Absolving the American guilt: forgiveness and purification in Clint Eastwood’s cinema
Fecha
2021-10-25
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Taylor & Francis
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Resumen
The guilt-ridden character archetype is a recurring premise in
Clint Eastwood’s cinema, recognizable in the inner conflicts of the
protagonists of iconic titles, such as Unforgiven (1992), Mystic River
(2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Gran Torino (2008).
According to Scott, Unforgiven marks the beginning of the
filmmaker’s authorship stage, where scenarios of diverse genres,
such as road movie, war cinema or gangster plots introduce protagonists
who coincide in their need for purification. This paper
aims to explore the construction of characters carried out in the
four titles aforementioned, by means of a script analysis methodology
based on the dynamics of conflicts and on the classic concepts
of hybris, hamartia and catharsis.
Descripción
This analysis points to a
double purpose. On the one hand, it highlights the purification
sought by the protagonists of Clint Eastwood and its relationship
with the Christian moral context in which the characters arise, as
Roche & Hosle notice. On the other hand the analysis points out
the social extension of the concept of catharsis addressed by the
filmmaker, especially critical when exposing the fragility of the
American Dream and its modern traumas.
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Citación
Antonio Sánchez-Escalonilla (2021) Absolving the American guilt: forgiveness and purification in Clint Eastwood’s cinema, Church, Communication and Culture, 6:2, 157-174, DOI: 10.1080/23753234.2021.1960874
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