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Falling Down

Falling Down The 1993 film falling down provides a look into two separate men’s lives in the course of one day. Although the movie was highly acclaimed for it’s portrayal of the new human situation, the covert and overt racism, sexism, and classism leave a sour taste in this viewer’s mouth. The movie comes across as a lame attempt to show the “White man’s ever growing burden.” The audience is expected to feel a compassion for both lead characters. The message that is supposed to be portrayed is similar to films of today such as fight club and American beauty. All three pointing at what they see as specific flaws yet offering up no real solutions to these problems. With these flaws in this system pointed out Michael Douglas’ character William Foster is held up as a martyr. He is not portrayed as a real villain through out the story. Both men feel the strain of society the difference is the way each chooses to express this frustration. The first scene both main characters are stuck in a huge traffic jam. Sick of waiting William Foster leaves his car in search of a way to “come home” to his wife. After leaving his car the second main character, Detective Pendergast, is shown commenting that it is his last day on the force. The two are contrasted Pendergast is able to work within societies boundaries while Bill has rejected the society that has rejected him. In this time there is an obvious comparison between the two that will become reoccurring through out the story. It is clear that this story is supposed to be a representation of what happens when a man cracks under all the pressure of being a white male. A critique of societies pressure on the working class man and his struggle with the new world around him. The movie is supposed to question society as a whole yet it left me questioning who had written a story so specific that no one besides white males could identify with it. Although Bill is portrayed as the working class hero there are several areas where severe flaws can be observed. After leaving his car on the freeway Bill heads towards the nearest convience store to get change to make a phone call. The stores owner, a Korean man, denies Foster the change with out the purchase of an item from the store. Angered by the fact that he cannot buy what he wants and get the right amount of change he takes it out by verbally abusing the owner and destroying his store. Two quotes still stick out from the confrontation with the Korean shop owner “ You come to my country, take my money and don’t have the grace to speak my language” and “Do you know how much the U.S. has given your country?” Author Robert Lee in his book Orientals wrote that the Korean shopkeeper “ represents alienated capitalism, capital literally given into the hand of the alien.” Upon examining Foster interactions with other minority groups such as the Latino group he encounters one can say that he is a xenophobic. Not only is Bill a racist he also does not pay child support and he has a quick temper. When the police arrive at Fosters ex-wife Beth’s house they seem to laugh at her. Since she was never beaten they find her reason for putting a retraining order on him ridiculous. She is portrayed as being a silly woman who was probably just trying to get back at her ex-husband. Her character becomes more significant as the story moves along yet she is still portrayed as a stupid helpless woman. It seems that if only she would have helped him through his bad times he would have been okay. Even with menacing calls placed to her his calls seem justified. Detective Pendergast is what every man does not want to be. He is considered weak by the rest of the police force because he is “controlled” by his wife. By considering her feelings in matters that concern both of them he has become weak. He is the one that is supposed to be in control. He finally asserts this control over his wife when she tells her to shut up. This seems to be a triumphant point for Pendergast. A point where as viewers males identify with the role of the dominant head of the household while females observe that unless they want their men to be made fun of they must become subservient and have nothing to do with the decision making role of the family. This film offers a view into a white mans world. One many are all to familiar with. This is due to the fact that most directors and writers that get movies produced are white males. This is a good movie to critique because there are so many faults in it but not a good movie to learn much from. There are several areas which can be discussed with in a class setting. The stereotypes of almost everyone in the film is a good starting point. This movie would only be recommended on the sole purpose of picking the flaws from it. Although there were points where I felt the movie trying to be humorous it just didn’t work for me. Not only did the movie itself leave me with an uneasy feeling the reviews I read after viewing this movie also disturbed me. No one felt like I did at all. There were several reviews calling the move one of the all time best movies. Quotes like “nothing Douglas does will surprise you, we have all thought of doing the same things he does” and “Michael Douglas rips into everybody that we as a society cannot stand” clarified for me who this movie was directed at. White males that are feeling displaced in society. This movie tries to bring back the patriotism and total patriarchy of yesteryear and frankly I’m sick and tired of it. I definitely disliked this movie and it’s implications and unless you want to cry at the fact that people really do feel this way while at the same time laughing at the idiocy of people who feel this way it is definitely not worth renting. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1050