i had watched the film 100 times and it had a mystical impact on me. then in about 98 . i thought i would try being a street musician. i took my drums to times square , ny 45 & bway, and played. i saw gary farmer, walk by in front of me while i was playing. i couldn`t remember his name , so i said ,"hey nobody"! , he paused and nodded , but didn`t look back at me. this was also a mystical experience. ive watched the movie 100 more times.
This analysis provides a different perspective from the one I had of the film. My interpretation from the conversation Blake has with the train fireman was that Blake had committed suicide because his fiancé had left him and his parents had recently passed. The train fireman starts by potentially providing a clue as to how Blake died (drowning) and tells him that his fiancé left him for someone else, even though Blake denies this, he may have suspected it. Suicide would also explain why Blake is in purgatory as opposed to hell or heaven. Dickinson is certainly the devil that wants Blake's soul, while Nobody is an angel that is trying to get him to heaven. I'll have to think about this alternative interpretation next time I watch the movie...
The beauty of this movie is that it allows us to speculate. My idea was that Blake was a man who failed to be successful in the east and moved west, losing his fiance possibly being part of the reason. Or perhaps she was killed by Native Americans leading to a resentment towards them. He adapted quickly to the harsh reality of life on the frontier and became a soldier/scout/etc. fighting against Native Americans. He is atoning for atrocities he committed. Which is why Nobody works to give him an appreciation of Native culture. And would also explain why is able to handle firearms with such confidence and accuracy. He reverts to the meek, clean, person he was before moving west when he dies. I think he killed a native woman and her baby at one point. And he may have killed himself out of guilt, or was killed shortly after. The bullet fired by Charlie being lodged in his chest both represents the one fired into the baby, but also the death of the good, kind, man he was before he became a killer. And by shooting Charlie in retaliation, he kills his dark side leaving him a blank slate that can start to be redeemed.
Surprised that you missed the opening line of the film, spoken by Crispin Glover, describes the last thing Depp's character sees before the end of the film- being in a boat staring at the sky. William Blake is in a time loop. It's the biggest hint in the whole film
'The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn from the crow,' isn't from Native American culture. It's from the proverbs of hell, by William Blake, of course.
Yes, but nature and eagle is sacred in many ancient cultures, especially Native American. William Blake asks Nobody what he should be doing. It is an allusion to William Blake waking up spiritually and inquiring from his nature, religion and spirit. Dead Man is also a movie about modern life versus the values of ancient ways of living. Even in Ghost Dog we see Jarmusch's emphasis on ancient culture. Dead Man is also about the degeneracy of modern life: Machine life, pornography, tricks of politicians and businessmen. It contrasts the simple living of Native Americans who still hold on to their ancient values and way of life.
Ever since I was 11, this has been my favorite movie to watch when I'm home sick. It started as a normal kid thing, just watching my favorite flick while stuck home. Then one day, many years later, I found myself off work for a week with the flu. I watched this like I had when I was a kid and all the feelings of connecting to Blake's journey came back. Something about feeling so achy and disjointed, like you just want to die, really resonates with this movie! 😅 I said all that, to say this: This is a brilliant analysis and it makes so much sense. I never saw it as "Purgatory," directly. But all the concepts and landmarks of Purgatory were there in my mind. I just never had it coalesce into a complete concept of "redemption," if you will. I love that these decades later, my favorite movie has a brand new way to see it, and I can't wait to watch it again! Thank you for this. 💖
When Johnny Depp goes into the encampment in which you compared the scene to the story of the three bears, he would have represented Goldilocks, not Baby Bear. In the story of Goldilocks and the 3 bears, the bears come home to find an intruder... they come in close to examine her intruding on their space. This scene in the movie Dead Man, shows the 3 characters coming in close to examine him, even commenting on his beautiful locks of hair. He is at their mercy in the same way that Goldilocks was at the mercy of the 3 bears. In the Goldilocks story, she manages to escape from the 3 bears. "Nobody" says that his spirit left him when the white men attacked and kidnapped him. But William Blake awoken and inspired the spirit of "Nobody." You also bring up the bedroom scene when Charles Dickinson and William Blake have the shootout. I believe that the scene does reverse the roles and that Charles Dickinson represents the real-life scene in which Blake walked in on his fiancé in bed with someone else. I believe that it is exactly what happened in his "life." He did shoot his fiancé and the lover shot him. This is the thing that Blake could not come to terms with. He was in denial of having killed his fiancé ... hence his purgatory, the cause of his suffering. In purgatory, he is able to turn the tables and kill the lover (now himself), but still cannot accept that he killed the woman.
Wide open for interpretation of course. But my thought is that Blake is dead all along in the way that we all are dead all along. It's only a matter of time. For all of us. So what do we do in the meantime? His real adventure begins once he's been shot. This is the wound that will kill him, but not for weeks. He becomes actualized in this interim. He becomes the Hero of his own story. We can only become our authentic self after embracing the truth of life, which is death. Life implies death. Once we begin living with this understanding fully we're on our true path.
Yeah, and it's very interesting that this film has that combination of meditative life observing and quite thrilling actions, made by Blake while being without glasses, seeing from his heart, which was shot and somehow started working.
I agree with your assessment entirely, and it fits perfectly in the film. We have no account of what Blake was doing from the time he was offered the job to over a month later when he finally shows up, but your analysis that he did bad things and killed at least one person is very fitting. He was a dead man before the film started rolling.
Thumbs up for the great analysis. The level of metaphor and symbolism in Dead Man is beyond words. You can interpret every scene and action from multiple perspectives and it just proves the level of intelligence and creativity of Jim Jarmusch. I believe Dead Man, in a general sense, is a criticism of modern life. The fireman explaining "Machine" as "the end of the line." And also trusting "no words written down on no piece of paper especially from no dickinson..." just represents the lies propagated by modern life through different mediums. Dickinson represents the government which has access to money, resources, and power. He runs the Town of Machine and has killed a million buffaloes "last year alone". Buffaloes as you suggest both represents nature and Native Americans. Another level shown is the weakness in a modern man compared to the strength gained through ancient practices and propagated by ancient culture. Johnny Depp is like a crying baby in the beginning of the movie but throughout his journey he becomes stronger as he gets closer to Native American culture. Nobody and the poet William Blake are the guidance a modern, especially white man, needs in order to free himself from the degeneracy and ignorance of modern life; guidance in a figurative sense. Another contrast is between the Town of Machine and Native American tribe that accepts William Blake. In the Town of Machine, the government (Dickinson) is separated from the people and is guarded by gun. But in the Native American tribe the elderly are among the people and dress just like every other citizen, there's beauty and order everywhere as opposed to the Town of Machine where disorder and disharmony rules.
William Blake the artist and poet used lightning bolts in a highly symbolic way. See for example 'Capaneus the Blasphemer'. They appear to show the rebellious nature of Man against God, which is, in fact, a sign of life and creativity.
Thoughtful and great analysis of one of the best westerns ever made! Bravo! The only considerations I'd offer are that when Blake shoots Charles Dickenson, I don't believe that he is feeling the pain that Dickenson is feeling, but rather the pain of the bullet that went through his new friend and into him merely seconds prior. He was likely feeling his own pain. Secondly, the most telling and mystical moment of the film -- IMHO -- is Crispin Glover's depiction of the last thing Blake experiences before leaving this realm. It's chilling, and is delivered to perfection. All that said, this was a great breakdown -- one worthy of a new sub. Cheers!
