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In a recent Film as Text, Gary Simmons identifies the three-act narrative that shapes Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront (1954). Simmons' analysis plots the awakening, enlightenment and catharsis of Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), detailing 'a personal journey of self-awareness and redemption'.1 Terry is initially viewed as complicit, if somewhat reluctantly, in the nefarious affairs that lead to the death of a young dock worker. Gradually, Terry becomes self-aware and notices that the corrupt world, of which he is a part, is tearing away at both his community and his conscience. Terry eventually seeks redemption for himself and redress for his fellow workers when he informs on the crooks that operate the Longshoreman's Local 374.
Simmons' study essentially narrows the frame of analysis to the narrative's moral elements, focusing chiefly on the awakening of Terry's conscience. He also looks at the implications of Kazan's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, demonstrating how On the Waterfront is seen by many as the director's justification for his conduct. This paper, on the other hand, constructs an ideological critique that seeks to uncover the social values represented in On the Waterfront. Analysing a film's images, symbols, myths and narrative reveals the underlying ideological meanings and values that shape a text. Such a study considers how the politics of the waterfront, as represented in Kazan's film, reflect certain social and economic values relevant to 1950s America.
'There's more to this than I thought ... I mean a lot more.' - Terry Malloy
Peter Biskind describes On the Waterfront as a 'political allegory cast in the form of a morality play',2 by which he means the surface story represents something more than just the sum of its parts. On the Waterfront is indeed about the personal dilemmas faced by an individual confronting the realities of crime and corruption, but Kazan's film does not ignore the social and contextual implications of its themes. Corruption on the docks is used as a tool to explore not only Terry's crisis of conscience, but also broader ideas of loyalty, self-interest and brotherhood. All texts combine formal and stylistic components in ways that create or reflect ideological perspectives. In this sense, ideology refers to a 'systematic body of ideas, attitudes, values, and perceptions, as...