First of all, this is probably the most in-depth analysis of Rambo that has ever been done. He certainly makes some strong points about what the lack of a father figure can cause a child, as well as about masculinity in society. I will admit that because I have not read the book version of the story, and because I haven't seen the movie in probably five years, some aspects of this essay were hard to follow. I got it for the most part, but without a context to place some of these characters (besides, of course, John Rambo himself), I got somewhat lost. I have also not read The Brotherhood of Rose, or anything by Steven King, which didn't help either.
One of the main focuses of the whole essay is about different paternal relationships of characters throughout the novel and movie. He gets rather deep with this and connects a lot of characters together via a paternal relationship. I believe that David Morrell intended for many of these in his novels, but perhaps not all of them. I have heard a lot of things about the lack of a father figure in one's life and these include: a greater chance for substance addiction, a more reckless, violent nature, and deep-seeded emotional issues. Robinson touches on all of these during the essay - Rambo used pills as an escape, was obviously fairly reckless and violent, and definitely had deep-seeded emotional problems.
I think the other biggest focus was that of the male image that must be maintained in society. Males are conditioned to believe that showing emotion is a sign of weakness, and we must always be "playing defense" against society and others. It is very powerful to think about the last scene of First Blood with Trautman holding Rambo, who is crying and expressing emotions - a big no-no in society - and proceeds to blow his brains out with a shotgun. This is very representative of our society as a whole and the differences between mothers and fathers, and males and females. Robinson really does make some interesting points.
Note: This is a very deep essay that has so much information and opinions in it that it would take me quite some time to really analyze and react to it well.
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I too had a hard time following the essay because I hadn't read any of the books that Robinson cites in his analysis. In addition to that, I also hadn't seen the movie in a couple of years, so it's a little shaky in my mind. In other words Robinson did a pretty poor job at accomodating a universal audience, because this essay seems to be intended for a very specific one, unless he's hoping that everyone's read all these books and seen these movies.
ReplyDeleteHis thesis could probably be argued with as well if I were to simply take a feminist point of view and say that women are the oppressed gender in society. I mean they didn't even have civil rights until all too recently. So maybe men are just weak and they're blaming all of their problems on their father, or lack thereof. I mean the typical male thing to do is blame someone else for our faults right? So obviously Robinson can't accept the notion that it's in our nature to be defensive, he's got to go ahead and blame it on a patriarchical society (there's his defensiveness coming out).
Throughout the essay Morrell did mention the paternal relationships of the characters quite a bit and that is a point I agree with you on. You also said that you have heard a lot about the lack of a father figure including a greater chance for substance addiction, a more reckless, violent nature, and a deep-seeded emotional issues. It's also true that these things were mentioned throughout the essay. I think this is bullshit. Although specific cases may prove this true, there are many others would show otherwise. One of my best guy friends was raised without a father, and he is probably one of the nicest, caring and well behaved men I have ever met. He is no different if not more compassionate than dozens of other men I have met. As far as the male image goes, I would almost prefer a man who isn't afraid to show me his emotions. In fact I think that only a strong man would be able to let himself show people how he is really feeling. That whole male image thing can work on occasion but sometimes I think men need to take down the facade and show the world who they really are.
ReplyDeleteI too think that the ideas that he presented in the article are a bit extreme. I know that growing up without a certain parent has got to be extremely hard a person, but I don't think that it is enough to turn a person into someone so messed up that they almost can't seem to function. I think that the focus of the article should have been more of the effect the war had on Rambo and not as much about his lack of a father. I have met plenty of people in my life that have been able to grow into great people even without a father or a mother being around. I think that the author should have maybe presented a side to Rambo more on the post-traumatic stress angle and less the father figure angle. I feel that even though Rambo's father wasn't present in his life, had he not been involved in the army he probably would not have had the struggle that he did when he returned. Too much of this focus seems to be on the oppression of men as a whole, and not focusing more on one persons struggles throughout his life other than not having a father around.
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