The actor opposed the revelation of the myth of American masculinity by Jane Campion, proving that sexism is alive and well.
[Editor’s note: The following post contains some spoilers for “The Power of the Dog.”]
Elliott himself, an actor who has built a career in westerns celebrating American masculinity, has spoken out against The Power of the Dog, a film that challenges the way westerns celebrate American masculinity. While his latest comments on Mark Marron’s “WTF Podcast” smell of sexism and homophobia, the irony of his wild tirade is that he basically understands the meaning of the film – almost.
Directed by Jane Campion (later directed by Elliott), The Power of the Dog uses Western form to explore the suffocating ways in which expectations of masculinity harm the men charged with sustaining it. Judging by the sharp edge of his characteristic growl, Elliott is also a victim of these restrictive rules about masculinity, as evidenced by his aggressive spirit in unraveling it.
“Do you want to talk about this shit?” Elliott began his tirade before opposing an advertisement in the LA Times that celebrated the film as “gutting the American myth.”
“The gutting of the American West?” He continued. “They made him look like that – what are all those dancers like, these guys in New York, who wear bow ties and nothing else. “Do you remember them from the past?”
“That’s what all these fucking cowboys look like in this movie,” Elliott said. “They all run around with boys and no shirts. There are all these allusions to homosexuality in the whole fucking movie. ” Maron kindly intervenes again to blatantly state the obvious: “I think that’s what the movie is about.”
Based on Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel, The Power of the Dog follows two brothers, Phil (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) and George (Jesse Plemons), who live on a ranch in Montana. Although close in their youth, the growing distance between the two men intensified when George married the local widow Rose (Kirsten Dunst), who moved to the ranch with her teenage son Peter (Cody Smith-McPhee). From Phil’s first meeting with Peter, he highlighted the boy’s sleek gait and gentle demeanor as mature for ridicule, quick establishment of dominance, and imposition of the rules of masculinity.
“The power of the dog”
KIRSTY GRIFFIN / NETFLIX
Phil is a confusing and threatening presence for everyone in the house, and alcoholism affects Rose slowly and demandingly. Peter is harder to read, and his hatred of Phil is slowly giving way to curiosity in a magnificent slow burn. Peter begins to accompany the older cowboy on his daily duties on the ranch, watching and mastering each proudly taught lesson with meticulous rigor. In the end, the student outsmarts the teacher, playing a long boiling conspiracy to avenge his former bully after putting him to sleep in a false sense of brotherhood. The lessons of masculinity are passed on, and the next iteration twists it even more in much more sinister places.
While some viewers complained that Campion’s film downplayed the oddity that was more outspoken in Savage’s novel (the author, like Phil, was a closed gay man), it was obviously too much for Elliott. Although he carefully noted that he called Campion a “brilliant director”, he also opposed her photos in New Zealand.
“What the hell is this woman doing – she’s a brilliant director by the way, I love her job, her previous job – but what the hell does this woman from there, New Zealand, know about the American West?” Elliott said. “And why the hell is she making this movie in New Zealand and calling it Montana and saying, ‘That’s right.’
Now, Maron swears a lot in his podcast, that’s literally in the title. But putting this particular “What the hell” just before the derogatory statement of “this woman” screams misogyny. The fact that he doesn’t even say Campion’s name all the time energizes Major Donald Trump’s “This Michigan Woman.”
“The power of the dog”
Kirsty Griffin / Netflix
Aside from his not-so-veiled sexism, Elliott’s claim that Westerns should be filmed in the American West ignores the entire history of the genre, which he claims is such an expert. From the dusty landscapes of Spain, where so many spaghetti westerns have been shot, to Canada, which replaces Wyoming in Brokeback Mountain, filming in the American West outside of America has been a common practice for decades. In addition, the iconography of the American West has traveled the world to shape international cinema, from the influence of John Ford on Akira Kurosawa to the red westerns of the 1960s, produced by former Soviet countries.
With any luck, Sam Elliott is the latest dying way of thinking in Hollywood, who believes that women should stick to making films that do not challenge the status quo. “The Power of the Dog” is the most nominated film at the Oscars this year, with all four stars nominated in the acting categories, and Champion being the undisputed favorite for best director. This senseless tirade and the quick reaction it received from the film world could push voters to the fence in Campion’s camp.
This certainly proves that the slow-burning social commentary on The Power of the Dog still has a real bite.
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