On my previous post (below):
I hope you were at least mildly amused by my referral to a modern morality play in Brazil in my first post today.
Having often spent my meager allowance going to Saturday movie matinees to watch Westerns in a small New Jersey town, I could not resist the metaphor.
As I mentioned in my post, we are in the transition from Act IV to Act V. The “greedy merchants”, the “outlaw gang”, and the “corrupt town council” would all like nothing better than to see the justice-seeking “gunslinger” leave town.
A problem arises with the agenda of each of the groups.
The “greedy merchants” want nothing more than to continue with their local monopolies. They are cooperating with the “gunslinger” to try to stay out of the way of his “fast draw”. They don’t want a fight, they just want to get back to making money.
The “outlaw gang” wants a fight. Not only do they oppose the greedy merchants and the cattle ranchers, they have it in mind to take over the town – a goal totally incompatible with the agenda of the merchants and the actions of the “gunslinger”. Their only option is to offer an alternative gunslinger to take on the “justice-seeker”. Their problem is to find someone who has a “faster draw”.
The “corrupt sheriff and town council” want to see the “outlaws” and the justice-seeking gunslinger gone so they can continue to shake down the merchants and obtain the largesse of the rich “cattle ranchers”.
All are threatened by the arrival of a group of settlers who are enthralled with the potential of the town with its water and land resources. They don’t want the “outlaws”, “the greedy merchants and the cattle ranchers” or “the corrupt sheriff and town council”.
Currently, the “corrupt town council” and the “greedy merchants” are at odds both with each other and the members of their own respective groups.
The town council members are busy circulating audio recordings of their former friends and colleagues and even the “outlaws” as they complain to each other about the actions and objectives of the gunslinger.
They have even considered trying to win the support of the “outlaws” who are equally threatened by the justice-seeking gunslinger. However, they are no less threatened by the gunslinger than they are by the “outlaws” and the betrayal of the greedy merchants who confess their transgressions in order to stave off the “gunslinger” and get back to business. They have negotiated their situations via plea bargains that further complicate the lives of the outlaws and the town council. The gunslinger benefits from the information provided by the plea-bargains that further comprise both the outlaws and the town council.
Meanwhile, the gunslinger enjoys the overwhelming support of those who have arrived in the wagon train, a group larger in number than all of the other antagonists taken together. They have allied with the gunslinger to the chagrin of the other parties.
Remaining only is the final “showdown” between “Good” and “Evil”.
You might want to hang on until the end of the film. It’s one of the better ones!
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