How Green Was My Valley and Auteur Theory

How Green Was My Valley and Auteur Theory

Only having viewed The Searchers and How Green Was My Valley, I can see that my quick judgment of John Ford and his style was premature.  Honestly, I hated The Searchers.  And before you judge me and my lack of culture, can we just remember how Barthes talks about the importance of the reader and restoring the status of the reader (3), and thereby championing the reader…?  So, my reading of the film was somewhat valid, right?  I think it was the overt racism that I couldn’t handle.  It took some discussion to see its high points.  How Green Was My Valley was an entirely different experience for me as the reader. 

Sarris notes that “the way a film looks and moves should have some relationship to the way a director thinks and feels.”  (562)  He goes on to specify that auteur theory is primarily concerned with interior meaning. Such a meaning seems prevalent in the two John Ford films that I have seen.  Perhaps it would be interesting first to note some of the analogous themes and the similarity of technique in his films – some of those patterns that help develop Ford’s auteur style and determine authorship.  The cinematography Ford exhibits in his films is quite breathtaking.  The transition from long, sweeping wide shots to close-ups, especially of the face, is seen a number of times.  It aids the reader in first understanding the scope of the piece and then makes them become intimate with the characters as people.  This demonstrates both his technique and his personal style. 

Wollen advises the reader/viewer to notice where the auteur finds and places value.  In The Searchers and How Green Was My Valley both, it is clear to see the emphasis that Ford places on family (both pieces are centered around the family unit and a desperation to keep it intact) and in the social roles of family members.  Further stylistic themes center around the patriarchal hierarchy in the piece and defined roles of men and women.  The women are expected to behave in a certain way, and when they don’t, it is cause for gossip or retribution.  But Ford doesn’t just stick to expectations.  In How Green he allowed some of the women to break from their central role and exhibit power.  Specifically, the determination exhibited by the mother as she takes matters into her own hands and marches up the hill to face off with the union men in the snowy forest outside the town.  Likewise, the daughter exhibits her own gusto when she breaks into the preacher’s house at night, and in quite a forward manner, resolving to find out his feelings and share her own.  Little differences like this highlight an important aspect in auteur analysis that Wollen hit upon in his article.  Therein, he recommends that we follow the advice of Levi-Strauss, in not only noting the similarities in the works of a particular director, but also their differences.  In “comprehending a system of differences and oppositions” (Wollen 572), the text can be studies more meaningfully.  As a female viewer, I appreciated this contrast. 

Wollen also notes that in Ford’s films, he finds transcendent value in bringing civilization to a savage land.” But he also “sees the values themselves as problematic.” (567)  He is able to demonstrate this through the framing and duration of individual shots.  Technically speaking, one must note the use of silhouettes against the sky, sharp contrast, even in a black and white film, with the black coal smoke against the light colored sky, demonstrating a communal dependency on this resource.  His use of silence and line of sight are of equal importance, allowing the audience to soak in his rich thematic material. 

Further introspection into the works of Ford find commonality in the themes of injustice (and the associated violence) loneliness, necessity of community which was expressly featured in this film in the singing and the coming together to support the family after each accident and loss in such a positive manner.  Conversely, it is seen in the treatment of the boy at school, the retaliation for not joining the union, the gossip descending as the deacons of the town join together to ridicule the unwed mother, and then the preacher and the sister. Often, in Ford films, it seems that the story is seen from the perspective of an outsider who can’t seem to join in; either he is too young, or has done too much to be a part of accepted society.  Each film seemed a play on expressive realism and an emotionally charged take on unusual circumstances facing family life and a struggle to survive.  The central characters are shown as flawed and vulnerable.

Clearly, John Ford was successful for a reason.  His visual style and master story-telling techniques are both sophisticated and accessible.  His stunning aesthetics and strong, clear themes allow for audience identification and alienation at the same time.  As a reader, with a view of both The Searchers and How Green Was My Valley, I am encompassed with the frames shots, of bygone years and the notion that the man has to leave his home and go out into the world, either for solitude, or work, to forget the past, or chart off into the unknown.  Home seems to never be enough at the end.