You can also build an interpretation by seeing William Blake as Dante (Divina Commedia), when the trip he's going through after he lost his way, while he's at the middle point of his life, with Virgil-Nobody as his guide, is infact a trip through Hell (or Hell and Purgatory), as Charon says on the train just at the beginning. In this case I think you might draw a parallel between western USA-centric culture and the protagonist's life. But at the end, imho, the beauty of this movie is just in its many possible meanings, the multiple layers you can experinece its story at, and the eventual impossibility to give it a sharp and sure defiitive interpretation. And that's poetry, isn't it? It relates to life and experience, personally and in more general ways, but it keeps a blurry subjective quality to it, allowing for different points of views, for different meanings at different moments, at different levels. Thanks for this video!
I agree about the different possibilities of interpretation. I've owned this film for 15 years and have watched it at least a dozen times. It's one of those films in which I see something different nearly every time I watch. I'll notice something visual in the background that I hadn't noticed before, or I will experience a new thought or insight that had not occurred to me before. One of my favorites, and I don't think I will ever get tired of the film or Neil Young's haunting music that accompanies it.
I dont know if anyone has noticed if the British left approx 1783 then Nobody being captured by British soldiers as a boy makes him well over a century old as the firearms, dress and industrial revolution set in the movie point to a date past the 1860s. I have always believed he was a spiritual entity due to this.
@@angusyates828 He is half Crow and half Blackfoot (Apsaalooke and Piikani ), his girlfriend speaks Cree to him. and the final scene is in a Makah village, where Nobody seems to know the language.. All those languages are spoken either near or on both sides of the US- Canada border.
Man, this is like some Masters thesis- level examination of this film. Bloody Well done, dude. Very thought provoking and well researched insights. 👏🙌👏🙌👏
My thoughts when watching this were that William Blake is trapped in purgatory, in a loop. At the beginning when the spot covered man asks him about the boat, he asks how it *was*, in a past tense. As if he knows Blake has been through this ordeal at least once already and must undergo it again - maybe until he gets it right?
I absolutely love this movie and enjoyed your interpretation. By the way, the lightning bolts on his face looks somewhat like a symbol of “the journey of the soul.“ A Native American symbol which also looks like a tattoo on Johnny Depp‘s hand.
For me, I deemed the film being Jarmusch's take of his own readaptation of Dante's Inferno. It's a masterful film w/ a multitude of slightly different perspectives each time the movie is revisited by the viewer... Quite visceral, vin fact. This is a much watch film for those who appreciate the art of cinema.
Probably reaching but the scene where Blake first walks the street towards Dickinson Metalworks sort of reads as a review of the cardinal sins. Greed as the buffalo hide merchant, envy as the impoverished mother staring, gluttony as the pig he cautiously walks around, wrath and lust as the exhibitionist couple, sloth as the pair of resting hunters (or any one of the static townspeople), and lastly pride as the eloquently dressed man who holds his ground when Blake nearly runs into him.
this is probably not a completely bullet-proof analysis, but the broader outline, especially applying the concept of purgatory to the story, seems quite accurate to me. I'm impressed how much you got out of it! On the excellent soundtrack album by Neil Young, Johnny Depp reads poems by William Blake.. I think this could be seen as a hint that Depp really portrays William Blake, the historical person, and that, like he says in the movie, they are *his* poems.
Thank you for your analysis. The only point I'd add is the significance of his name William Blake, who was unrecognised during his life - as I suspect Johnny Depp's character William Blake was. After his death, however, he became a seminal figure in the concept of Romanticism - the intellectual and artistic development of the individual. For instance, the artistic development (face painting) is cultivated by Nobody and learned by William Blake (self face painting).
I love this little point! Primates learn through mimicry and repetition. It's natural for us to "follow the leader," so to speak. So, this moment in the movie always just seemed like a natural step in his human delirium. The deeper implications of its presence as not only a metaphor for the actual Blake, but Romanticism in general, has tickled me greatly! Thanks & Cheers! 💖
In the beginning of the movie, the fireman seems to talk about the end of the movie, when Blake is in the boat and looking up at the ceiling (sky). Does this mean he's been through this journey more than once already? He also speaks to him as if it isn't the first time they've spoken.
theres an article we're reading for a class im taking rn and it comments on that fireman comment. the article talks a lot about post colonialism and how this film conforms to the western genre enough that we recognize it, but not too much to make it a WESTERN western. its like a nightmare in a western dreamscape: a western purgatory. the article also talks about how we remember our (americas) past, when we remember, etc. and the stories we've been told about the west and our own colonialism, and the agendas behind telling those stories. im thinking that this film can be seen as a cyclical purgatory that we, the viewers/americans/stupid fucking white men, must continually cycle through to see through the western and its fabricated history. we as a country have not come to terms with our sins of genocide, etc. etc. and we must go through purgatory indefinitely until they can be forgiven
@@alexannae I agree, and the largely fictional , stereotypical and often romanticized veiw of the West was perpetuated, abused and imo began with Hollywood..
I disagree with this method, with the constant need to over-analyze what might be unique artistic expressions into simplified mirroring between some kind of original story (Dante's Inferno), and the references ( conductor = Charon, Dickinson = devil, common workplace = purgatory). Every schoolbus can resemble the Ship of the Dead - if you are inclined to see it that way. Or it maybe something completely different. Also, once you start playing the game that "nothing is as it seems, and everything is different", where do you stop and why? I am willing to trust the writer and the director, and if they show me a man stumbling over a deserted wasteland, I have no reason (unless given a clue), that he is in fact sleeping off a drunken stupor. Invalidating one's own narration is one of the cheapest tricks, unworthy of storytellers like Jarmusch. Sure the main protagonist here is "doomed" from the start - he is too fragile for the rough Wild West, too incompatible with his uncultured peers, too naive and lacks the necessary survival instincts. However, the fact that he spends most of his journey wounded, at the brink of collapse does not diminish it in any way. It's his unique sampling of an amalgam of many coexisting worlds, he is clearly overwhelmed by the experience, and although he understands that the return to "Cleveland" is not how the day ends, there is no sign of regret or fear - because in the end, his cup is full, as they say. So whenever I rewatch this memorable classic today, I find myself less and less inclined to chain it "safely" to the building blocks of our cultural landmap, but instead I inhale it like the exotic tobacco leaf one does not see on the shelves of the small town grocery stores. The scent of nineties, the slow, hypnotizing pacing, the strange rhythm of violent eruptions into a dreamy, feverish mental meandering, this one remains a memorable experience to stay with us.
