Progressively Backwards
The film tracks the course of forty years --from 1890 to present day 1940-- as we see the Oklahoma settlement Osage (the name of a Siouan tribe) evolve from a midwest boomtown of an instantaneous 10,000 to a modern urban city, focusing on the lives of Yancey Cravat and his wife Sabra. Yancey is a strapping fella with big ambitions and a big heart; Sabra comes from a wealthy, well-to-do family who disowns her when she decides to follow Yancey as he ventures into the West to start a newspaper. Some have described Cimarron as a Western, which describes the first half or so of the movie quite well, and as a Western, thematically the film is about progress, civilization... and the White Man's burden to enlighten lesser peoples. Cimarron is incredibly --and dare I say it?-- hilariously racist, sexist and every other -ist you can think of, as it tries so hard to be "progressive".
Yes, that's right. It seems the Big Theme of Cimarron is that it takes a few Great White Men to lead a country, and that this can be a heavy burden, especially for those that love them. Yancey fights for what is 'right', cleaning the town of criminals, but also protecting those that are misunderstood by dominant society. As such, he treats his black servant boy with kindness, defends the town's Madam from old-fashioned ninnies who want her in jail, and particularly, patting the heads of the local Indians. Cimarron, you see, is a big pile of condescending hooey.
And the reason why it's so eye-rolling and guffaw-worthy is that the film still tries to have it both ways: as much as it says that 'we' must be nice to the lowly poor demographics, it wants to get a laugh out of them too.
Here's how a typical example plays out in the film:
Yancy and Sabra's young son Cimarron is playing out in the yard when a Tall Silent Indian approaches him. The young boy looks up, says hello, and is given a small gift from the nice man. Into the house he runs, presenting his prize to his mother... who then scolds him, shrilly yelling: "How many times have I told you not to talk to those dirty, filthy Indians?" Now at this point, it's hard to tell what the film is doing: is this supposed to be funny? Is this supposed to be an ignorant statement that we, in our enlightened 1940 selves, are supposed to gasp at? Or are the filmmakers expecting a great deal of the audience to agree with Sabra? I suspect that it might be the final, because we cut to Yancey discussing politics where he declares "the Cherokee are too smart to donate money to a race that robbed them of their Birthright."
That's right, audience! The Cherokee aren't villains or savages, but were robbed of their Birthright, so that's why they're sometimes aggressive or whatever. They're actually a noble race. All of them.
But the film seems to have something to say about nearly every archetype and demographic.
The Wacky Denizens of Osage
Ricky, the caricature of the stuttering town idiot who is mocked by everyone, including Yancey -- who also gives him a job as printer. See? Stuttering people can be useful! And they're pretty gosh-darned hilarious, too.
Mr. Levy, the Effeminate Urbanite Jew and merchant. The Black Hats at one point mock him as he rolls his cart full of womenswear down the street, eventually beating him and forcing him to drink some booze. He is saved by Yancey, and becomes a close friend of Sabra -- but never more than a friend, even though Yancey disappears for years (maybe even a decade) at a time and Levy is obviously enamoured with Sabra.
Isaiah the "coloured boy" help. Ohhhhhh boy. It's everything that you could think of. At one point, the entire town laughs at him because of his attempt to look "all Sunday like". A cartful of watermelon is pointed out to him as an irresistible treat. He's more comic relief, y'all. Oh, and gets killed while trying to save the white children from outlaws. How noble!
The schoolteacher "intellectual" Old Maid, with faux-soprano voice while speaking and melismatic alto when she sings. She's the local Temperance leader (of course) and is rather vocal about the shenanigans of...
Miss Dixie Lee, the local Madame, Independent Woman and "a viper lurking in our midst!" She is, ultimately, the classic Whore with a Heart of Gold whom Yancey the lawyer defends from being run out of town. Obviously Sabra hates her. A lot.
Ruby, the Indian Princess and Sabra's hired help when Yancey goes off on an adventure for years. She's also Cimarron's love interest, which is another attempt at showing just how progressive the film is. Naturally, Sabra doesn't approve of her white son mixing with an Indian and making half-breeds, but she turns around by the end of the film to respect her daughter-in-law. See below.
Forward! To Destiny!
By 1907, Donna becomes a horrid little gold digger and "Cim" wants to marry Ruby. And what, pray, does Sabra think? Exactly what you'd expect.
But as we move forward in time, we get well-placed lines and images that help us feel oh-so-modern. Someone declares "Cuba will never be able to govern itself!". An advertisement shows us the "Latest Styles at Levy's". See see the first car in 1907, the temperance movement in full spring. Yancey Cravat runs for Governor, representing --what else?-- the Progressive Party. He's running on extending citizenship to "the red man", which Sabra vehemently opposes. Time further passes, Ricky's stutter gets better (hahahahahaha!), and in the final scene at the Savoy-Bixby hotel Sabra, whom has been elected member of congress, makes a big speech about progress and how wonderful her husband is. And where, pray, is her husband? Why, disappeared for years. We assume he lost the election way back when, but it's not explicitly said other than that he runs off due to "wanderlust". (And we're supposed to like this guy?) But Ruby is accepted as part of the family! Yay! And she 'extends wishes using the words taught her as a child'... insert a cringe-worthy "Indian" greeting that's all so noble and crap. And Sabra introduces her to a crowd of people as her daughter-in-law! See? A change of heart. You can change, too!
The film ends with a reuniting of Sabra and Yancey, a little bit of tragedy, and the erection of a big statue. Hooray!
Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford, 1990)
A strangely fitting pair with Cimarron, Beresford's film is a loving tribute to Stockholm Syndrome in the American South. The film is a laughless comedy, instead being a gentle, sentimental character drama with some rather problematic ideology. It's another pat-yourself-on-the-back example of glib liberalism, the lesson seems to be that there are good whites, and the blacks that happen to work for them should be glad that they do. Huh?
Yessum, that's what it sure seems like. Hoke is everything you could want in a servant: lively, funny, dedicated. He'll do anything for Miss Daisy, and it's shown quite why other than he's a magical negro with a funny laugh. See? White people, especially when they're Jewish and, y'know, understand, can be benevolent and teach you to read and give you pie.
Frankly, I don't have too much else to say about Driving Miss Daisy. It somehow won Best Picture, with the big story being that Spike Lee's fiery Do the Right Thing wasn't even nominated, and a far better picture of American racism. Lee would go on to do some of his own problematic films (Bamboozled, I'm looking at you) but that the Academy went over DtRT for this is just embarrassing. Jessica Tandy's win for leading actress, on the other hand, isn't entirely wrong. It's a powerful performance, and easily the best thing about the film.
Oh, and the score? Ugh. Hans Zimmer and his keyboards doing daytime-TV riffs. Probably the best example of why I'm not the biggest Zimmer fan.
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