Good vs. Evil in American Movies

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Humanities invites papers that offer new perspectives on the theme of good vs. evil in American movies. This is a large subject with a long history. Film historian Gerald Mast calls D. W. Griffith “cinema’s first moralist” and says that he wanted: “the images on the screen to illuminate his personal vision of good and evil”. Although Griffith is best remembered today for Birth of a Nation (1915), his cruelly racist saga of the America Civil War and Reconstruction, the foci of his moral vision were the perennial struggles between love and hate, gentleness and violence. Among the many topics that contributors to this issue may choose to explore are the moral visions of individual directors and producers such as D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Dorothy Arzner, Stanley Kramer, Arthur Penn, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, the Wachowski brothers/sisters, and Kathryn Bigelow. Contributors with philosophical backgrounds many want to comment on whether the vocabulary of moral philosophy is useful for describing these visions.

The treatment of good vs. evil in most American movies tends to be formulaic. This is especially true of genre films like Westerns, war movies, and horror flicks. Some contributors may wish to submit papers that analyze these formulas, trace their origins, and discuss what they tell us about the audiences that enjoy them. Other contributors may prefer to examine genre films whose treatment of good vs. evil transcend genre formulas. High Noon (1952) is a good example. The protagonist of this film, ex-marshal Will Kane, is an exemplar of courage and determination. He is a man who persists in doing what he sees as his duty against overwhelming odds while others shirk theirs. Yet High Noon also raises questions about what Kane’s duty is. He breaks his promise to his wife about giving up law enforcement. He puts her in the position of having to choose between her pacifist convictions and defending his life. He defies the mayor’s plea to leave town and avoid a gunfight that may “wipe out” everything the town has worked for. A recent genre film that invites both social explication and moral analysis is Jordan Peele’s horror/science fiction movie Get Out (2017).

Some contributors may wish to address the question of what we can learn about good and evil by examining their personifications in American film. Adult characters who personify unalloyed goodness tend to be bland or unbelievable, though Atticus Finch in To Kill Mockingbird (1962) is a notable exception. Generally, goodness is more convincingly portrayed by characters like Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954), Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List (1993), and Erin Brockovich in Erin Brockovich (2000) who rise above their flaws to act heroically. Personifications of evil present a wider spectrum. At one extreme are villains, who, like Milton’s Satan, live by the code: “Evil, by thou my good”. Fantastic villains like the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Sauron in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) belong to this category. More believable, though no less frightening, are villains on or over the edge of madness. Cody Jarrett in White Heat (1949), Norman Bates in Psycho (1960), Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962 and 1991), Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange (1971), Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction (1987), Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and Commodus in Gladiator (2000) are villains of this type. More numerous are crass egoists who act with heartless disregard for the for the wellbeing of others. Ruthless Mr. Potter in Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) is a villain of this type and a perfect foil for generous George Bailey. Villains of another type are those who do evil because of fidelity to a bad cause. Major Strasser in Casablanca (1942) belongs to this type, as do many Nazi characters in American movies. A much rarer type are villains who, like Inspector Javert in Les Miserables (filmed 15 times), do evil because of rigid fidelity to a good cause. Arguably, the most interesting villains are those whose villainy emerges or evolves over the course of a film. Eve Harrington in All About Eve (1950) and Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) are striking examples. So too is Judah Rosenthal in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). This unusual film by Woody Allen also demonstrates how a movie can theorize about as well as depict good and evil.

Until the Motion Picture Production Code was transformed into a rating system in 1968, American movies were prohibited from dealing with topics such as “illegal traffic in drugs”, “miscegenation”, “white slavery”, and “sexual perversion” and barred from giving “willful offense to any nation, race, or creed”. The Hollywood studios, erring on the side of caution, seldom dealt with systemic discrimination or social and economic injustice. John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940) is a striking exception, not only for its vivid depiction of discrimination against and exploitation of displaced sharecroppers, but also for its forthright treatment of red‑baiting. Fourteen years later, a film made by blacklisted artists about the struggles of Mexican Americans, The Salt of the Earth (1954), was shown in only about a dozen U.S. theaters. Since 1968, American filmmakers have tackled drug addiction, mixed-race marriages, gay relationships, labor struggles, and systemic racism. Contributors to this issue of Humanities may want to assess the effectiveness of American movies after 1968 in dealing with systemic discrimination and injustice. Spike Lee and other African American artists have created an impressive body of work dealing with racism in America. Yet it is questionable whether their achievements have been matched in areas such as gender discrimination, disability rights, and the social consequences of wealth and income inequalities. The work of documentary filmmakers like Barbara Kopple, Errol Morris, and Michael Moore might be part of the answer, but this raises the question of whether documentaries should be considered movies or storytelling films.

The above suggestions are by no means exhaustive. Contributors are welcome to submit papers on any topic that fits the rubric of good vs. evil in American movies.

Prof. Richard Kamber
Guest Editor

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• American movies
• good vs. evil in movies
• Hollywood heroes and villains
• saints and sinners in cinema
• socially conscious films
• justice and injustice in film
• racism in American movies
• sexism in American movies
• degrading stereotypes in American movies
• crime and punishment in film
• morally satisfying movie endings
• the Motion Picture Production Code
• Joseph Breen