Poor Raymond, Poor Friendless Raymond

The Manchurian Candidate has the heart to be a cutthroat Cold War piece but its focus is also divided into other parts. While it makes comments on such things as war and the brutality of communists it also focuses on a doomed love story, a political satire, a thriller, and a murder mystery.

I thought a couple of interesting things were brought up. There is a warning to everyone that the threat of communism is on our own land. There is a blunt suggestion that the politicians in our own government are weak-minded and easy to sway. Also, that the communists are much more advanced in the art of brainwashing. We of course match them in their intelligence of the mind with brawn and luck as the character Major Marco exemplifies. It sometimes seemed as though without blatant clues and loads of luck did he figure out some of the mysteries behind the brainwashed Raymond Shaw. Also when Marco and the Korean interpreter that he thinks is one of the communists fight Marco wins, of course.

Just like many of the other films that I have watched much finger pointing and accusing was done. Raymond Shaw’s mother is one of these seemingly McCarthyists but is actually a communist herself. This makes a very interesting political statement about the scapegoats that went were accused in the United States during this time. Her husband is the symbol for Joe McCarthy brandish, drunken and frivolous. This goes back to the part political satire piece.
Another interesting thing about this film involves the repeating image of Abraham Lincoln’s countenance. Lincoln’s image is one that we would associate with freedom, which is one of the main points of many of the films that I have been watching. The ironic thing about Lincoln’s image is that it is most often shown with the presence of the two character’s showing “anti-American” tendencies. The bust, the portrait and the costume of Lincoln are not props and just random coincidences but Lincoln in this film carries a character of his own. He represents death and martyrdom for one’s country for the betterment of its people.

I could literally do a Freudian analysis on every single one of these characters but I can honestly say it is extraordinarily difficult to work hard at this point in time on anything. As this being my final year of school comes to an end I will take this and the rest of the films that I have watched with me in the future and be more aware of the many themes and ideas that I developed as a result of this independent. Just know that if I really wanted to I could do a Freudian analysis of all of the characters in this fascinating film.