Johnny Guitar

Question 1

Shot - Opening Scene

Answer 1

. Standard saloon: set designer worked in theatre
. Vienna: masc stance, trousers, uniform, professional
. Low angle of V: power, key light on her face
. Her private quarters are more fem, delicate, frills
. Screen covers bed: privacy, modesty
. Proper woman: off the hook for being butch

Question 2

Shot - ‘Lie to me’

Answer 2

. V is in fem, brighter clothes - pink/red sexuality
. Hatch: barrier, V higher in framing, holding back service to him, she’s in control
. Harsh light on V, hollows in her cheeks
. V denies emotional reassurance, throws glass, violent
. V in shot when they hug, crying, soft key light
. Johnny above in terms of framing, clinging to him

Question 3

Shot - The Siege at Vienna’s Saloon

Answer 3

. V in white dress - Scarlett O’Hara Gone with the Wind
. High angle, lighting chandelier; southern hospitality
. Hospitable to mob guests, ironic
. Nurtures Turkey with whiskey, used to be how she made her money, businesswoman to maternal
. Pieta: Madonna figure
. Long shot of V playing piano: fem hobby
. Pure white vs mob black

Question 4

Shot - Final Scene

Answer 4

. McIvers opts out of violence: goodness of the law
. Emma moves like an animal, acceptable to kill her
. Long shot of ranch, theatrical: V on left in the light in colour, E on right in shadows in black
. Don’t see Emma’s face after she’s shot. Dehumanised
. J leads V away, she throws her gun away, they kiss
. Return to western and gender expectations

Question 5

Production Context

Answer 5

. Crawford wanted to 'play the man'
. The role was written for her
. She bought the rights to Johnny Guitar
. She and Emma (McCambridge) hated each other
. Big budget bc of Crawford

Question 6

Social/Political Context

Answer 6

. Pre WWII: archetypal westerns, women were mothers or prostitutes in westerns. Did little action
. Post WWII: heroes more complex, morally ambiguous: J and V are tortured by their past
. No longer morally black or white
. Desire for return to conservatism: wanted fem women, however women had had a taste of work and independence and liked it

Question 7

Auteur

Answer 7

. Vienna more independent than other female characters in Ray’s films
. Hated the colour blue
. Colour always had symbolic meaning in his films
. Made stories about outsiders, felt like one himself: “I’m a stranger here” as Johnny says

Question 8

Conventions

Answer 8

. Becomes more conventional
. V is a masc heroine, can’t stay that way
. Fem restored by J, she’s a woman when he comes back
. Male characters have hobbies and like each other - not all about violence
. Emma in her corrupt virginity is doomed to die

Question 9

Context - Red Scare

Answer 9

. Crippling terror of communism
. From the 1940s hearings took place as part of the House of Unamerican Activities (HUAC) challenging anyone deemed to have communist connections
. Artists, writers, ‘creatives’ targeted
. Ben Maddow: blacklisted writer and rumoured to have been subcontracted by Johnny Guitar writer Philip Yordan

Question 10

Production Code

Answer 10

. Limited what could be shown in films in terms of morality and decency
. Bad guys always punished
. Law enforcement always in the right