Nobody probably helped Johnny Depp's character not out of being some spirit angel guide through purgatory, but because he's seen enough death and destruction when he came back over to America, that he just wanted to help this poor man dying of a bullet wound. Also I don't really agree with 8:40 saying how Blake just outright refuses to learn from Nobody, more like the dude expected to get some easy accountant job out in the wild west, that didn't end up happening, he then killed a dude that same day pretty much, while having a bullet wound and being woken up by Nobody who was cutting into him with a knife. I think anyone with Blake's background really wouldn't want to listen to metaphors and spiritual advice that sure makes sense if ya really listen, but who would seriously in blakes position want to listen to the (for lack of a better word) crazy advice that nobody keeps giving? Blake is probably used to more urban society where people generally don't talk like Nobody, they certainly wouldn't take peyote in front of a stranger in Cleveland you know? But here is Blake now being hunted and having to slowly understand that Nobody needs him as much as he needs Nobody. That Nobody is as much of a loner in his own life as Blake is during the entire movie, they were meant to meet each other. If "William Blake" was the reason & inspiration of him escaping Europe to go back to America, I'd even go as far as to say Nobody being so spiritually minded thinks that he now owes his own life to this version of William Blake, and will help him in any way he knows how. He convinced Blake that the gun is now his pen and paper so much that he grew so confident while killing those marshals, it's as if Blake knew he wouldn't take anymore serious harm as he's probably already screwed so what's a few more bullets at this point? Do you know my poetry? Look back at how absolutely suavely Blake killed that merchant who sold him the tobacco at the trading post. Blake knew so much about his own poetry that he probably knew exactly how to kill this guy the moment he walked into that rent/room/building whatever you wanna call it. Or at the very least figure out how to out smart him in only a couple of seconds. Nobody is the reason he even reached this point, got this far in purgatory, otherwise he'd be screwed still not knowing how to really use a gun, 100% he'd just give himself up to the marshals at the very least or the bounty hunters would kill the marshals just to be able to kill Blake for the reward. I don't rly like thinking about Dickenson as the devil either or Clover, at the start of the movie he's literally just explaining how the wild west was - that this is a hard land for hard people and unless you're like a fire man who can take piling coal into a hot stove for 10 hours at a time, you will not survive here. Same principal behind "There Will Be Blood", you either get lucky enough to survive long enough to become rich here or you simply die. Or neither you just survive living a hard life where any sane person from these lands would obviously say that this is hell, wait you're saying you know how to read too and you still came out here? Why would you ever come out here if you're smart enough and lucky enough to be an accountant during those times? What the hell was Blake thinking? His own naive thinking not understanding how the world really can be just yet, so clover explains to him just how big of a mistake he's made. Guess you could go either way and a devil or demon analogy would work too but I've watched the movie about 3-4 times now just recently I've really fallen in love with it, I just can't see an actual devil in any form here. Demons maybe but not the devil himself. So yeah you're right in my opinion, there's no need to really make too much sense of it because it doesn't need to make too much sense, otherwise u might just end up forcing the narrative however you want, which is fine you do you but I don't feel like that's how this movie should be watched in general. It really is imo one of cinemas finest pieces when watching the movie the first couple of times, and if u don't read too much into it, im sure 100 times over.
I so agree with you and so disagree with this way of watching films. It's really a misguided way of engaging with cinema. It's like trying to discover the movie behind the movie. The 'actual' movie. But then what? You've done what? You've done nothing at all. This movie is about every human being's journey back, back to where we come from, and about having to let go of everything you know, have, and are. This is a deeply emotional and spiritual quest, and William Blake's journey should resonate with something in ourselves. On top of that, it is a fundamental critique of western, disconnected life. If you don't connect to a film in this way, if you are not floored by it emotionally, kissed in the core of who or what you are, but start scribbling your conspiracy adjacent theory about what the move is 'actually', as if there is another key to understanding it rather than feeling it, you have not seen it. Not at all.
interesting but also exaggerated. i agree that Blake is dead from the get-go of the film, but u are reading too much unfounded symbolism in it. like Blake is experiencing his murder of his son from his past reincarnation??... just because the black hired killer is young, that makes him a symbol of Blakes son? and what son are u even talking about? when did Blake talk of a son? but how is that even an emotional punishment for Blake, when Blake is not present at the killing of the young black hired killer? if he is not a witness to the killing how is he getting punished by the young black hired killers murder? the murder happens somewhere else by somebody else than Blake so Blake cant be a witness to it, let alone feel any emotional punishment. and why would he even feel anything for the young black hired gunman? he has no relation to him at all...doesn't even know of his existence. and there are many more assumptions like this in your analysis. did u ask Jim Jarmush what the symbolism in his film means?
CT2507 this film has an ironic plot type, a non linear and unconventional story arch. It is subject to individual interpretation even more so than a movie with a more regular plot type.
Not only, for me, the best revisionist western I have ever seen but one of the few film masterpieces of the 1990’s. In fact nothing like it exists in ANY American western which encourages a multitude of responses both pro & con. Jonathan Rosenbaum’s book may not persuade many as to the merits of this unique film but those curious enough to read it might gain some insight into what Jarmusch was up to. For me anyway DEAD MAN rewards multiple viewings but my evaluation of it is a personal one & defending it otherwise is not my intent.
A couple of points: 1 If Mr. Dickinson represents the Devil, then you could mention the fact that his name, "Dickins", means devil. 2 The "blurry point of view" mentioned at 5:18 could be because he "needs glasses", but don't forget he was tripping on peyote when that happened. 3. The absolutism of White Man Stupid, Indian Wise should not be overdone, IMHO. Jarmusch explicitly rejected it as a cliché in interviews, and said that Nobody is partly wise, but also partly insane (his nickname of "He who talks loud and says nothing" might have been more apt than he realized). And Nobody's whole life trajectory began as a victim of bigotry between Blackfeet and Crows (Piikanis and Apsaalookes in Nobody's words). The Natives are not as destructive as the "White Man" in this world, but they show parallels in many explicit things. 4. I like the journey through Purgatory idea, but it does depend on a sin that is not mentioned anywhere and doesn't seem the first thing you'd expect of the naïve accountant. I usually think of it as Everyman's journey through Life on Earth, which the Fireman sees from outside time. This is a great review but I just wanted to add my two cents for some additional ideas.
i just watched this movie for the first time last night, and as I was listening to this commentary, a thought popped into my head that maybe the Lance Henrickson character is supposed to be an evil spirit, like a demon, or a fallen angel, or some kind of a spirit of death.
mostly enjoyable but i simply dont buy the bit about murdering his wife/fiancee and son. i believe his case for his 'running away' was simply a fresh start after the death of his folks and a likely betrayal of his woman. the idea fits the rest of the narrative conveniently, but its just too thin with nothing at all obvious to connect it with....just my opinion...
I agree, on the train he said that she changed her mind while looking away from the fireman. I think there's no reason to doubt him, for one reason, thousands of women change their mind during an engagement but very few are killed by their fiance. I agree with just about everything else he said though, from the evidence I think you could more easily say that he killed himself after his parents died. But ultimately I don't think it's clear how he died.
Blake fits in with white society. He just happens to be an _Easterner._ In spite of some contradictions, Dead Man is still a period piece. It's also worth pointing out that the Philistines were an ancient people who lost their identity after becoming integrated with the Persian Empire. It can be argued that Blake's killing of Charlie was an act of self-defense. Lastly, Jim Jarmusch wanted to depict the American Frontier as an existential wasteland.
The sound design is great in this movie. On next watching note how each new habitat he travels through is signaled by the call of a bird you would find in such habitat. Off topic: But I think Childish Gambino’s song “This Is America” is from the line when Blake asks Thel why she has a gun. “Cuz, this is America”
Interesting note, too: The talkative hired killer mentioned that the cannibal guy killed his parents- Blake mentions at the beginning that his parents had recently passed away, both of them. Interesting that they would die at more or less the same time. Maybe he didn't just kill his fiance?
I had an idea last year. How about a Hallmark film in the tradition of the movie “Dead Man” ? A holiday acid Western? Holly Christine, played by Lacy Chalbarth, is the editor for Arizona Highways magazine. She drives from her home in Phoenix to visit her family in Los Angeles. But on the way she will stop in this small out of the way "time forgot" town of Noel to get photos and talk to the residents who celebrate the holidays in a simple but beautiful way. Upon arrival she walks into a church where an off beat character is playing the pipe organ in some weird out of tune. The priest begins talking about the miracle of heaven then says. Because you're gonna die out here. Maniacal laughter. She steps out uncomfortably. She meets the Café owner, Mary, and her daughter, Joy, and a handsome young sheriff, Jesse, at the café plus an offbeat character (played by Iggy Pop) who says "Me and the sherrif got off to a rocky start, but we're good now, right?" The sheriff says "Yep, that was a long time ago, a long time ago." Sheriff and Holly seem to have chemistry. Then she meet a wise old Apache. He speaks cryptographically. Things like "this town is united in love and in tragedy." he introduces her to peyote. While under peyote she stats to see the town as it was in the 1880s. Iggy Pop and his gang robs the bank and met by the sheriff (same guy but 1800s garb and a horse instead of a patrol car) confronting him and a shootout takes place. She sees the sheriff, Mary, her daughter and the apache wise man all dead, plus another woman laid out. She gets closer and realizes that's her. She wakes up from the weird trip. The sheriff meets her and offers to show her around town. They go to Boot Hill cemetery where there's a simple wooden grave marker. "Holly Christine. 1845-1880. Killed in the Noel Massacre" She turns around and sees the others. "Welcome home." they say. She smiles calmly and says. "I knew something was drawing me here." A news broadcast plays over the radio at the end credits “the Arizona journalism community is grieving this Christmas at the discovery of a crashed car near Noel. Holly Christine, Arizona Highways editor, was found dead in the wreckage.” Sound track by Neil Young on electric guitar
This is so good, except for the central premise that William Blake killed his fiancee and son. That bit is quite a stretch! Without that part, we have a very solid analysis.
