Archetypes In Raising Arizona Essay, Research Paper

Raising Arizona

In the movie Raising Arizona a lot of Archetypes (a pattern consisting on literary elements found in all literature regards) are used throughout. Ethan and Joel Coen turned a serious subject like kidnapping, into a hysterical comedy. The use of archetypes are strong, the movie is basically one big archetype. The uses are archetypes are found within

the language, plot, and character. When looking at the different archetypes they all seemed to fall under the category of characters. The three characters that are the strongest points of archetypes are Linard Smalls, Nathan Arizona, and H.I. McDonnough.

Linard Smalls has a rough edge to him. He is the evil guy of the story, or the biker of the apocalypse. The outfit he wears is tired and worn. It contains furs and leathers off all sorts of animals, and a hawk skull is worn around his neck. Along with the worn outfit he wears a layer of caked on dirt and debris that tell of where he has been. In introducing himself to Nathan Arizona he calls himself a man hunter, or tracker of sorts. Some say even part hound dog. When some dink breaks out of the joint or skips bail I m the one

they call. This evil bad guy is willing to turn good for a small price of fifty-thousand dollars. If Nathan Arizona wont pay, someone in the black market will. in the end Linard is killed by one of his own grenades. He lead to his own death.

Nathan (Huffhinds) Arizona is a funny character. Even while his son is missing business is as usual at Unfinished Arizona. While he is being interviewed in the beginning he isn t even sure of which of his children where taken. When asked which child was taken his responds was Nathan Jr. I think. All through the movie it seems that all Nathan is concerned about is his business. When Linard offers to help he refuses his help and threatens him with the cops.

H.I. McDonnough has the most going on. he is bad gone good, and then gone good to gone bad again. We start off in the beginning with his introducing himself. He is a repeat offender of the law. he robs convenient stores and somehow always manages to let himself be caught. When he is brought to jail he finds a pretty desert flower Ed (Edwina). The bad guy, H.I., marries the good girl, Ed. So in this relationship we have the good and the bad, his robbing days stop after their marriage. After Ed finds out that she is bearing he finds himself driving by convenient stores, that weren t even on the way home. H.I. stops to get Nathan Jr. Some Huggies, but instead of buying them he robes the convenient store for them. H.I. had a dream about Linard Smalls. Which later came to be. The movie closes with H.I. and Ed returning Nathan Jr. to his home. When they got home H.I. had another dream. This one was a little better then he last. It was filled with happiness.

There are many other archetypes in the movie. The Sun was setting in the

beginning and rising in the end. Linard, Nathan, and H.I. are the perfect examples of living Archetypes. Their lives are based on good vs. evil. All in all this was a great movie, and I m glad I got the chance to waste class time to see it.