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"On the Waterfront": A Story of a Hero Who Names Names
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February 16, 2017 at 3:36 pm #950Kevin BurkeParticipant
Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront is a film that looks at how and when naming names might be the heroic thing to do. From the early line about the murdered informant Joey Doyle, “He could sing but he couldn’t fly,” naming names to the police is expressed as central conflict in the film. Taken in the historical context the film was released in, 1954 was a time when the Red Scare was reaching its peak, McCarthyism was prevalent in the US, and The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was investigating, blacklisting, and threatening legal penalty to any persons of perceived influence who were suspected of Communist affiliations. Suspected communists were given the opportunity to name other party members to HUAC as a means of avoiding further penalty. Many pieces of film, literature and other forms of art came out during this time-period that dealt indirectly with this controversy, both demonizing and supporting the idea of naming names. By creating a scenario in which a corrupt labor union is terrorizing its workers with inequality, nepotism, and even murder, Kazan successfully sets the stage for a Campbellian hero figure to reveal himself in the form of naming names to a higher body, despite the taboo that such an act has in society.
At the beginning of the film, the hero character Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) is largely complacent to what’s going on in his union. Much like the rest of the workers, he operates under a system of “D & D”, meaning that he is deaf and dumb when it comes to any mention of the corruption he is subjected to. He makes no great efforts to join the ranks of the corrupt union leaders, nor does he shy away from opportunities to help them out when he’s pressured to. After the murder of Joey Doyle, a union worker-turned informant, the system of “D & D” begins to crumble. This death can be seen as the Campbellian “herald” of adventure (42). This disastrous event acts a call for Terry to do something about the evil that he himself has a hand in. He does not immediately answer this call, remaining silent as the police begin to inquire to him about these events. Only once he meets his mentors, Father Malloy and Edie Doyle, he begins to build toward the incredibly difficult decision of heroically exposing the corrupt union leaders, even at the risk of his own life and the lives of those close to him. Edie Doyle, additionally can be seen as Malloy’s goddess figure, though in this case she represents all of the good in the world, without the equal representation of evil. She works tirelessly to uncover the mystery of her brother’s death, constantly encouraging all those around her to act justly. Malloy’s “belly of the whale” moment comes when his brother, a corrupt union leader himself, is murdered by his peers for allowing Terry to escape from him(74). At this point Terry is emotionally distraught, eager for revenge, and in a poor position to get any. This is the part of the film where tensions are highest and we as viewers fear that Malloy may make a poor decision with violent confrontation that could lead to his own demise. Through the consultation of his mentor figures however, he is able to realize that the only way to really defeat his enemies is by making the difficult decision to be honest to the police.
Again, this is where the allegory of HUAC is most prevalent. It was a very unpopular decision in Hollywood to name names to HUAC. Arthur Miller, once one of Kazan’s closest friends, refused to name his contemporaries to HUAC, and faced a penalty of jail time for that decision. Kazan himself, decided that it would be better to name names than to face the penalties, a decision that was so unpopular that it severely damaged the personal relationship between Miller and Kazan for years.
Unlike Kazan with HUAC, Terry Malloy was able to give himself another opportunity to be seen as a hero in the eyes of his union peers. Perhaps seen as the Campbellian “Return”, Terry Malloy goes back to the waterfront to wait in line for a day’s work (167). When he is rejected, he confronts his enemy head on in the form of a fist fight with the corrupt union president Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb). Though Malloy, a once talented boxer, put up a good fight, he was unable to take on the numerous leaders attacking him at once. Again, we are given a potential “belly of the whale” scenario as Malloy is beaten on the floor with his head in the water. His final stance as hero comes when he gets up, and despite all of his injuries walks into the gate, showing all of the union workers that they outnumber Friendly and his corrupt associates.
In “On the Waterfront”, Elia Kazan manages to deliver a seamless depiction of a Joseph Campbell hero figure, and one that pushes back against the stigma against naming names. Not to necessarily defend Kazan’s decision to name names to HUAC, it is clear that this film is an attempt to provide a scenario in which the heroic thing to do truly is to turn witness, no matter how internally conflicted it makes that hero. In that respect, this film is incredibly successful.
-Kevin Burke
February 20, 2017 at 2:58 pm #953Emily McClemontParticipantHi Kevin,
I think that you do an effective job of outlining Kazan’s On The Waterfront through Campbell’s literature and as a statement regarding Kazan’s naming names during the 1954 HUAC investigations and trials. I am intrigued by your identification of two “belly of the whale moments” evident within the film: the murder of Terry’s brother, a corrupt union leader, himself, and Malloy’s beating by the waterfront. I am interested to know more about your feelings regarding the inclusion of more than one “belly of the whale” moment. Do you feel these moments aimed to emphasize the corruption evident within the union or was worked to highlighted the difficulties inherent in naming names?
February 20, 2017 at 3:55 pm #955Michael PowersParticipantHi Kevin and Emily,
I found Kevin’s identification of the “belly of the wale” moment interesting too and I think his “belly of the whale” serves more to highlight the corruption within the union, showing how ruthless Johnny Friendly and company really are because it shows how they are willing to dispose of another high-ranking member of the union in order to send a message and keep their secrets hidden. What do you think of the scene when Terry tells Edie that he was involved in Joey’s death? I can see that as a “belly of the whale” moment as well because after she leaves him he hits a low point where, unlike in his brother’s death, he still hasn’t completely made up his mind about whether or not to sing but that could be his “crossing the threshold”, too.
I like how you tied this into Elia Kazan’s own experience with telling the HUAC about communists, but I have an issue with Kazan’s reasoning behind it. Kazan comparing himself to a whistleblower who exposed corruption –a real crime– in a union doesn’t exactly fit the idea of telling HUAC who communists are just to save yourself. While Kazan may have felt he was saving others, he fed the witch hunt, rather than ending it as Terry did in the movie.
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