I don't agree. On the train, when asked what happened to his fiancee, Blake answered that she had changed her mind. The engineer ("Charon") replied, "No she didn't" which indicates that Blake had lied and that something else had happened to her.
That's not how the scene went. TRAIN FIREMAN: Fiance? BLAKE: Well I had one of those, but um...she changed her mind. TRAIN FIREMAN: She found herself somebody else. BLAKE: No. TRAIN FIREMAN: Yes she did. th-cam.com/video/ZtUB8XCrqPg/w-d-xo.html
Correct. But my point stands. In response to WB's assertion that he had a fiance but she changed her mind, the fireman counters with the assertion (not a question), that she dumped him for another guy. When WB objects, the fireman re-asserts the truth ("Yes she did"). So the "central premise" that WB killed his fiancee is by no means a stretch, but is a stated fact.
@Subtext and Symbolism. Very well observed and analyzed. But if I can give an advice it would be to not rush when you speak. I'm a Norwegian and had really a hard time following you and I missed a lot even stopping several times. English isn't too hard for me to understand most of the times, but even if it had been in Norwegian I would prefer getting a moment to visualize what someone say, especially if it is deep or intellectual.
@@smtwd6839 I worked a lot with theatre so it was meant as constructive critique. Of course I can slow down a video. But many things becomes very unnatural. We usually want to focus on what someone say when it is meaningful stuff not get distracted. Electrical devices can’t be a human quite yet. This was a well done video so I kind of expect more when things are good 😃 ..and it is a thing people have worked on since ancient times. 🙂
First time I watched Dead Man I wondered about the Dickinson Company. Thought Emily Dickinson, another anti industrialist writer poet. I read she used "bees" often in writings and remembered Wm Blake reading the Bee Journal. Anyone thought of a running theme with Emily?
I don't see the wife/child thing anywhere. Wouldn't it be more about his parents? Both Nobody and Cole had 'issues' about their parents (especially Cole...) and Blake twice mentioned about his parents dying.
Great analysis. I don't care if it is 100 percent on the button or not. because it made me notice lots of things that I had previously missed. The quote about having a gun because it is America is 100 percent true.
I knew a bunch of the subtext of this movie going into this video but I did not see the horses as souls aspect nor that Nobody and Cole were aspects of Blake himself. I always looked at Nobody as a spirit guide and Cole a demon. Nice. Gonna watch it again soon because of this!! FUN FACT!! I actually know a guy who goes by the name Nobody. You can see him in dances with wolves for liiike three seconds as he walks past the window before dude Costner is reporting to says "I have just pissed my pants". First dude with the dog.
Love it. Even if he is just an accountant who's fiance left him, as Crispin Glover seems to say, Blake would be 'guilty' of being a thoughtless part of this history, and that could be represented by these Oedipal triads. He is an accountant, in the machine of western enclosure, and like all of us to one degree or another he detaches himself from that. I never looked at films with all this representational logic as a child, it was just storytelling about plausible people, made by authors in the context of that very history. A dream world, or a theme world?
During the film festival premiere of this film, someone yelled out after the film was over, "Jim, it's a piece of sh**." I disagree. I think it is a great film.
Dead Man, at the underlying level, chugging the plot along is about literature scrambled. Egyptian, Grecian, The Sagas, Native American, etc. etc. etc.... up to Blake, obv. The original Nobody was Odysseus...
Hahahaha! When I was watching this film with my bf I turned to him and said, "He's a soul-bird? A guider of souls?" I couldn't remember what they are called. Psychopomps. You guys should check out Midnight Gospels. Things like this are balms to my soul. I'm so glad Johnny won against Amber Turd.
The skulls on the wall were antelope and various deer. Not Buffalo. Thanks for a great interpretation. I am coming back to this movie after seeing it some years ago. Google-fuing anything I can find on it and your video scratched that itch.
SPOILERS Good analysis! Very good! Did JJ plan this out? Authors do sometimes, but more often they follow their soul. But from now on, I'll see the symbolism from your reading. (I think the idea that Bill killed his own child isn't indicated, but yes, Bill's reticence about his engagement has a certain quality.)
Lest not forget William Blakes' The Book of Thel. Thel never really lived as she was terrified of losing her innocence through the act of gaining experience bringing her face to face with her own mortality. That is, if i interpreted that poem right. Its heady stuff. I'm not sure how that relates to Thel in the movie, but I find the movie, this video, and all the comments here endlessly fascinating. Definitely in my top 3 movies of all time. Do you have any tobacco?
It’s a dual metaphor for Thel herself, who wanted to rebuild her life but Charles, the ghost of her past, killed her before she could do so, and for Blake, who struggles to come to terms with the fact that he is dead and constantly finds himself at odds with the bizarre hell around him
I just discovered this movie, a little difficult for me to understand (I'm from Spain). Thank you very much for your interpretation, it helped me a lot.
The DVD has a deleted scene that has Lance Henriksen slowly shooting Micheal Wincott to death before he cooks and eats him The two most grisled voices I love this movie
Very interesting and well done , thanks. It does however seen to be pure imagination that William Blake killed his fiancée and son, the movie never says this in any way. This is not based on any "interpretation of art" that storyline just isn't there in any way.
I love a good film analysis and your interpretation is a very interesting one and may very well be DEAD on. But if you're any bit familiar with Jarmusch's body of work, you'll know he's never been into abstractions or lacing his films with metaphors and so on (although maybe this was his one foray into that such thing) Jarmusch's films are typically much more about people, places and things. Plots are not a big concern of his nor is getting too heady or artsy. I do not see this film the way you do BUT appreciated this video nonetheless
Interesting breakdown…but as a female, I question just 1 of your main suppositions. Blake did not "kill" his fiancé and future son….another man did…..and he is suffering - not his own guilt - but at the hands of inconsiderate men.
I appreciate this. it is well put together. but I would like to interject on the dead child theory. perhaps in the beginning he has murdered his fiance and her other lover. wether child was present is never depicted.
i had watched the film 100 times and it had a mystical impact on me. then in about 98 . i thought i would try being a street musician. i took my drums to times square , ny 45 & bway, and played. i saw gary farmer, walk by in front of me while i was playing. i couldn`t remember his name , so i said ,"hey nobody"! , he paused and nodded , but didn`t look back at me. this was also a mystical experience. ive watched the movie 100 more times.
Really cool that you experienced that with Gary Farmer. I'm a big fan of his.
Thats awesome.
Have seen him a couple of times in Downtown Toronto, both times on Queen St.W. I know he lives a few hours north of Toronto, out in the wild country.
What a story! You couldn't make this up, even if you wanted to.
Wow...that's really something. Mystical indeed!
