrace, a low was necessary to insure that the following scenes will have the desired effect.

The purpose of comparing two movies endings that were concerned with finalities in characters psychological lives was to set out the importance of cinematic as mode of conveying hidden valences and emotional undertones. Symbols, metaphors, and the simple emotional manipulations allowed but the wonderful medium of the movie camera and the editing room, offer the opportunity to the director to share the full extent of his artistic vision with the public

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Author:: Mary Anne Winslow
Keywords:: American, Dissolution, Fool
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