In what ways do you see Cormac McCarthy's, 'All the Pretty Horses' confirming (or questioning) generic conventions associated with the western?

Alan Torcello

100179737

In what ways do you see Cormac McCarthy’s, ‘All the Pretty Horses’ confirming (or questioning) generic conventions associated with the western? You must also discuss the film, but concentrate predominately on the novel.

The enduring appeal of the western genre in popular culture could be explained by its conscious attempt to breed familiarity through a formulaic design marked by subtle, yet intriguing difference. However, perhaps more poignantly, the western has come to represent more of an internalised romantic ideal; the source of one’s ability to transcend the boundaries of reality – dominated by the cynical struggle for survival, and defiantly pursue the metaphysical idea of the ‘West,’ in which dreams are shattered as much as hopes are fulfilled. In this respect, the West has become more than a geographical location - more West than the West: it represents a physical and spiritual frontier, and a symbol of American values. John Grady Cole’s quest to live according to the fabled western mindset he has internalised is reflective of the decidedly western desire to “repeat and relive the established patterns and plots of the past.” Similarly, Cormac McCarthy seeks to transcend the conventional norms of the western through his elegiac prose and literary techniques, yet in doing so, he subscribes to the same romanticised myth of the West.

All the Pretty Horses conforms to the conventions of the western in terms of its thematic emphasis on the journey, iconic landscapes, emblematic figures, rights of passage, experience, adventure, hardship, friendship, romance and a sense of inevitable loss. McCarthy only differs from the generic conventions associated with the western, in that Cole’s journey lies to the South (in Mexico) as opposed to the West, and that returning to and connecting with a way of life already lost to America achieve the idea of ‘progress,’ associated with westerns. Likewise, Billy Bob Thornton’s translation of McCarthy’s novel to film also subscribes to the generic conventions of the western through its (somewhat limited) use of the notions of space, the vernacular, and humour.

While John Grady Cole’s journey invokes traditional ideas of beauty, adventure, danger, and a ‘rights of passage’ experience associated with the western, it also mirrors the notion that the west represents a romanticised ideal. In an attempt to resist the forces of change, our protagonists embark on a journey that defies and subverts the convention that westward movement represents progress. Their decision to head south to Mexico is driven by an inherent desire to seek out a new beginning that will also reflect the images of an idealised past. Indeed, this particular journey is premised upon a romantic vision of a lifestyle and a code that John Grady Cole has both inherited and invented: a lifestyle he has subsequently internalised and, which may never have even existed. In this respect, the journey is not propelled by the conventional images and reasons attributed to quests of this kind in westerns, but to those perpetuated by popular myth. All the Pretty Horses mirrors the westerns ability to make indistinguishable the line between myth and reality, by romanticising the actualities of the past to the extent to which they are accepted as token truths.

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The journey that takes place in All the Pretty Horses, like all journeys typical of the western genre, does so upon familiar terrain where the overarching landscape is indifferent to the fate of those who attempt to leave their mark upon it. Indeed, the landscape of the west is linked to a romantic vision that appeals to the imagination, providing a constant source of inspiration and excitement engrossed in the possibility of conquering and taming the unknown. McCarthy’s references to the iconic features of the western: its landscapes, open spaces, sunsets, horses, rivers and mountains, are symbols and reflections through which the novel concerns itself with the human condition. Henceforth, All the Pretty Horses rejects the idea of cultural progress in favour of John Grady Cole’s primary desire to reacquaint himself with his own, internalised notion of the west, through a landscape that remains unaffected by change. However, while McCarthy’s expansive and poetic descriptions of the landscape evoke powerful and moving imagery, it also establishes the paradoxical nature of its rugged beauty. McCarthy’s revised west (Mexico) is plagued by a troubled history in which traditional roles are reversed, and our American heroes are subjugated to the realm of the ‘other.’ In this respect, Blevins’ answer “Cause I’m an American,” (p. 47.) and the code of the American cowboy, is dually important, yet futile and irrelevant.

While Thornton’s adaptation remains faithful to McCarthy’s plot and manages to capture the vast, expansive beauty of Mexico, as well as the edenic setting of the ranch, in its use of slow-moving pans in the long-shot format, it fails in its attempts to capture the profound sense of space and the subtext that forms the undercurrent to McCarthy’s novel. Thornton’s adaptation shows glimmers of these ideas, as in the opening sequence, where wild horses run freely against the backdrop of a pitch-black nightscape; a gripping scene enhanced by the thunderous and somewhat eery noise of galloping hooves and snorts of hot breath. These moments are few and far between though, simply because the pace of the film is so hurried. Instead, we’re treated to a rollicking adventure story that lacks any real acknowledgement to McCarthy’s subtext concerning dying cultures and vanishing ways of life. Thornton’s adaptation does, however, enforce the image of McCarthy’s protagonists as the ‘all-American good-guys,’ and also provides light comedic relief by employing McCarthy’s use of the vernacular to expose their youthful naivety.