This analysis provides a different perspective from the one I had of the film. My interpretation from the conversation Blake has with the train fireman was that Blake had committed suicide because his fiancé had left him and his parents had recently passed. The train fireman starts by potentially providing a clue as to how Blake died (drowning) and tells him that his fiancé left him for someone else, even though Blake denies this, he may have suspected it. Suicide would also explain why Blake is in purgatory as opposed to hell or heaven. Dickinson is certainly the devil that wants Blake's soul, while Nobody is an angel that is trying to get him to heaven. I'll have to think about this alternative interpretation next time I watch the movie...
that makes a lot of sense
The beauty of this movie is that it allows us to speculate.
My idea was that Blake was a man who failed to be successful in the east and moved west, losing his fiance possibly being part of the reason. Or perhaps she was killed by Native Americans leading to a resentment towards them. He adapted quickly to the harsh reality of life on the frontier and became a soldier/scout/etc. fighting against Native Americans. He is atoning for atrocities he committed. Which is why Nobody works to give him an appreciation of Native culture. And would also explain why is able to handle firearms with such confidence and accuracy.
He reverts to the meek, clean, person he was before moving west when he dies.
I think he killed a native woman and her baby at one point. And he may have killed himself out of guilt, or was killed shortly after.
The bullet fired by Charlie being lodged in his chest both represents the one fired into the baby, but also the death of the good, kind, man he was before he became a killer. And by shooting Charlie in retaliation, he kills his dark side leaving him a blank slate that can start to be redeemed.
@@KarlPHorse sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever. You’ve got a wild imagination
I always thought of Nobody as Death. He rides a pale horse and he's the one leading Blake to the other side.
Because this analysis is horseshit. X
An interesting side note: Blake is there as an accountant. He's there to account for his actions.
Accountants tally other peoples actions.
@@pkratvanpelt He never got the job.
I officially hate hearing other people’s opinions
@@denizdemir9255: then i guess that you should stay away from "ANALYSIS" videos.
@@ty9884 maybe he did it in a different way
Surprised that you missed the opening line of the film, spoken by Crispin Glover, describes the last thing Depp's character sees before the end of the film- being in a boat staring at the sky. William Blake is in a time loop. It's the biggest hint in the whole film
Smallest hint: Nobody talks about the speaking stones and when Blake tells him he is done with the molar Lu he steps on a stone with ash on it
'The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn from the crow,' isn't from Native American culture. It's from the proverbs of hell, by William Blake, of course.
Yes, but nature and eagle is sacred in many ancient cultures, especially Native American. William Blake asks Nobody what he should be doing. It is an allusion to William Blake waking up spiritually and inquiring from his nature, religion and spirit.
Dead Man is also a movie about modern life versus the values of ancient ways of living. Even in Ghost Dog we see Jarmusch's emphasis on ancient culture. Dead Man is also about the degeneracy of modern life: Machine life, pornography, tricks of politicians and businessmen. It contrasts the simple living of Native Americans who still hold on to their ancient values and way of life.
@@virtueorvice also, if you have seen Only Lovers Left Alive, it is a repudiation of the modern world as well.
A masterpiece. The single greatest film ever made. You could spend years deciphering this film and what it all means
Agree. Best movie ever Saw. And each actor is fully committed tô the rule.
Poetry highly mating William blake' s poetry
Ever since I was 11, this has been my favorite movie to watch when I'm home sick. It started as a normal kid thing, just watching my favorite flick while stuck home.
Then one day, many years later, I found myself off work for a week with the flu. I watched this like I had when I was a kid and all the feelings of connecting to Blake's journey came back.
Something about feeling so achy and disjointed, like you just want to die, really resonates with this movie! 😅
I said all that, to say this:
This is a brilliant analysis and it makes so much sense.
I never saw it as "Purgatory," directly. But all the concepts and landmarks of Purgatory were there in my mind. I just never had it coalesce into a complete concept of "redemption," if you will.
I love that these decades later, my favorite movie has a brand new way to see it, and I can't wait to watch it again!
Thank you for this.
💖
I'd love to hear what Jarmusch himself thinks of this analysis, going through each point, one by one...
When Johnny Depp goes into the encampment in which you compared the scene to the story of the three bears, he would have represented Goldilocks, not Baby Bear. In the story of Goldilocks and the 3 bears, the bears come home to find an intruder... they come in close to examine her intruding on their space. This scene in the movie Dead Man, shows the 3 characters coming in close to examine him, even commenting on his beautiful locks of hair. He is at their mercy in the same way that Goldilocks was at the mercy of the 3 bears. In the Goldilocks story, she manages to escape from the 3 bears.
"Nobody" says that his spirit left him when the white men attacked and kidnapped him. But William Blake awoken and inspired the spirit of "Nobody."
You also bring up the bedroom scene when Charles Dickinson and William Blake have the shootout.
I believe that the scene does reverse the roles and that Charles Dickinson represents the real-life scene in which Blake walked in on his fiancé in bed with someone else. I believe that it is exactly what happened in his "life." He did shoot his fiancé and the lover shot him. This is the thing that Blake could not come to terms with. He was in denial of having killed his fiancé ... hence his purgatory, the cause of his suffering. In purgatory, he is able to turn the tables and kill the lover (now himself), but still cannot accept that he killed the woman.
Wide open for interpretation of course. But my thought is that Blake is dead all along in the way that we all are dead all along. It's only a matter of time. For all of us. So what do we do in the meantime? His real adventure begins once he's been shot. This is the wound that will kill him, but not for weeks. He becomes actualized in this interim. He becomes the Hero of his own story. We can only become our authentic self after embracing the truth of life, which is death. Life implies death. Once we begin living with this understanding fully we're on our true path.
Well said !
Yeah, and it's very interesting that this film has that combination of meditative life observing and quite thrilling actions, made by Blake while being without glasses, seeing from his heart, which was shot and somehow started working.
Make Mine your words
That gave me a whole new insight on the film. Great work!
wow, superb analysis... non-stop, densely packed for all 24 minutes.
I agree with your assessment entirely, and it fits perfectly in the film. We have no account of what Blake was doing from the time he was offered the job to over a month later when he finally shows up, but your analysis that he did bad things and killed at least one person is very fitting. He was a dead man before the film started rolling.
We're all in purgatory.
Maybe
No, we´re not, there´s no purgatory, there´s sheol aka hell
Thumbs up for the great analysis. The level of metaphor and symbolism in Dead Man is beyond words. You can interpret every scene and action from multiple perspectives and it just proves the level of intelligence and creativity of Jim Jarmusch.
I believe Dead Man, in a general sense, is a criticism of modern life. The fireman explaining "Machine" as "the end of the line." And also trusting "no words written down on no piece of paper especially from no dickinson..." just represents the lies propagated by modern life through different mediums. Dickinson represents the government which has access to money, resources, and power. He runs the Town of Machine and has killed a million buffaloes "last year alone". Buffaloes as you suggest both represents nature and Native Americans.
Another level shown is the weakness in a modern man compared to the strength gained through ancient practices and propagated by ancient culture. Johnny Depp is like a crying baby in the beginning of the movie but throughout his journey he becomes stronger as he gets closer to Native American culture. Nobody and the poet William Blake are the guidance a modern, especially white man, needs in order to free himself from the degeneracy and ignorance of modern life; guidance in a figurative sense.
Another contrast is between the Town of Machine and Native American tribe that accepts William Blake. In the Town of Machine, the government (Dickinson) is separated from the people and is guarded by gun. But in the Native American tribe the elderly are among the people and dress just like every other citizen, there's beauty and order everywhere as opposed to the Town of Machine where disorder and disharmony rules.
