Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter (1955)
162 notes
·
View notes
“It's a hard world for little things.”
103 notes
·
View notes
what Disco Elysium and The Night Of The Hunter do thats crucial to constructing a true anticapitalist thriller narrative is that they both deny you catharsis through the traditional climax of the story; the apprehension of the killer
when it’s time to slap the cuffs on the bad guy the story isn’t over and you don’t get to feel better. both scenes only compound an overall feeling of helplessness
in The Night Of The Hunter, Powell's arrest and the presence of police sends the child protagonist into a severe dissociative state, being called on to testify against him as a witness in court only traumatizes him further. he’s just a little boy, the last few months of his life have been hell and he’s not allowed to start healing until the court uses him to send Powell to the gallows
in Disco Elysium, The Deserter is a dying man, he isn’t going to live to see a trial, it’s likely he won’t survive being transported into police custody. he was only a teenager when the Coalition invaded Revachol and he’s spent his entire life since wasting away in the wilderness and hating the world. Already in a kind of prison.
framing is everything, and both narratives go to lengths to establish the systematic roots of the crimes that have been committed. you can’t arrest a culture that perpetuates violence against women and children. you can’t arrest capitalism for creating the poverty that drove Ben Harper to kill two men and steal a thousand dollars, you can’t arrest capitalism for incentivizing the world government to invade and occupy a communist country and overthrow their government.
82 notes
·
View notes
i watch one good old classic movie and im already feeling like a fucking boomer bc i think they don't make movies like they used to
39 notes
·
View notes
Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter (1955)
155 notes
·
View notes
Robert Mitchum - The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton 1955)
128 notes
·
View notes
The Night of the Hunter (1955), German poster by Hans Braun
82 notes
·
View notes