The Dialectic of Desire in the Films of Nicholas Ray Essay -- Films Mo

The Dialectic of Desire in the Films of Nicholas prickNicholas Rays films frequently address a competition amongst a sky pilot and son (whether literal or figurative filial relationship). More importantly, Ray has an ideological approach to these struggles. In his films, homosocial struggles are always supplanted by Rays desired offspring of an idealized straightaway coupling. That is, the threat of prolonged homosocial desire between his characters is usually eradicated by the death of one and only(a) of the dueling men. The deus ex machina nature of the deaths implies that the resulting heterosexual coupling is in some globener the way things ought to be. In Bitter Victory and The Lusty Men, the women are clearly the people oer whom the men fight in their struggle to examine a home or security (with that woman). In Rebel Without a Cause, however, the male-male-female love triangle is complicated by the on-screen presence of a nuclear family that effectively literalizes Fre uds Oedipal conflict. in advance examining homosocial desire in specific films, I must first outline the Freudian principles that gave birth to the margin homosocial. According to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Freuds Oedipal triangle is established at an early stage of life when a child attempts to situate itself with respect to a powerful father and a beloved, subservient begin (Sedgwick 22). As such, homo- and heterosexual outcomes in adults are the result of a complicated play of desire for and identification with the parent of each sexual activity the child routes its desire/identification through the m different to arrive at a role like the fathers, or vice versa (Sedgwick 22). Richard Klein summarizes this argument as followsIn the normal development of the little boys p... ...ti-war film it was a private psychological duel. I liked the idea that the outcome of the mission was really nothing to do with how they performed it, but with what they felt about each other (qtd. in Eisenschitz 293). 3. The title itself is indicative of the ensuing battle over the mens homosocial desires. 4. Tellingly, Horace McCoy, the second screenwriter of the film, was undercoat by producers Jerry Wald and Norman Krasna in the RKO Studios screenwriters file chthonic masculine relationships (Eisenschitz 176). 5. It is safe to assume that Plato has already fallen off the proverbial cliff. He, too, is alienated from his father-a wealthy man who has spent much of Platos life off gallivanting with his wife, go forth Plato to be reared by a nurse and guardian. http//www.film.queensu.ca/Critical/PhelanCox.html The Dialectic of Desire in the Films of Nicholas Ray Essay -- Films MoThe Dialectic of Desire in the Films of Nicholas RayNicholas Rays films frequently address a competition between a father and son (whether literal or figurative filial relationship). More importantly, Ray has an ideological approach to these struggles. In his films, h omosocial struggles are always supplanted by Rays desired outcome of an idealized heterosexual coupling. That is, the threat of prolonged homosocial desire between his characters is usually eradicated by the death of one of the dueling men. The deus ex machina nature of the deaths implies that the resulting heterosexual coupling is somehow the way things ought to be. In Bitter Victory and The Lusty Men, the women are clearly the people over whom the men fight in their struggle to establish a home or security (with that woman). In Rebel Without a Cause, however, the male-male-female love triangle is complicated by the on-screen presence of a nuclear family that effectively literalizes Freuds Oedipal conflict.Before examining homosocial desire in specific films, I must first outline the Freudian principles that gave birth to the term homosocial. According to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Freuds Oedipal triangle is established at an early stage of life when a child attempts to situate itself with respect to a powerful father and a beloved, subservient mother (Sedgwick 22). As such, homo- and heterosexual outcomes in adults are the result of a complicated play of desire for and identification with the parent of each gender the child routes its desire/identification through the mother to arrive at a role like the fathers, or vice versa (Sedgwick 22). Richard Klein summarizes this argument as followsIn the normal development of the little boys p... ...ti-war film it was a private psychological duel. I liked the idea that the outcome of the mission was really nothing to do with how they performed it, but with what they felt about each other (qtd. in Eisenschitz 293). 3. The title itself is indicative of the ensuing battle over the mens homosocial desires. 4. Tellingly, Horace McCoy, the second screenwriter of the film, was found by producers Jerry Wald and Norman Krasna in the RKO Studios screenwriters file under masculine relationships (Eisenschitz 176). 5. It is safe to assume that Plato has already fallen off the proverbial cliff. He, too, is alienated from his father-a wealthy man who has spent much of Platos life off gallivanting with his wife, leaving Plato to be reared by a nurse and guardian. http//www.film.queensu.ca/Critical/PhelanCox.html