William Blake the artist and poet used lightning bolts in a highly symbolic way. See for example 'Capaneus the Blasphemer'. They appear to show the rebellious nature of Man against God, which is, in fact, a sign of life and creativity.
Thoughtful and great analysis of one of the best westerns ever made! Bravo! The only considerations I'd offer are that when Blake shoots Charles Dickenson, I don't believe that he is feeling the pain that Dickenson is feeling, but rather the pain of the bullet that went through his new friend and into him merely seconds prior. He was likely feeling his own pain. Secondly, the most telling and mystical moment of the film -- IMHO -- is Crispin Glover's depiction of the last thing Blake experiences before leaving this realm. It's chilling, and is delivered to perfection. All that said, this was a great breakdown -- one worthy of a new sub. Cheers!
You can also build an interpretation by seeing William Blake as Dante (Divina Commedia), when the trip he's going through after he lost his way, while he's at the middle point of his life, with Virgil-Nobody as his guide, is infact a trip through Hell (or Hell and Purgatory), as Charon says on the train just at the beginning.
In this case I think you might draw a parallel between western USA-centric culture and the protagonist's life.
But at the end, imho, the beauty of this movie is just in its many possible meanings, the multiple layers you can experinece its story at, and the eventual impossibility to give it a sharp and sure defiitive interpretation.
And that's poetry, isn't it? It relates to life and experience, personally and in more general ways, but it keeps a blurry subjective quality to it, allowing for different points of views, for different meanings at different moments, at different levels.
Thanks for this video!
I agree about the different possibilities of interpretation. I've owned this film for 15 years and have watched it at least a dozen times. It's one of those films in which I see something different nearly every time I watch. I'll notice something visual in the background that I hadn't noticed before, or I will experience a new thought or insight that had not occurred to me before. One of my favorites, and I don't think I will ever get tired of the film or Neil Young's haunting music that accompanies it.
Wow! This movie is so deep. Never realized its true meaning until your analysis here. Thank you so much !
Don't forget Blake's poems, some of the scenes in this movie are imaginings or reworkings of the poems, for instance The Sick Rose.
I dont know if anyone has noticed if the British left approx 1783 then Nobody being captured by British soldiers as a boy makes him well over a century old as the firearms, dress and industrial revolution set in the movie point to a date past the 1860s.
I have always believed he was a spiritual entity due to this.
I wondered about this too. Unless Nobody ventured into Canada.
You seem to be saying that there were no British people on the continent after 1783... doesn't sound accurate...
@hamdemon99 I was reffering to the British military. Certainly British immigrants were there. But not military.
@@angusyates828 possibly?
@@angusyates828 He is half Crow and half Blackfoot (Apsaalooke and Piikani ), his girlfriend speaks Cree to him. and the final scene is in a Makah village, where Nobody seems to know the language.. All those languages are spoken either near or on both sides of the US- Canada border.
Man, this is like some Masters thesis- level examination of this film. Bloody Well done, dude. Very thought provoking and well researched insights. 👏🙌👏🙌👏
My thoughts when watching this were that William Blake is trapped in purgatory, in a loop. At the beginning when the spot covered man asks him about the boat, he asks how it *was*, in a past tense. As if he knows Blake has been through this ordeal at least once already and must undergo it again - maybe until he gets it right?
I absolutely love this movie and enjoyed your interpretation. By the way, the lightning bolts on his face looks somewhat like a symbol of “the journey of the soul.“ A Native American symbol which also looks like a tattoo on Johnny Depp‘s hand.
For me, I deemed the film being Jarmusch's take of his own readaptation of Dante's Inferno. It's a masterful film w/ a multitude of slightly different perspectives each time the movie is revisited by the viewer... Quite visceral, vin fact. This is a much watch film for those who appreciate the art of cinema.
Probably reaching but the scene where Blake first walks the street towards Dickinson Metalworks sort of reads as a review of the cardinal sins. Greed as the buffalo hide merchant, envy as the impoverished mother staring, gluttony as the pig he cautiously walks around, wrath and lust as the exhibitionist couple, sloth as the pair of resting hunters (or any one of the static townspeople), and lastly pride as the eloquently dressed man who holds his ground when Blake nearly runs into him.
this is probably not a completely bullet-proof analysis, but the broader outline, especially applying the concept of purgatory to the story, seems quite accurate to me. I'm impressed how much you got out of it!
On the excellent soundtrack album by Neil Young, Johnny Depp reads poems by William Blake.. I think this could be seen as a hint that Depp really portrays William Blake, the historical person, and that, like he says in the movie, they are *his* poems.
😅
Thank you for your analysis. The only point I'd add is the significance of his name William Blake, who was unrecognised during his life - as I suspect Johnny Depp's character William Blake was. After his death, however, he became a seminal figure in the concept of Romanticism - the intellectual and artistic development of the individual. For instance, the artistic development (face painting) is cultivated by Nobody and learned by William Blake (self face painting).
I love this little point!
Primates learn through mimicry and repetition. It's natural for us to "follow the leader," so to speak. So, this moment in the movie always just seemed like a natural step in his human delirium.
The deeper implications of its presence as not only a metaphor for the actual Blake, but Romanticism in general, has tickled me greatly!
Thanks & Cheers!
💖
In the beginning of the movie, the fireman seems to talk about the end of the movie, when Blake is in the boat and looking up at the ceiling (sky). Does this mean he's been through this journey more than once already? He also speaks to him as if it isn't the first time they've spoken.
theres an article we're reading for a class im taking rn and it comments on that fireman comment. the article talks a lot about post colonialism and how this film conforms to the western genre enough that we recognize it, but not too much to make it a WESTERN western. its like a nightmare in a western dreamscape: a western purgatory. the article also talks about how we remember our (americas) past, when we remember, etc. and the stories we've been told about the west and our own colonialism, and the agendas behind telling those stories. im thinking that this film can be seen as a cyclical purgatory that we, the viewers/americans/stupid fucking white men, must continually cycle through to see through the western and its fabricated history. we as a country have not come to terms with our sins of genocide, etc. etc. and we must go through purgatory indefinitely until they can be forgiven
@@alexannae I agree, and the largely fictional , stereotypical and often romanticized veiw of the West was perpetuated, abused and imo began with Hollywood..
(It doesn't explain why you came right out here to hell!) On the train...
12:00 “Blake looks as if he feels the pain himself.” Errrm.. maybe because he received a bullet in his chest?
Otherwise: Very insightful analysis. Bravo.
This is a fantastic analysis of Deadman. Great video!
I disagree with this method, with the constant need to over-analyze what might be unique artistic expressions into simplified mirroring between some kind of original story (Dante's Inferno), and the references ( conductor = Charon, Dickinson = devil, common workplace = purgatory). Every schoolbus can resemble the Ship of the Dead - if you are inclined to see it that way. Or it maybe something completely different. Also, once you start playing the game that "nothing is as it seems, and everything is different", where do you stop and why? I am willing to trust the writer and the director, and if they show me a man stumbling over a deserted wasteland, I have no reason (unless given a clue), that he is in fact sleeping off a drunken stupor. Invalidating one's own narration is one of the cheapest tricks, unworthy of storytellers like Jarmusch.
Sure the main protagonist here is "doomed" from the start - he is too fragile for the rough Wild West, too incompatible with his uncultured peers, too naive and lacks the necessary survival instincts. However, the fact that he spends most of his journey wounded, at the brink of collapse does not diminish it in any way. It's his unique sampling of an amalgam of many coexisting worlds, he is clearly overwhelmed by the experience, and although he understands that the return to "Cleveland" is not how the day ends, there is no sign of regret or fear - because in the end, his cup is full, as they say.
