Cynthia Wang

Ms. Tanaka

Humanities 1

24 May 2013     

Cowboys and Communists

“For the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him” (Marx).  The bureaucrat is a metaphor for a Communist government hoping for global Socialist revolutions.  High Noon is a Western film about Communism directed by Fred Zinnemann and written by Carl Foreman.  As an Austrian born Jew, Fred Zinnemann had come to America before the horrors of the Holocaust and having escaped certain death, Zinnemann’s hatred of the Nazis would have lead him to Communism, Fascism's polar opposite, had he not been influenced by America’s Capitalist society.  Carl Foreman, the movie’s writer, was blacklisted by the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) for being a part of the Communist party ten years prior. High Noon reflects the struggle between Communism and Capitalism.   The film is set toward the end of the Wild Western era, in the fictitious town of Hadleyville in the New Mexico Territory.  Like most Western small towns on the eve of industrialization, Hadleyville had rid itself of gunslingers and rancheros in order to gain a respectability and prosperity.   However, law enforcers were still an integral part of society and functioned as the political leaders of the town, seen when longtime marshal of Hadleyville, Will Kane, returns to defend the town from a band of outlaws led by Kane's personal enemy, Frank Miller.   Kane’s loyalty to the law prompts him to set aside even his marriage in order to preserve the town from Miller's immorality.  The citizens refuse to help, often going so far as to deride him.  After an unsuccessful attempt to raise a posse, Kane acknowledges the desertion of the citizens as well as his friends and his colleague and prepares to face his enemies alone.  When Miller’s gang is dead, the embarrassed citizens gather, surprised that Kane survived.   Disgusted, Kane drops his tin star into the dust and drives away.  Consequently,  High Noon is an allegory that compares the inherent ruthlessness of Old Western society to that of Communists, where moral individuals are the only means to combat the conflicts that arise from the domination of corrupt authority.

Society’s corruption parallels the ruthlessness and selfishness of communist governments, where both use noble pretences to mask their intent to further their own causes.  “We soon learn that the outward friendliness expressed by the townsfolk of Hadleyville is a mask for fear, self-interest, complacency and apathy”( Willshire).  When Kane asks for deputies in the Church, a citizen stands and, while looking away from the camera, replies:” We’ve been payin’ good money right along for a marshal and deputies.  Now at the first sign of any troubles, we’re supposed to take care of it ourselves! Well, what have we been payin’ for, all this time” (Zinnemann Foreman Kramer 0:46:55)?  The shifty eyes that never look directly at the lens demonstrate how the citizen masks his apathy, evidenced by his overly-indignant tone at the prospect of taking a stand against Miller, and his greed, seen in the fact that he connects justice with financial gain rather than a sense of duty, with a false display of righteous outrage.  In comparison, Communist countries do not believe that Capitalist governments wish to help them and suspect that they are being manipulated.  An example would be the USSR’s reaction to the Marshall Plan, where the Soviets accused America of attempting to buy the Political allegiances of various European nations. Later, Harvey and Kane get into a confrontation in the horse barn.  “Well! Nobody wants to see you get killed,” Harvey declares to Kane as he turns his back to him, allowing the sunlight to cast what is visible of his face into shadow as he saddles a horse to carry Kane away from Hadleyville (Zinnemann Foreman Kramer 1:00:40).  Harvey’s falsely supportive words are contradicted by the untrustworthiness exuded by his stance, since in turning away from both Kane and the camera, Harvey also turns his back on the light which then hides his face with shadows.  The light represents truth, which Harvey has rejected in facing away from it, and the shadows upon his face reveal his deception because they hide his face just as deception masks truth.  However, self-serving motives cannot be hidden by honorable words for very long.  Harvey gives Kane an ultimatum: “You want me to stick, you put in the word like I said!” while his tin star glints upon his lapel (Zinnemann Foreman Kramer 0:22:36).  The tin star,worn by all the law enforcers of the Wild West, symbolizes justice and the fact that Harvey wears it during his attempt to persuade Kane to help further his career in exchange for his help demonstrates how Harvey’s true nature was masked by the office he holds and is revealed by his desire for prestige and glory.  “The price of Harvey Pell’s support is Kane’s endorsement of his ambition to become the new marshall” (Drummond 47).   Similarly, Communist governments adopted authoritarian regimes, presumably for the good of the nation, yet in doing so they eliminated the system of checks-and-balances, allowing for a complete polarization of wealth and power in their favor.  Motivated by greed, the group of governing elites would have had no incentive to limit their own power.

