Thread by @JoshuaCypess

1/ Also, for Prime People, "High Noon" is available! Possibly my favorite Western ever. It also seems to be a Rorschach test: for some it's an egoistic "My Way" message of the lonely hero; for me it's the depiction of selfish cowardice from the town
amazon.com/gp/video/detai…

2/ So, spoilers:

The hero isn't as interesting to me and IMO this is purposeful: his interchangeability with any other Western Tough Guy is the necessary constant that allows the film to highlight the main conflict: he's abandoned by every other person b/c they're selfish.

3/ Even his decision to stay & fight can be seen as selfishness: (a) his self-regard (as the sappy song incessantly yawps, playing every time he steps outside like it's a shopping mall) & (b) it's better to stop a conflict from ever happening through a show of unified resistance

4/ But the real 'character' of the movie is the way the town reacts to a crisis, with everyone making their decision to either support the evil (burn masks?), feel fighting evil - even violence - is inherently wrong, confusing firefighters with arsonists

5/ That's the litmus/Rorschach test to me: a focus on Gary Cooper or on the townspeople. Take Lloyd Bridges' guy: he actively fist-fights Cooper, trying to knock him out in order to force him to flee town. Why? B/c if Cooper stays, Bridges has to openly confront his cowardice

6/ The town's behavior matches every major category of fake-piety & craven rationalization. The movie's message is 'we can resist evil only when we join together' and then it shows every way that's undermined AND how cowards start to hate heroes more than the sources of evil.

7/ Ironically, I don't normally enjoy fictional reflections of 'real life' because I see too much of it (a downside of my life's work & personal talents) so why do I need fiction to exaggerate and highlight it? Most 'great works' are screechy this way. Death of a Salesman? Ugh.

8/ I guess what makes this palatable to me is the unrealistic way good triumphs over evil and gets to look the undeserving cowards in the eye and leave with a grimace of disgust. It's my philosophy of many mitzvot: I'll do my duty, but don't lie and say I'm supposed to enjoy it.

9/ It also rules that the movie was a response to McCarthyism and blacklisting. And that John Wayne hated it. According to the Wiki: "John Wayne told an interviewer that he considered High Noon 'the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life'"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Noon

10/ There's much to criticize, of course. The music is treacly and there's misogyny underlying the depiction of Grace Kelly's character. Criticizing pacifism is necessary, and it's highlighted by her identity as wife, but it needed more nuance.

11/ As I said above, it's prob. way more popular than it should be for reasons that are unrelated to why I love it. This is a common occurrence for me, though. My tastes are eccentric & most of the time, my favorites aren't shared by many (& this isn't poseur oppositionalism)

12/ I call it the Napoleon Dynamite Principle: I liked that movie because of it's affection for the main characters, but found out later it became popular because brutes liked making fun of the same characters. Utterly opposite receptions that nonetheless made the film popular

13/ Furthermore, the misanthropic reception of the film became the dominant cultural attitude to it: liking ND started to mean you're a person who mocked nerds.

This overlaps with the Wall Street Principle; when a satire becomes popular b/c it isn't received as satire.

14/ Wall Street and Fight Club are loved because the #Litealist crowd can't perceive satire, and the high quality movie-making that's meant to criticize the subject can inadvertently undermine the endeavor.

(And, yes, it's related to Poe's Law)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_l…

15/ Unlike those other movies, though, misplaced affection for "High Noon" doesn't undermine the message. Those who venerate Cooper alone without realizing they'd act exactly like the townspeople aren't actually rooting for cowards. So I'm OK with this result.

16/ BTW, the Wiki says Gregory Peck turned the role down, and I'm actually glad it went to Cooper. Peck was a liberal, Cooper a conservative and that matters in order to carry the poignancy of the town's betrayal.

17/ OK, that's it for now.

@threadreaderapp please unroll.

@threader please compile.

18/ Adding two points: (1) The movie is in real time, which is a great meta-artistic technique.

We're told the hero's killer is coming at noon, we see the clock and the countdown begins. The audience can feel the tick-tock towards his doom and experience his increasing anxiety

19/ (2) Very close to noon, the hero writes his last will & testament, alone in his office - everyone has abandoned him - and then he puts his head down and sobs. We don't see his face, but we hear it. In a Western, the hero cries from fear and overwhelming pressure. That's real.