So whenever I rewatch this memorable classic today, I find myself less and less inclined to chain it "safely" to the building blocks of our cultural landmap, but instead I inhale it like the exotic tobacco leaf one does not see on the shelves of the small town grocery stores. The scent of nineties, the slow, hypnotizing pacing, the strange rhythm of violent eruptions into a dreamy, feverish mental meandering, this one remains a memorable experience to stay with us.
Nobody probably helped Johnny Depp's character not out of being some spirit angel guide through purgatory, but because he's seen enough death and destruction when he came back over to America, that he just wanted to help this poor man dying of a bullet wound. Also I don't really agree with 8:40 saying how Blake just outright refuses to learn from Nobody, more like the dude expected to get some easy accountant job out in the wild west, that didn't end up happening, he then killed a dude that same day pretty much, while having a bullet wound and being woken up by Nobody who was cutting into him with a knife.
I think anyone with Blake's background really wouldn't want to listen to metaphors and spiritual advice that sure makes sense if ya really listen, but who would seriously in blakes position want to listen to the (for lack of a better word) crazy advice that nobody keeps giving? Blake is probably used to more urban society where people generally don't talk like Nobody, they certainly wouldn't take peyote in front of a stranger in Cleveland you know? But here is Blake now being hunted and having to slowly understand that Nobody needs him as much as he needs Nobody. That Nobody is as much of a loner in his own life as Blake is during the entire movie, they were meant to meet each other.
If "William Blake" was the reason & inspiration of him escaping Europe to go back to America, I'd even go as far as to say Nobody being so spiritually minded thinks that he now owes his own life to this version of William Blake, and will help him in any way he knows how. He convinced Blake that the gun is now his pen and paper so much that he grew so confident while killing those marshals, it's as if Blake knew he wouldn't take anymore serious harm as he's probably already screwed so what's a few more bullets at this point?
Do you know my poetry?
Look back at how absolutely suavely Blake killed that merchant who sold him the tobacco at the trading post. Blake knew so much about his own poetry that he probably knew exactly how to kill this guy the moment he walked into that rent/room/building whatever you wanna call it. Or at the very least figure out how to out smart him in only a couple of seconds. Nobody is the reason he even reached this point, got this far in purgatory, otherwise he'd be screwed still not knowing how to really use a gun, 100% he'd just give himself up to the marshals at the very least or the bounty hunters would kill the marshals just to be able to kill Blake for the reward.
I don't rly like thinking about Dickenson as the devil either or Clover, at the start of the movie he's literally just explaining how the wild west was - that this is a hard land for hard people and unless you're like a fire man who can take piling coal into a hot stove for 10 hours at a time, you will not survive here. Same principal behind "There Will Be Blood", you either get lucky enough to survive long enough to become rich here or you simply die. Or neither you just survive living a hard life where any sane person from these lands would obviously say that this is hell, wait you're saying you know how to read too and you still came out here?
Why would you ever come out here if you're smart enough and lucky enough to be an accountant during those times? What the hell was Blake thinking? His own naive thinking not understanding how the world really can be just yet, so clover explains to him just how big of a mistake he's made. Guess you could go either way and a devil or demon analogy would work too but I've watched the movie about 3-4 times now just recently I've really fallen in love with it, I just can't see an actual devil in any form here. Demons maybe but not the devil himself.
So yeah you're right in my opinion, there's no need to really make too much sense of it because it doesn't need to make too much sense, otherwise u might just end up forcing the narrative however you want, which is fine you do you but I don't feel like that's how this movie should be watched in general. It really is imo one of cinemas finest pieces when watching the movie the first couple of times, and if u don't read too much into it, im sure 100 times over.
I so agree with you and so disagree with this way of watching films. It's really a misguided way of engaging with cinema. It's like trying to discover the movie behind the movie. The 'actual' movie. But then what? You've done what? You've done nothing at all. This movie is about every human being's journey back, back to where we come from, and about having to let go of everything you know, have, and are. This is a deeply emotional and spiritual quest, and William Blake's journey should resonate with something in ourselves. On top of that, it is a fundamental critique of western, disconnected life. If you don't connect to a film in this way, if you are not floored by it emotionally, kissed in the core of who or what you are, but start scribbling your conspiracy adjacent theory about what the move is 'actually', as if there is another key to understanding it rather than feeling it, you have not seen it. Not at all.
Very insightful! One of the best films ever, including the soundtrack 😊❤
interesting but also exaggerated.
i agree that Blake is dead from the get-go of the film, but u are reading too much unfounded symbolism in it. like Blake is experiencing his murder of his son from his past reincarnation??... just because the black hired killer is young, that makes him a symbol of Blakes son? and what son are u even talking about? when did Blake talk of a son?
but how is that even an emotional punishment for Blake, when Blake is not present at the killing of the young black hired killer? if he is not a witness to the killing how is he getting punished by the young black hired killers murder? the murder happens somewhere else by somebody else than Blake so Blake cant be a witness to it, let alone feel any emotional punishment. and why would he even feel anything for the young black hired gunman? he has no relation to him at all...doesn't even know of his existence.
and there are many more assumptions like this in your analysis. did u ask Jim Jarmush what the symbolism in his film means?
CT2507 this film has an ironic plot type, a non linear and unconventional story arch. It is subject to individual interpretation even more so than a movie with a more regular plot type.
Damn..... this analysis is deep and amazing! I truly appreciate all your work on this!
Not only, for me, the best revisionist western I have ever seen but one of the few film masterpieces of the 1990’s. In fact nothing like it exists in ANY American western which encourages a multitude of responses both pro & con. Jonathan Rosenbaum’s book may not persuade many as to the merits of this unique film but those curious enough to read it might gain some insight into what Jarmusch was up to. For me anyway DEAD MAN rewards multiple viewings but my evaluation of it is a personal one & defending it otherwise is not my intent.
This is an awesome interpretation to an awesome movie. personally one of my favorites
Don't forget Blake's poems, e.g. The Sick Rose. The Book of Thel, Jarmusch has used these as well.
Every year the film gets a little better. Thanks for the analysis.
A couple of points:
1 If Mr. Dickinson represents the Devil, then you could mention the fact that his name, "Dickins", means devil.
2 The "blurry point of view" mentioned at 5:18 could be because he "needs glasses", but don't forget he was tripping on peyote when that happened.
3. The absolutism of White Man Stupid, Indian Wise should not be overdone, IMHO. Jarmusch explicitly rejected it as a cliché in interviews, and said that Nobody is partly wise, but also partly insane (his nickname of "He who talks loud and says nothing" might have been more apt than he realized). And Nobody's whole life trajectory began as a victim of bigotry between Blackfeet and Crows (Piikanis and Apsaalookes in Nobody's words). The Natives are not as destructive as the "White Man" in this world, but they show parallels in many explicit things.
4. I like the journey through Purgatory idea, but it does depend on a sin that is not mentioned anywhere and doesn't seem the first thing you'd expect of the naïve accountant. I usually think of it as Everyman's journey through Life on Earth, which the Fireman sees from outside time.
This is a great review but I just wanted to add my two cents for some additional ideas.
i just watched this movie for the first time last night, and as I was listening to this commentary, a thought popped into my head that maybe the Lance Henrickson character is supposed to be an evil spirit, like a demon, or a fallen angel, or some kind of a spirit of death.
mostly enjoyable but i simply dont buy the bit about murdering his wife/fiancee and son. i believe his case for his 'running away' was simply a fresh start after the death of his folks and a likely betrayal of his woman. the idea fits the rest of the narrative conveniently, but its just too thin with nothing at all obvious to connect it with....just my opinion...