People and governments avoid involvement in external crises to distance and protect themselves, which in actuality does not save them from the consequences of the resulting fight for power. When the Judge of Hadleyville reveals to Kane that he is leaving, “Kane responds with surprise, "but you're a judge," obviously believing that only people of great virtue occupy official political offices and these people understand that the obligations of their offices can never be exhausted by mere employment contract” (Tillman).  Kane confronts the fleeing Judge Mettrick, who says ‘I've been a judge many times in many towns. I hope to be a judge again...Look, this is just a dirty little village in the middle of nowhere. Nothing that happens here is really important,’ as he takes down and packs an American flag and a set of scales (Zinnemann Foreman Kramer 0:18:06). The set of scales is a metaphor for justice and the American flag symbolizes American patriotism, both of which are ironic as his final statement unfairly dismisses Hadleyville as insignificant and uncivilized.  The judge’s statements are all the more ironic because although judges are generally expected to lead virtuous lives, he is escaping Hadleyville to save himself from Frank Miller’s wrath.  Thus, it is not only the Communist nations that seek to avoid conflict by means of pacifism or evasion, revealing that although the forms of government may be different, the people running them are essentially cut from the same cloth.   A languid Mart looks up at Kane as he reclines in an armchair and says : “Naw.  You know how I feel about you, but I ain’t goin’ with you...It’s too one-sided as it is” (Zinnemann Foreman Kramer 0:54:14).  The seated Mart Mart is juxtaposed with the standing Kane to highlight the contrast between Mart’s instinct for self-preservation and Kane’s grim desire to uphold the law, no matter the cost.  In the end, Mart is still subject to Kane’s contemptuous disgust and the citizens’ subsequent humiliation, despite remaining aloof from the conflict.    Humans are inclined to be self absorbed, making it difficult for society to look out for their neighbors and stand for what is right, if doing so would harm their personal interests.   For instance, Communist Russia under Stalin sought “socialism in one country” (Spielvogel 759) to avoid conflict with the Capitalist nations, although the Cold War proved such measures inadequate in terms of preventing strife.  The extent to which  people are willing to tolerate  lawlessness is revealed when the camera views Pierce, Miller, and Colby straight on as they stop deliberately at the empty railroad tracks, their backs turned to the camera for the duration of the shot (Zinnemann Foreman Kramer 1:37:08).   In turning their faces away, the three gunslingers show themselves as unscrupulous, but the un-angled shot taken at the same level expose their lack of intention or desire to hide their motives.  This is supported by the emptiness surrounding the railroad tracks that reveal the trio’s boldness and their willingness to wait in open country, conveying the message that on the inside, society does not care about lawlessness when it does not interfere with their interests. because although the turned backs indicate depravity and the eye-level shot reveals that the men are open about their state of lawlessness, the citizens are still indifferent to the blatant corruption. “Due to the townspeople's cowardice , physical inability, self-interest, expediency, and indecisiveness, he is refused help at every turn against a revenge-seeking killer and his gang.” (Dirks 1)

