Unforgiven

unforgiven is not so much a revisionist western in the sense that it directly critiques or subverts the western genre to make it more “politically correct” but rather in the sense that it plays the genre and its mythology so straight that it feels wrong. the interesting thing about watching many of clint eastwood’s movies is his earnestness in portraying an almost pure conservative conception of what it means to be a man. this naturally results in the women being two-dimensional characters, including a dead wife who is never seen and simply exists for william munny to use as an explanation for why he stopped drinking whiskey and shooting people. although i'm usually annoyed by these writing tendencies in other films, they help strengthen this film's exploration of male fantasies: the fact that the women are barely characters is a reflection of how the male characters think as opposed to misogynist hollywood writing habits. although this doesn’t completely excuse the flattening of the women to glorified plot devices which is definitely partly driven by conservative beliefs, i find it much less insidious than the more "apolitical" approaches seen in most other films and tv series. i’ve noticed this more “apolitical” approach most recently with severance and its use of the dead wife trope where the protagonist, mark scout, is only motivated to do something about his life when the women around him (his sister, his wife, and his office girlfriend) tell him to do so. within the sterile apolitical apple tv plus universe of the tv show this is portrayed as natural behavior even though there's something a bit off-putting about a man who only seems able to tap into his emotions via women. in severance, there is no self-awareness of these gendered dynamics. on the other hand, william munny is completely aware that his masculinity is a blunt force weapon that hurts those around him, he just can’t imagine himself being any other way. he doesn’t kill to protect the women’s honor but because his masculinity only feels validated when it's expressed through violence. “deserve’s got nothing to do with it” last year eastwood released juror #2 which has a similarly self-aware understanding of masculinity, this time portrayed through a protagonist who believes he deserves to be forgiven for his sins because of his devotion to his wife and future child. in the mind of the eponymous juror, the preservation of the nuclear family is worth abandoning one's morals. with these two films eastwood works within the classic melodrama framework where characters are tormented by suffocating social structures and are forced to accept their role even if it means sacrificing their humanity. eastwood's male melodramas have a deep understanding patriarchy's flaws and are tortured by them because the characters can't conceive of the world being any other way. this defeatist view of masculinity is not where we want to end up at the end of the day but at least eastwood’s portrayal of it is honest and self aware enough to start a conversation.