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Sacramental Imagination

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Catholic Imagination in Film [ 4/3/2013 ]
A Style of His Own John Ford is without a doubt one of the greatest film makers to have ever lived. This can be made evident by the long celebration of his work since the time it was made till now. His works have brought about feelings of both joy and sorrow and have been the focal point for many arguments about human nature and right versus wrong. It is through Ford’s use of imagery as well as his characters actions that we are able to see that he has a Sacramental image of the world that he wishes to share with his audience. Ford uses his view of the world to deliver messages he has learned in his life to his audience through his films. Ford tries to let his audience see that some widely accepted ideas of his time were not quite correct about both people of different religions, and ethnicities. The Sacramental imagination as we understand it today can be compared to a Christian’s outlook on life. This so called imagination, or way of thought simply means that God and Heaven are present here on Earth. Ford, as many others do, believed that the world is at its core, a good and moral place that is just in need of guidance. He did not believe that we were all pre-destined or that the world was basically evil like the dialectical imagination would have us believe, but instead that God guides us along our way and is involved in everything we do. Ford’s belief in the Sacramental imagination can be accredited to both his upbringing and ethnic background. John Ford, or Sean Feeney as was his birth name, was born to an Irish American family with thirteen children in Portland, Maine. Having such an Irish background, with his father being a Gaelic speaking pub owner, Ford’s view of the world was greatly impacted. “During fords lifetime, the Church’s sacraments and liturgy were especially important to the legalistic and loyally institutional Irish. In large Irish families a child’s first confession was second only to his first communion.” [ (Lourdeaux) ]. His beliefs helped to guide him throughout his life as did the lessons he learned from his surroundings as a child. Ford grew up in an ethnic rich area with people of all types of backgrounds. It was in this that he learned all people are generally the same. The prejudice that accompanied other types of upbringings dissipated for Ford. He lived, worked, and was friends with all different types of people. Other Americans at the time were raised to see these immigrants as beneath them and as little more than lower class scum. His sympathy towards those who faced prejudice can be seen as some of the main underlying themes in many of his films. Ford was able to take his beliefs and translate them to his work. He did this both in the way he ran his sets and the messages in his films. Ford was a focused director who liked to avoid the hassles of Hollywood. He did this by taking his Irish catholic values and transforming them into his work ethic. “Fords answer was to make a virtue of the Irish father’s background control of family affairs and to keep the same group together for future projects.” [ (Lourdeaux) ]. This can be seen throughout his works, as many of the actors he used were in multiple of his films, the most notable of course was John Wayne. Ford often had priest present on his sets to perform mass for the Catholics working for him and asked the priest to bless the set before he began shooting. [ (Lourdeaux) ]. It was also the sets themselves that helped to show Ford’s Sacramental imagination. In movies such as The Searchers, and The Quiet Man, Ford used beautiful vast settings to show his audience an amazing fruitful world. Ford’s sets alone portrayed a message that the world was a good place full of opportunity. The settings represented the idea of endless opportunities in people’s lives as well as showed the beauty God has created for us. In the Movie The Searchers, Ford uses the natural setting of the West as his background. He uses wide angled shots of vast horizons that allow the audience to see as far as the eyes will allow them to. “I am a man of silent cinema, that’s when the picture and not the words had to tell the story.” The scenery Ford used helped to create the story even when the characters were not present in the shot. The same can be said for John Ford’s The Quiet Man. This movie is different from the first in that Ford no longer uses his famous western setting but instead uses the sprawling Irish country side. The lush green meadows of Ireland again are used to show the beauty in the world and are also used in this movie to set an image of the Irish themselves. Ford uses an Irish cottage surrounded by green fields to make the Irish look like decent home grown people and not like poor immigrants as many of the Americans believed at the time of Ford. Ford creates a new world for some people when they picture Ireland and as stated by Lindsay Anderson, “Ford had succeeded in creating a world that was "all harmony and reconciliation," [ (Dowling) ]. Ford’s world is truly one with a sacramental view. He shows the good in people as well as their surroundings and his settings are what enable