Communist nations, like corrupt individuals, require moral entities outside of their governing bodies to resolve their ideological conflicts yet, because of their ingratitude, refuse to support those who aid them.  “The expulsion of the false agent of the law, exposed as self-seeking and craven, is a major narrative drive which concludes with his departure from the story” (Drummond 50).  An example of a false agent of the law is Mart, who says :“It’s a great life.  You risk your skin trying to catch killers and the juries turn ‘em loose so that they can come back and shoot at you again.  If you’re honest, you’re poor all your life” (Zinnemann Foreman Kramer 0:52:41).  Mart’s bitter tone reveals that having been the previous marshal, he still identifies with the moral individual, where by “poor” Mart refers to Hadleyville’s  lack of appreciation to show that although the town needed him, he was taken for granted, just as Kane is.   Also, “juries...again” is a metaphor for the ungratefulness of people, as Mart sees the release of the criminals he worked so hard to bring to justice as an act of ingratitude. This supports the idea that thanklessness leads to a lack of support.  When Kane interrupts a church sermon to ask for deputies to aid him in the looming confrontation with Miller's gang, his cause is championed by a single moral woman, who fills up a third of the shot and accuses the townspeople of being selfish and ungrateful but is ignored (Zinnemann Foreman Kramer 0:48:06).  Like Kane, the woman plays the part of a moral entity when she stands up for him and refuses to join the rest of the town in mocking him.  The self-absorption of the townspeople lead them to deride rather than support Kane’s cause and to look upon his help with ingratitude and suspicion.  The fact that the woman takes up the majority of the screen indicates her independence of thought, which identifies her with Kane in her break from the town’s selfish views.  "Abandoned by deputies, townspeople and even his wife, Cooper's marshal was both a classic lone hero and, in the view of some observers, an indictment of a corrupt society spiraling into the repressive years "(Ratiner 401). Kane’s lawman persona is used to accuse society of indifference through the juxtaposition between Kane’s rigid purity and society’s corruption.  The “repressive years” allude to the Communists’ oppression, conveying the message that even if a few people within Communist nations sympathize with the Capitalists of the West, their governments still refuse to acknowledge their internal issues.  Also, "The subject matter of moral individuals surrounded by corrupt organizations of societies would attract Zinnemann throughout his career" (Ratiner 401).  For instance, Kane stands on a completely empty road, with the light of the sun shining upon him and darkening shadows over the buildings that hold the other characters (Zinnemann Foreman Kramer 1:14:10). The emptiness of the road refers to the loneliness of Kane’s position, having been deserted by everyone.  The light that shines on him symbolizes righteousness, illustrating that Kane’s adherence to the law reveals him to be pure and just while the characters within the buildings are cloaked in gloom, criticizing their apathy and selfishness, which requires Kane to intervene.  “As Kane meets his fate, Zinnemann provides an aerial shot of a solitary Kane walking through town and we realize just how alone he is” ( Dirks 1).  Similarly, the indifference and self-absorption on the part of Communist nations is what leads to the necessity of Capitalist interference and help, although neither is appreciated because of the indoctrinated ideology that pushes for Communist Revolutions.  

Wild Western people are comparable to Communist governments in that both refuse to acknowledge their self-induced problems, which leads them to require the services of a moral outsider.  Society and Communist governments are essentially self-serving and willing to manipulate their allies by concealing their self-serving motives behind a respectable facade, leaving the crises to be handled by an honest individual.  In the interest of self-preservation, both refuse to involve themselves in conflicts, which is not enough to save them from crisis.  Zinnemann intended High Noon to be his answer to the question raised by the intellectuals of the 1950’s, in the beginning years of the Cold War: Is civilization worth fighting for?  High Noon reveals Zinnemann’s belief that yes, it is, but that the struggle is futile because of humanity’s naturally corrupted state.  Zinnemann directed the film to be a reflection on abandonment and betrayal of an individual, because of his adherence to justice.  l Foreman wrote the film to denounce Communism as well as the HUAC.  Foreman’s script was written to inform the masses of the great injustices committed by the HUAC, and the paranoid people behind it.    The idea of an honest body, seen almost as a rebel due to its defiance of society in order to save it from conflicts that result from people’s selfishness, is dominant throughout the film and is significant in High Noon as well as the application to the Cold War.  The film takes a pessimistic stance on mankind, as it presents action as the solution to apathy and pacifism, yet leaves off with the solution unfulfilled.  Kane dropping his tin star into the dust reveals his scorn for a town that refused to stand by him.

Works Cited

Dirks, Tim. “High Noon (1952).” Ed. Tim Dirks. Www.Filmsite.org. Ed. Tim Dirks. Tim Dirks, 12 Apr. 2005. Web. 2 Apr. 2013. <http://www.filmsite.org/high.html>.

Drummond, Phillip. High Noon. 2011 ed. Stephen Street: British Film Institute, 1997. Print. BFI Film Classics.

Ratiner, Tracey. “Fred Zinnemann.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Ratiner. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Print. Encyclopedia Of World Biography Supplement 26.

Spielvogel, Jackson J. “The Futile Search for Stability: Europe between the Wars, 1919-1939.” Western Civilization: Comprehensive Volume. By Spielvogel. 5th ed. 2003. 739-68. Print.

Tillman, J. Jeffrey. “High Noon and the Problems of American Political Obligation.” Perspectives on Political Science 36.1 (2007): 39+. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Apr. 2013.

Wilshire, Peter. “Revenge, Honour and Betrayal in High Noon.” Australian Screen Education 36 (2004): 137+. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Apr. 2013.

Zinnemann, Fred, dir. High Noon. Screenplay by Carl Foreman. Prod. Stanley Kramer. 1952. Paramount Pictures, 2012. DVD.