One of the main features of the western novel is its focus on the land, its being conquered or itself conquering is a central theme, but people are important also, whether they be men, women, Americans, Mexicans, good or bad. Whatever their standing, they all contribute to the myth of the western as a metaphysical, romanticised idea. In a concession to this idea of the west, McCarthy again conforms to convention in his portrayal of archetypal western characters. By making his heroes decidedly younger, McCarthy pays homage to the western’s ability to revise and recreate the known within a familiar design. Our hero’s loyalties lie in the chivalric code of the cowboy (itself a mythological western construct) and are extended, not only to their buddies, but to their horses as well. Cowboys traditionally fight the good fight against the ‘other,’ armed with American virtue (in an attempt to uphold the American vision), however, All the Pretty Horses perverts this idea by reversing the role of the ‘other’ onto its hero’s. In contrast, McCarthy’s women are two dimensional (with the exception of Duena Alfonsa), meek (in that they ultimately conform to patriarchal law) and reflective of the stasis that the cowboy ultimately rejects.

The trials and tribulations of the protagonists, in McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, centre around the notion that any journey westward is marked by numerous tests and ‘rights of passage’ experiences along the trail to manhood. In McCarthy’s novel, the tests our protagonists endure subscribe to western generic conventions and are indicative of the symbolic American virtue associated with the mythical idea of the west. Horse breaking, gaining trust and friendship, experiencing romance, expulsion from Eden, prison and murder, defiance in the face of authority, the recapture of the horses, persistence in the face of insurmountable odds, and bravery and skill under duress are all idealised events and qualities that encompass the virtuous vision of the West and its hero’s. Romance too has its place within the male ‘rights of passage’ myth. Failed romance ultimately recycles the loss and pain that our protagonist’s journey begins with, in that our hero’s are left sadder, but wiser for the experience. In that great western tradition, male hero’s ‘ride on,’ rejecting domesticity and stability, and seeking comfort in the land.

Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses revisits the familiar generic conventions of the western in order to create a world in which the West exists only as a romanticised notion of what it was and what it stood for. John Grady Cole retains this romantic vision of the cowboy life - a lifestyle that disappeared with the passing of his grandfather and of the ranch he owned out of the family, trying desperately to live according to the code he has since internalised. All the Pretty Horses concerns itself with the cost of living according to dreams and romantic ideals. It is the search for the romantic cowboy life that leads John Grady Cole and his companions into Mexico, and the romantic pursuit of forbidden love that ends in imprisonment. On some levels, John Grady Cole fails tragically, on others, whether he succeeds or fails must be measured in terms of his consistency to his internal code. In McCarthy's de-romanticised world, populated by cynical and savage men and women driven by the need to survive, John Grady Cole remains a hero: a tribute to the enduring appeal of the romantic western myth in popular culture.

Rererences

Busby, Mark., “Into the Darkening Land, the world to come: Cormac McCarthy’s Border Crossings.” In R. Wallach., (ed.) Myth, Legend, Dust: Critical Responses to Cormac McCarthy, p. 230.

All the Pretty Horses, Deakin University, Lecture

Owens, Barclay., “Western Myths in All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing,” in Cormac McCarthy’s Western Novels (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2000), cited in Deakin University Narrative and Genre: Reader, 2003

Smith, H.N., Virgin Land, The American West as Symbol and Myth, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1950)

Taylor, J.G. and Lyon, T.J., et al., (eds.), A Literary History of the American West, (New York, Cromwell, 1987)

Tompkins, Jane., West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Henry Nash Smith., Virgin Land, The American West as Symbol and Myth, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1950, p. 56.

Edwards, Brian., Refiguring the Western, Deakin University Narrative and Genre: Study Guide, 2003, p. 39.

Ibid., p. 38.

Tompkins, Jane., West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. Tompkins suggests the notion that cowboy code of the west is an ideal romanticised by John Grady Cole, in this respect, he has internalised it and shaped it to his liking.

All the Pretty Horses, Deakin University, Lecture

Busby, Mark., “Into the Darkening Land, the world to come: Cormac McCarthy’s Border Crossings.” In R. Wallach., (ed.) Myth, Legend, Dust: Critical Responses to Cormac McCarthy, p. 230.

All the Pretty Horses, Deakin University, Lecture

Owens, Barclay., “Western Myths in All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing,” in Cormac McCarthy’s Western Novels (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2000), Deakin University Narrative and Genre: Reader, 2003, p. 78 & p. 92.

Ibid., p. 86. See also J.G. Taylor and T.J. Lyon, et al., (eds.), A Literary History of the American West, (New York, Cromwell, 1987), pp 123-26 for attributes of the ‘American cowboy’.

Tompkins, Jane., West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 19.