(By Madison)

Experience

This was another movie we watched in my room on my tiny TV on an August evening. Unlike the others, I think I actually stayed awake through this one!

The Movie

I thought this movie ranked up there with All Quiet… in terms of deepness in plot and character development. Cimarron is adapted from a book by Edna Ferber written in 1929 and was apparently a big budget film despite the depression. It’s about a man who claims a plot of land in the newly opened Oklahoma territory and moves his young wife and baby out there with him (their slave boy stowed himself in the back of the wagon because he wanted to move with them).The family quickly becomes the most prominent family in their new town where they own and publish the town gazette and the man (Yancey) is a sort of town head or lawyer as well. The movie follows years and years of their life in the town and their successes despite disputes with other town members and, of course, Indians. I was not expecting any huge plot twists so I was shocked when Yancey learns of a new frontier and tells his wife he must go. I’ll have to stop there so as not to spoil the rest of the movie. The development of Yancey’s wife’s character from this point on was my favorite part of the movie.

I found the film to be incredibly true to history. At the time, I was working on a research project about World’s Fairs and how influential they were in the US at first, and at one point in the movie the ladies mentioned the fashion from Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and I just loved that. Other than that, I think it accurately portrayed the sentiments of possibility and opportunity (sadly even racism) felt in America in that decade and beyond.

Raymond’s Inputs

Yay! Thank you Madison for writing! It looks like we are all caught up now and can continue our quest!

I wanted to add to this review because I also particularly enjoyed this movie. The character development, plot twists, and historical relevance all contributed to a great experience.

The issue I wanted to add a bit more about was the racism as portrayed in the film. First off, the character of the slave boy is portrayed as simple minded, outspoken, always singing gospel songs — it is not exactly a favorable portrayal, and is very stereotypical. The boy is even the subject of some mistreatment and ridicule in the movie itself, so the film combines an unfavorable portrayal of the boy with an actual depiction of racism.

In the film’s defense, Yancey — the protagonist — is something that must have been rare at the time. Yancey is shown as genuinely caring for the boy, is respectful to the Indians and even embraces a marriage between one of the characters in the movie and an Indian, in spite of the rest of the town looking down upon the marriage. Yancey is also sympathetic to a woman with the reputation of being a prostitute, and the local outlaws. Despite his wife disagreeing with him, he states that its no fault of the individuals that they are in their condition — he blames it solely on the social order of the time.

I could not help but think this was rather progressive, and was not really something I expected from the movie. While the portrayals of the minority characters were rather stereotypical, the dialogue in the film seemed to push the idea that everyone should be treated with respect, regardless of the circumstances they are in.

It was a very interesting movie, and I would highly recommend it next time you are in on a rainy night and looking for something to watch.