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157 eastwood, romanCe, tragedy Deborah Knight and George McKnight A significant group of Clint Eastwood’s films fall within what we call, following Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism, the master genre of romance.1 With Mystic River (2003), Eastwood’s films turn away from the genre of romance toward a focus on the tragic and on the master genre of tragedy. In this chapter we will examine the trajectory of Eastwood’s films from romance to tragedy, focusing in particular on how both romance and tragedy are concretized by films that fall within familiar cinematic genres, such as the Western and the police procedural. We will examine how the generic form of Eastwood’s films shapes their moral and philosophical concerns, including the relationship between the law and justice, the victimization of the innocent, and the role of the hero who, at least in the films that fall under the master genre of romance, is invariably compelled to help others, usually strangers. First, let us consider the master genre of romance and its typical hero. The romance hero is superior in his skills and actions to those around him, and becomes involved in a quest—a journey or search—that ends in a confrontation with adversaries in order to defend an individual or to protect a community threatened by violence or criminal activity. The romance hero is drawn into the circumstances of others, and his actions involve undertaking a moral cause or commitment, often reluctantly. Our examples will be drawn from films dating from the formation of the Malpaso Company, including the Westerns Hang ’Em High (1968), Joe Kidd (1972), High Plains Drifter (1973), with brief references to The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), through to Pale Rider (1985) and Unforgiven (1992).2 Discussion of the police procedural will focus on Dirty Harry (1971), with references to Magnum Force (1973), Sudden Impact (1983), In the Line of Fire (1993), and True Crime (1999), which, while not strictly speaking a police procedural, features a 158 Deborah Knight and George McKnight protagonist who is an investigative reporter. Additionally, True Crime marks a transition between the master genre of romance and Eastwood’s more recent tragic films. There are two senses of the term “tragedy,” both of which are relevant with regard to the Eastwood films we are considering. First, tragedy can refer to awful, devastating, catastrophic events that happen to essentially innocent characters. Between 2003 and 2008, Eastwood’s work increasingly explores how characters respond emotionally and psychologically to injustices or when dealing with tragic events that befall themselves or others , events such as child abduction, rape, and murder. Examples include Mystic River (2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Changeling (2008), and Gran Torino (2008). But the term can also designate what Frye thinks of as the master genre of tragedy, where particular tragic events are incorporated into an overall narrative that leads the protagonist to discover how his or her actions have inadvertently brought about or contributed to the tragic events in question. With Mystic River, Eastwood’s work as a director approaches the master genre of tragedy. Tragic events can certainly occur within the scope of the master genre of romance. It is in the three latter films that romance and tragedy most obviously intersect. While certain injustices may be righted in these films as a result of actions by Frankie Dunn (Eastwood ) in Million Dollar Baby, Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) and the Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich) in The Changeling, and Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) in Gran Torino, there is, nevertheless, a lingering sense of loss about all four films. The central protagonist of a romance narrative is typically victorious, although that victory might be dark or ironic or, as we see in Eastwood’s more tragic films, at a personal cost when he does what he believes is morally right. The protagonist of a tragic narrative is usually an antihero, who is morally liable for at least some of the tragic events that unfold, as we see in Mystic River. Romance and the Romance Hero In Eastwood’s Westerns, the protagonist is an outsider located initially on the wilderness landscape, a lone individual who becomes involved with a community by force of circumstance. In his police procedurals, the protagonist is often reluctant to take on partners or is at odds with the institutional authority he serves. In Hang ’Em High, Jed Cooper (Eastwood) is seen first driving cattle across a river and rescuing a young calf. He is set upon by...

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