Introduction
Marriage and Family is an interesting topic to be discussed within the context of this study. In order for the study to be helpful or resourceful to the reader, the researcher will embark on analysis of marriage and family as discussed in the three movies that include David Morrell’s First Blood, Pale Rider (1985) and Saturn-day Night fever.
Marriage is considered as an institution just like the family. Based on the themes under discussion, marriage and family differ based on the type of the society in which they are applied. However, marriage is considered as the union between two parties for instance a man and woman.
Some people define marriage as a relationship between a man and woman with an aim of forming a family by fulfilling the role of procreation. In contrast, people can live together but in real sense, they are not married to each other meaning that marriage is not the act of a man living with a woman but the agreement between the two parties.
In tradition society, marriage is practiced differently compared to the modern society. For instance, in traditional society, many people practice polygamous more often than monogamous, which is practiced in modern society.
The reason behind polygamous marriage was that in ancient time’s people consider children as source of security meaning that for a certain family to have potential security, a person should marry many wives. In contrast to modern society whereby children are considered as a blessing in the extended context, many people in the modern society treasure monogamous types of marriages.
In addition to this, the manner in which marriage is conducted matters a lot when it comes to differentiating of marriage in traditional and modern society. For instance, in traditional society marriage was not conducted in church as opposed to modern society where wedding ceremonies are presided over by pastors and priests whose purpose is to bless the marriage. Moreover, in the traditional society, people used to elope other people daughters at night hence forming a ritual among other western countries and the U.S.
Parents were entirely involved in the marriage of their sons and daughter because they were said to play important role in marriage arrangements. Many US scholars as arranged marriages that are rarely practiced consider this form of marriages in the modern society. Traditionally, marriages were considered as being more expensive compared to the modern society because in traditional society, large herds of cattle were to be handed over to the bridegroom parents as appreciation.
This is very different to what is practiced in the modern society. However, marriage can be considered as the engine of a family meaning that it is impossible for a family to exist without marriage. Family is considered as an entity that acts as the product of marriage and it forms the basis of the society. The implication here is that society is a complex entity that comprises of sub-entities known as families. Just like marriage, families differ based on the type of the society in which it is applied.
For instance, in traditional society, extended families dominated over nuclear families that are practiced in modern society. People in modern society advocate for a nuclear family in which a man and woman control over their family without influence from other family members such as their parents. Traditionally, gender roles have changed due to advanced education systems that call for gender equity between men and women.
Based on this issue, the core role of the study is to discuss various marriage and family themes as portrayed in the three movies under discussion. Examples of themes to be discussed within the context of the study include betrayal, father/son theme, traditional gender roles, traditional family roles, Orphaned sons/Adopted fathers, primogeniture, absent fathers/fatherless sons, communalism/individualism and the rugged individualist.
Thematic Analysis of Movies
Traditional gender roles is a theme portrayed in Movie-David Morrell’s First Blood by characters such as Sylvester stallone (John Rambo), delmare Berry,Will Teasle, Art galt and Caruso. Sylvester is ready to use all the available means to get Delmare berry hence depicting the roles of male gender in looking after the female.
Sylvester’s efforts reveal the duties performed by men. It is also clear that Sylvester is loving and caring and that is the reason he accepts to suffer because of berry. It is very uncertain that all of his mere efforts are unfruitful because Berry had already died from cancer that emanated from the Agent Orange exposure Galt death (Morrell 15).
Pale rider is a movie by Clint Eastwood who was a preacher. The movie describes how Clint Eastwood had good relations with the people from the village whereby he used to preach. Clint came to realize that Richard Dysart who was a mining boss had exploited his people.
Through the character of Clint Eastwood, the movie highlights the lives of people in the village by demonstrating how Richard Dysart intended to raid them. The reason behold his intention was to take control over the Gold and privatize the land. Richard Dysart and his son Christopher Penn hired guns with an aim of driving the people from the town.
Through the struggle between the gold mining boss, his son and the town people, Sydney Penny pet was killed. It is from that point when Sydney penny prays to God to send someone who could save the community from the attack. This incidence explains how Clint Eastwood intervened by joining hands with unofficial leader of miners by the name Michael Moriarty (Gerstner and Staiger 12).
The two characters defended against Richard Dysart and Christopher Penn his son. At the same time, Sydney Penny (Megan) and her mother by the name Sarah were drawn closer to the preacher. The theme of father and son is demonstrated whereby Richard Dysart joined hands with his father to raid the town people.
This was definitely evil because their actions were against the community wishes. The two characters portrayed a theme of individualism as it is tied in marriage and family concept in the movie. Richard Dysart and Christopher Penny were after individual achievement thus ignoring the needs of the town people.
In addition, the town people used to earn their living through mining while Richard Dysart and Christopher wanted to take control over the gold through evil means. Traditional gender role is another theme highlighted within the context of the study whereby men are assigned the role of providers with Richard and Christopher as major characters depicting this theme (Gerstner and Staiger 37).
This movie highlights the life experience of Tony Manero who was a Nineteen-year-old Brooklyn in the Saturday night club. He is portrayed as a King of the club because he likes local disco played every Saturday night. His title came from his dancing style that was unique compared to those of other dancers.
The movie tends to demonstrate how harsh his life is outside the club whereby everything is considered unfriendly to him. For instance, at home he is used in fighting with his father over petty issues. In addition, he competes with his elder brother who is a priest something that he hates because the entire family is against him. However, the other sort of trouble is associated with his working place whereby he is disgusted by the manner in which work mates behaves at the paint store (Faludi 27).
Moreover to Tony things are subject to change when he met with Stephanie in the dance floor and began to train him on how to dancer the modern music. The movie portrays a theme of betrayal whereby Tony thought that his brother is the cause of the conflict between him and his father. However, an aspect of individualism is highlighted with Tony playing the major role. Traditional family roles as a theme are portrayed whereby Tony’s father makes decisions for his children though Tony is against it (Faludi 39).
In conclusion, the study is interesting because it explores the concept of marriage and family as discussed in the three movies. Not all themes are highlighted in each movie as discussed in the study. It father and son theme, traditional family roles, traditional gender roles, individualism, and communism and orphaned are some of themes that are dominant in the study.
Works Cited
Faludi, Susan. Stiffed: the betrayal of the American man. Maryland: Perennial, 2000.
Gerstner, David and Staiger, Janet. Authorship and film. New York: Routledge, 2003.
Morrell, David. First Blood. London: Fawcett Publications, 1981