him to do this. Furthermore, Ford uses not only the settings to show the Sacramental image in his films but also the characters placed in them. Ford uses both the role of the hero and anti hero, or protagonist, to show the values in life which we should emulate. He creates a sense of responsibility of one person to another and stresses the importance of relationships in the community. “In the tradition of the Catholic visual arts, Ford’s world on screen was not based on the Anglo-Protestant World but on a visual place that emanated a sacramental reality, mostly by focusing on communal actions and mediation” [ (Lourdeaux) ]. Ford uses his characters to show what the common beliefs of his time period were and through comedic ways, either shows the good in them or the folly. In John Ford’s, The Quiet Man, he uses the hero and anti hero to show the correct way of living. Sean Thornton, John Wayne, is the films protagonist. He is the traveler returned home to his place of birth in order to reclaim his families land. It is here that he falls in love with Mary Kate Danaher. He however is met with resistance from her land owning brother who seems to have a problem with just about everyone in the town. Will Danaher plays the role of the antagonist who Sean is forced to compete against. Ford shows his sacramental side in this film when he has the community come together to try to help the young American to claim his love. They all work together in the film and Ford is able to shoe both the sense of the sacraments and the good characteristics of the Irish at the same time. Ford also brings into his films the role of the caring women figure. This character in his films could be compared to that of Jesus’ Mother Mary and also Mary Magdalene. It is always a strong woman who is there to help in the protagonist time as need and the Mary figure serves as a guide as well, in finding the proper solutions. Mary Kate can be seen as the Mary Magdalene role in this film for she is there to help Sean and guides him to do the right thing throughout the movie. Before she even loves Sean she attempts to help him by defending his right to the land as well as cleaning his house before he gets there. Ford Also shows his Sacramental view in the movie, The Searchers, by use of his characters. In this film, John Wayne is no longer the hero but instead the anti hero. Wayne plays Ethan Edwards who is on a quest to find his niece, who has been kidnapped by the Indians who murdered her family. Ethan is an extreme racist, even to his companion, Martin Pawley, who he in fact rescued as a child. Ethan’s intention is not to save his niece but instead to shoot and kill her so her pure soul can’t be corrupted by the Indians. Martin tags along for the five year journey in order to save the girl should they ever find her. Martin can be seen as the hero in the film, always following a man who hates him because he is one eighth Indian in an attempt to do the right thing. He eventually converts his companion in the last scene to think better of his ways and when the niece is saved Ethan hugs her instead of killing her. Ford shows his Sacramental view many ways throughout the movie. Like in the other movie, the community comes together to help search for the young girl and fight back against the Indians to save her. This movie however goes much further into detail with the good versus evil that plagues Ethan’s mind. He sees no good in the world and believes that there is nothing left for him in it. After the war he is seen as a possible crook that cares for no one but himself. Ford uses him to show that this is not true. Ethan is converted to see the light in the world and once again rejoices in its beauty. Ford has been criticized for praising Ethan in the movie for being racist and showing the Indians as savages but if the movie is truly observed, the audience is able to deduce that ford is actually criticizing Ethan and mocking the idea of stereotypes and racism. Ford is trying to show that we are all God’s creatures and he loves us all equally and is present for us when we need him. It doesn’t matter if we are broken down soldiers or have what is thought to be the blood of a savage in us, God loves us all. It is clear through his style of filming that John Ford believes in the Sacramental Imagination. He shows us through his films that God is forever present here on earth in both its beauty and the people surrounding us. Ford teaches lessons to us about our situations here on Earth and attempts to show us the proper way to live our lives. Ford films although unique in style, truly show the good that can exist in people. We should all try to emulate what he teaches us in his works.

Works Cited
"John Ford's The Quiet Man." John Ford's The Quiet Man. William C. Dowling., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~wcd/quietman.htm>.
"The Searchers :: Rogerebert.com :: Great Movies." The Searchers :: Rogerebert.com :: Great Movies. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20011125/REVIEWS08/111250301/1023>. "The Quiet Man." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045061/>.
Lourdeaux, Lee. Italian ans Irish Filmmakers in America. Philidelphia : Temple University Press, n.d.

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