Dead Man
Objective Review:
There are many scenes that are key moments in the film Dead Man, the most important scene in my opinion is when William and Nobody go to the trading post. Before the two enter the trading post they are talking about the new gun William has, William says "I took it off of a dead white man" to which Nobody asks "Did William Blake kill the dead white man?" William admits to killing the white man. This part is important because we see just how much William Blake has changed from the beginning of the film. He is more like Nobody than he is how he was at the beginning of the film. Later in the scene when Nobody and William Blake are in the trading post the tradesman asks for William Blake's autograph to which William Blake stabs him in the hand and says "There's my autograph", the tradesman then says "God damn your soul to the fires of hell" to which William blake responds "he already has" and proceeds to shoot him and another man dead. This scene fully illustrates the transformation of William Blake, he is no longer a shy and timid man, he is a nomad on the run that is no longer afraid of breaking the law.
Reactions:
I was not a huge fan of this film, mostly because it is not my cup of tea. But also because of how slow-paced it was. I will admit that it was interesting to see the change that William Blake went through during the film. His change from being a upholding citizen of society to a nomad on the run from the law was quite a change to witness. I also appreciated the friendship that blossomed between William and Nobody, the two were polar opposites and they slowly formed this unique bond, which I thought was really special. I was however not a huge fan of the ending, I knew that William was set up to die, which was foreshadowed by the title of the film, but what I did not expect was for Nobody to die. That is the part I did not like, in my opinion, it felt unnecessary, there was no reason for him to die. Overall it was an interesting film.
Interpretation:
The film Dead Man delivers many different messages, the main one I will be focusing on is the spiritual journey and transformation of the main character William Blake. William Blake starts this film as a shy and timid accountant who appears to be afraid of the world and ends the film as a nomad who has completely left society behind and turned into a man who does what he has to in order to survive. He adopts this new outlook on life that he has learned from Nobody. He now knows that the only way to prevent being a "dead man" is to be willing to do what is necessary to survive. "Cleveland accountant Bill Blake is no longer one, but multiple. That is, as he assembles with elements of the natural landscape, with the poetry of his namesake, and weapons of war, he can no longer be thought of as a unified Being"(Willin, pg56). Every challenge he faced during the film left its mark on him, both physically and mentally. What I think Willin is saying in this quote is that Bill Blake has been through and experienced so much that he is no longer just one person anymore. He has seen life from many different perspectives now.
Not only did William change spiritually, but he also changed physically. Take for example in the beginning of the film when William first kills a man, it took him three shots to actually hit the man that was standing less than ten feet away from him. At the end of the film, he can just turn around and shoot a man who is at least ten yards away from him after he had just been shot. When William first meets Nobody, he is asked if he knows how to use a gun, to which William answers "Not really". Nobody replies saying "You will learn to speak through it, and your poetry will now be written with blood". I think that is exactly what William Blake did, he fully embraced this idea. He viewed his killing as art and more specifically poetry, we saw this when he shot the Marshal in the film. Overall he left behind who he was and became someone he had to be, regardless of the law and the restraints of society. He found friendship in an unlikely person and he saw life from a different perspective than what he was used to. He became a nomad and he embraced it, even if it was the reason he became a dead man in the end.
Citations
Dead Man. Directed by Jim Jarmusch, Miramax Films, 1995.
Wallin, Jeffrey. Becoming Nomad: The Reader and the Contemporary Baship Project.
I enjoyed your review and you also brought up one of my issues I had with this movie, which is Nobody’s death. After all of the time we spent with Nobody and Blake, and seeing their relationship develop throughout the film, it seemed like an unceremonious and unexpected way for his story to end. It also seemed like a rushed way to resolve the conflict with the last bounty hunter. With all of the scenes showing how depraved he is while he is trying to find Blake, I thought there was going to be a greater payoff for when he finally found them. I think the quote “You will learn to speak through it, and your poetry will now be written with blood" that you include is an important quote because it spells out the change he will go through. As you mention he is initially timid and hesitant to kill, and as you point out this changes as he is forced to kill to protect himself.
ReplyDeleteHi Ellis,
ReplyDeleteThe use of poetry throughout the film was a great thing to point out. When talking with someone this weekend, I told them that one of the coldest line was said during this film where William Blake said " Do you know my poetry?" as he shoots the marshal. This was something that stuck with me, especially because it is so representative of nomadism. When I was younger, I always made the argument that poetry is writing without rules, but as I studied it more, I realized there is a form to it. The form just falls outside of the traditional way of writing, meaning that the striated space that is formal writing is transcended. Given that poetry is already nomadic, it is a perfect metaphor for William Blake killing people who force him into the confinements of society. Killing as part of his journey of leaving behind who he was and becoming who he is, as he reterritorializes the space he operates in, fighting outside influence of religion, economics, and social dynamics.