Friday, July 22, 2005
INTO THE WEST: passive characters
Year: 2005
Genre: Western miniseries, made for television
Cast: Irene Bedard, Keith Carradine, Tyler Christopher, Rachel Leigh Cook, Warren Kole
Director: Tim Van Patten
Writer: William Mastrosimone
Into the West: Casualties of War, episode five in the limited series, follows Jacob Jr. struggling with his assignment as a scout to General George Armstrong Custer until the massacre at the Little Big Horn. His story posthumously crosses Clara and Robert's, who get rich from the Black Hills gold rush and then poor from an ill-timed investment in buffalo hides.
Robert wrestles with finding purpose for his life. He expends his energy living out his father's dream as a successful shopkeeper and entrepreneur, but pays a high price internally and relationally with Clara. When his father's dream abandons him due to ill economic fortunes, he latches onto the dream of an ex-military officer named Pratt. Robert and Clara join Pratt in Pennsylvania to teach Lakota the white men's ways. As the young couple bonds with the children, especially rebellious "George," they grow increasingly disenchanted with both Pratt's personality and educational methods.
"Casualties of War" attempts to draw together the divergent Lakota and Wheeler story lines. However, the anticipated impact one has on another is at best a glancing blow. When the Battle of the Little Big Horn catches up with Jacob Jr., it's sad and faintly ironic, but ultimately lacks real emotional impact. For a story to make an impact on the audience (or reader), there must be intent on the characters' parts. Jacob Jr.'s fate is depicted as a random one. He himself lacks the kind of character goal to inspire intent in other characters. At one point a friend asks him why he stays with Custer, whom he despises. He says he wants to confound the devil's purposes, but without any supporting action toward this goal, it falls flat. Thus, a promising character goes nowhere, turned into an excuse for the audience's presence at a major historic event.
Robert and Clara's storyline fairs little better. They, too, are beset by internal conflicts and blown about by circumstances largely beyond their control--drought, renegades, and the economy. Again, the characters lack the intent to take command of their own storyline. It picks up a little when they piggyback on Pratt's goal to educate the Lakota children, but that is a story problem. It's Pratt's goal driving the plot, not the main characters. The major conflict is between Pratt and "George," through whom the Lakota children's plight is movingly depicted. Though strongly conflicted internally, Clara and Robert are largely passive and reactive externally. Plot events happen to them more often than they make plot events happen. It weakens the story, and at the end of "Casualties of War," I felt the characters had wandered about and the story traveled nowhere.
At the end, Robert makes a big decision. The audience is not let in on the particulars of the goal he has finally settled on for himself and his growing family. But one can hope it will be of a compelling nature to conclude the series on a satisfying note.
Genre: Western miniseries, made for television
Cast: Irene Bedard, Keith Carradine, Tyler Christopher, Rachel Leigh Cook, Warren Kole
Director: Tim Van Patten
Writer: William Mastrosimone
Into the West: Casualties of War, episode five in the limited series, follows Jacob Jr. struggling with his assignment as a scout to General George Armstrong Custer until the massacre at the Little Big Horn. His story posthumously crosses Clara and Robert's, who get rich from the Black Hills gold rush and then poor from an ill-timed investment in buffalo hides.
Robert wrestles with finding purpose for his life. He expends his energy living out his father's dream as a successful shopkeeper and entrepreneur, but pays a high price internally and relationally with Clara. When his father's dream abandons him due to ill economic fortunes, he latches onto the dream of an ex-military officer named Pratt. Robert and Clara join Pratt in Pennsylvania to teach Lakota the white men's ways. As the young couple bonds with the children, especially rebellious "George," they grow increasingly disenchanted with both Pratt's personality and educational methods.
"Casualties of War" attempts to draw together the divergent Lakota and Wheeler story lines. However, the anticipated impact one has on another is at best a glancing blow. When the Battle of the Little Big Horn catches up with Jacob Jr., it's sad and faintly ironic, but ultimately lacks real emotional impact. For a story to make an impact on the audience (or reader), there must be intent on the characters' parts. Jacob Jr.'s fate is depicted as a random one. He himself lacks the kind of character goal to inspire intent in other characters. At one point a friend asks him why he stays with Custer, whom he despises. He says he wants to confound the devil's purposes, but without any supporting action toward this goal, it falls flat. Thus, a promising character goes nowhere, turned into an excuse for the audience's presence at a major historic event.
Robert and Clara's storyline fairs little better. They, too, are beset by internal conflicts and blown about by circumstances largely beyond their control--drought, renegades, and the economy. Again, the characters lack the intent to take command of their own storyline. It picks up a little when they piggyback on Pratt's goal to educate the Lakota children, but that is a story problem. It's Pratt's goal driving the plot, not the main characters. The major conflict is between Pratt and "George," through whom the Lakota children's plight is movingly depicted. Though strongly conflicted internally, Clara and Robert are largely passive and reactive externally. Plot events happen to them more often than they make plot events happen. It weakens the story, and at the end of "Casualties of War," I felt the characters had wandered about and the story traveled nowhere.
At the end, Robert makes a big decision. The audience is not let in on the particulars of the goal he has finally settled on for himself and his growing family. But one can hope it will be of a compelling nature to conclude the series on a satisfying note.
