“The Power of the Dog” Jane Campion and a new Western movie unique to the 2020s

Similarities with “Brokeback Mountain” – Different definitions of “masculinity”

In making the film, Campion used the afterword written by E. Annie Proulx, author of Brokeback Mountain (2005), for the revised version of Savage's book as a reference. Proulx calls the main character, Phil, "the most complex and vicious character in American literary history."

``Brokeback Mountain'' was a film adaptation of Proulx's short story, and the main characters were two cowboys who are symbols of machismo, and the delicate inner parts of them were cut out, but this time the main character Phil is even more He appears as a cowboy with complex conflicts. Inside him, there are several sides that are at odds with each other. Although he is charismatic and exudes machismo-like masculinity in his daily life, he actually The Graduate from the prestigious Yale University with excellent results and has hidden intellectual knowledge. He is also good at banjo, and can easily play classical pieces that Rose cannot play well on the piano through the strings. He is a person who is not only fierce, but also intelligent.

There is a scene along the way where the Governor visits the ranch, and at that time he jokes to Phil's younger brother George, ``Does your brother drive the cows away in Greek or Latin?'' The story's novel setting is that an educated man from a university is a cowboy covered in mud. Phil also has feelings that he has kept hidden for many years. There was once a legendary cowboy named ``Bronco Henry'' on the ranch, and Phil learned everything about how to live as a cowboy from him, and this person is an important person who holds the key to the story. Bronco was more than a friend to Phil, and Phil continued to hide his feelings for him.

Netflix movie “The Power of the Dog” now available exclusively

This reminds me of the character played by Heath Ledger in ``Brokeback Mountain.'' He, too, has always kept his feelings for his former herdsman friend (Jake Gyllenhaal) close to his heart, and has secretly kept the shirt he wore when he was alive. Phil also keeps items belonging to the deceased Bronco hidden under his clothes.

However, while ``Brokeback Mountain'' was created as a heartbreaking melodrama, ``The Power of the Dog'' has a poison that stings the viewer at the end. The film also features some memorable lines about masculinity.

Phil is (on the surface) adamant about old-fashioned macho masculinity, and wants to train the fair-skinned, timid Peter to become a real cowboy, teaching him how to ride horses and chase rabbits. Phil tells Peter, ``What makes a man strong is hardship and perseverance.'' Meanwhile, Rose, who is oppressed by Phil, tries to get through her difficult daily life by thinking of him as ``just a man, just like any other man.''

Meanwhile, his son Peter speaks in the opening narration: ``If I can't protect my mother, if I can't save her, what kind of man will I be?'' (subtitled ``I must protect my mother.'' (Who will protect it?) Also, when his mother warns him not to dissect animals in the room, he complains, ``If I always listen to what my mother says, what kind of man am I?'' What if?”). The subtitles only provide a rough translation, but if you look at the original text, there are several lines that define "a man", and you can see the difference in the interpretation of "a man" between Phil of the old generation and Peter of the new generation.

Since the #ME TOO movement, we have entered an era where we are forced to think not only about women's issues, but also about the definition of masculinity, and it seems that director Campion was also conscious of this when adapting the drama. "The recent #Me TOO movement influenced my own decisions. When I chose this theme, I thought it would be a different dimension than what I've seen before," the director told The Guardian. He commented in an interview. In recent years, the term "toxic masculinity" has been frequently used in articles overseas, but the definition of "masculinity" that this film asks is precisely because we live in the post-#ME TOO movement. There are some things that make you think about it.

In the late 1960s, when the original work was released, traditional views of men and women began to change due to the civil rights movement and sexual revolution. The original author, Thomas Savage, is a gay writer, and this novel is said to have autobiographical elements, but the theme was ahead of its time, and even more than 50 years after its publication, it has not been adapted into a movie. There must have been a point in doing so.

Savage's novel begins with an episode in which Phil castrates a male cow, and this scene appears halfway through the film, and Phil says he has castrated more than 1,500 cows. Even in the act of castration (erasing the male parts), we may be able to read the protagonist's hidden sexual tendencies.