I agree, on the train he said that she changed her mind while looking away from the fireman. I think there's no reason to doubt him, for one reason, thousands of women change their mind during an engagement but very few are killed by their fiance. I agree with just about everything else he said though, from the evidence I think you could more easily say that he killed himself after his parents died. But ultimately I don't think it's clear how he died.
Where in movie says he killed his son
Wow, you just made the film seem way more layered than I realised. Have to go back and rewatch.
There was a mystery about this movie every time ive watched it now with your interpretation it will be a whole new experience, thx.
Blake fits in with white society. He just happens to be an _Easterner._ In spite of some contradictions, Dead Man is still a period piece. It's also worth pointing out that the Philistines were an ancient people who lost their identity after becoming integrated with the Persian Empire. It can be argued that Blake's killing of Charlie was an act of self-defense. Lastly, Jim Jarmusch wanted to depict the American Frontier as an existential wasteland.
There is so much depth to the dialogue, where does one even begin ?
one of the most original movies ever made
The sound design is great in this movie. On next watching note how each new habitat he travels through is signaled by the call of a bird you would find in such habitat.
Off topic: But I think Childish Gambino’s song “This Is America” is from the line when Blake asks Thel why she has a gun.
“Cuz, this is America”
The sound track is by Niel Young
@@pedrolopez8057
Love the score too. I was specifically talking about the sound design.
This is really good, really helps out making sense of a difficult movie. Great job, and thanks!
Love this theory. Interesting new way to engage with the film.
Interesting note, too: The talkative hired killer mentioned that the cannibal guy killed his parents- Blake mentions at the beginning that his parents had recently passed away, both of them. Interesting that they would die at more or less the same time. Maybe he didn't just kill his fiance?
it's about Cole. and Cole is the alterego, the personification of William's sin. so... yes.
Anyone notice the two men stacking up caskets when Blake first enters into Machine.
Blakes suit felt like a reference to greasers palace to me.
this is amazing dude
Wonderful analysis, thank you!
That was wonderfully enlightening! Thank you!
I had an idea last year. How about a Hallmark film in the tradition of the movie “Dead Man” ?
A holiday acid Western?
Holly Christine, played by Lacy Chalbarth, is the editor for Arizona Highways magazine. She drives from her home in Phoenix to visit her family in Los Angeles. But on the way she will stop in this small out of the way "time forgot" town of Noel to get photos and talk to the residents who celebrate the holidays in a simple but beautiful way.
Upon arrival she walks into a church where an off beat character is playing the pipe organ in some weird out of tune. The priest begins talking about the miracle of heaven then says. Because you're gonna die out here. Maniacal laughter. She steps out uncomfortably.
She meets the Café owner, Mary, and her daughter, Joy, and a handsome young sheriff, Jesse, at the café plus an offbeat character (played by Iggy Pop) who says "Me and the sherrif got off to a rocky start, but we're good now, right?" The sheriff says "Yep, that was a long time ago, a long time ago." Sheriff and Holly seem to have chemistry.
Then she meet a wise old Apache. He speaks cryptographically. Things like "this town is united in love and in tragedy." he introduces her to peyote.
While under peyote she stats to see the town as it was in the 1880s. Iggy Pop and his gang robs the bank and met by the sheriff (same guy but 1800s garb and a horse instead of a patrol car) confronting him and a shootout takes place. She sees the sheriff, Mary, her daughter and the apache wise man all dead, plus another woman laid out. She gets closer and realizes that's her.
She wakes up from the weird trip. The sheriff meets her and offers to show her around town. They go to Boot Hill cemetery where there's a simple wooden grave marker. "Holly Christine. 1845-1880. Killed in the Noel Massacre"
She turns around and sees the others. "Welcome home." they say. She smiles calmly and says. "I knew something was drawing me here."
A news broadcast plays over the radio at the end credits “the Arizona journalism community is grieving this Christmas at the discovery of a crashed car near Noel. Holly Christine, Arizona Highways editor, was found dead in the wreckage.”
Sound track by Neil Young on electric guitar
There’s an episode of “The twilight zone” with a bit similar plot, nevertheless I really enjoyed yours, would’ve been a killer movie
This is so good, except for the central premise that William Blake killed his fiancee and son. That bit is quite a stretch! Without that part, we have a very solid analysis.
I don't agree. On the train, when asked what happened to his fiancee, Blake answered that she had changed her mind. The engineer ("Charon") replied, "No she didn't" which indicates that Blake had lied and that something else had happened to her.
That's not how the scene went.
TRAIN FIREMAN: Fiance?
BLAKE: Well I had one of those, but um...she changed her mind.
TRAIN FIREMAN: She found herself somebody else.
BLAKE: No.
TRAIN FIREMAN: Yes she did.
th-cam.com/video/ZtUB8XCrqPg/w-d-xo.html
Correct. But my point stands. In response to WB's assertion that he had a fiance but she changed her mind, the fireman counters with the assertion (not a question), that she dumped him for another guy. When WB objects, the fireman re-asserts the truth ("Yes she did"). So the "central premise" that WB killed his fiancee is by no means a stretch, but is a stated fact.
@Subtext and Symbolism. Very well observed and analyzed. But if I can give an advice it would be to not rush when you speak. I'm a Norwegian and had really a hard time following you and I missed a lot even stopping several times. English isn't too hard for me to understand most of the times, but even if it had been in Norwegian I would prefer getting a moment to visualize what someone say, especially if it is deep or intellectual.
I solved the problem by setting playback speed at .75
@@smtwd6839 I worked a lot with theatre so it was meant as constructive critique.
Of course I can slow down a video.
But many things becomes very unnatural.
We usually want to focus on what someone say when it is meaningful stuff not get distracted. Electrical devices can’t be a human quite yet.
This was a well done video so I kind of expect more when things are good 😃 ..and it is a thing people have worked on since ancient times. 🙂
First time I watched Dead Man I wondered about the Dickinson Company. Thought Emily Dickinson, another anti industrialist writer poet. I read she used "bees" often in writings and remembered Wm Blake reading the Bee Journal. Anyone thought of a running theme with Emily?
Good catch. I took "Dickinson" to be "The Dickens", ie, the Devil.
I don't see the wife/child thing anywhere. Wouldn't it be more about his parents? Both Nobody and Cole had 'issues' about their parents (especially Cole...) and Blake twice mentioned about his parents dying.
goss1961 I think Blake maybe killed his parents. Because of this his fiancé changed her mind about marrying him and found another man.
@@tirmite this is also reinforced with Cole Wilson having killed his own parents as well
Great analysis. I don't care if it is 100 percent on the button or not. because it made me notice lots of things that I had previously missed. The quote about having a gun because it is America is 100 percent true.
I knew a bunch of the subtext of this movie going into this video but I did not see the horses as souls aspect nor that Nobody and Cole were aspects of Blake himself. I always looked at Nobody as a spirit guide and Cole a demon. Nice. Gonna watch it again soon because of this!! FUN FACT!! I actually know a guy who goes by the name Nobody. You can see him in dances with wolves for liiike three seconds as he walks past the window before dude Costner is reporting to says "I have just pissed my pants". First dude with the dog.
Yeah dude. Way to miss the elephant in the room. That soundtrack? Is the thing that intrigues one to wonder. Way to go, godfather of grunge!
I subscribed to you in ten seconds after turning on this video. :)
Awesome work. WOnderful film!
Great insights into this film! Thanks.
Love it. Even if he is just an accountant who's fiance left him, as Crispin Glover seems to say, Blake would be 'guilty' of being a thoughtless part of this history, and that could be represented by these Oedipal triads. He is an accountant, in the machine of western enclosure, and like all of us to one degree or another he detaches himself from that. I never looked at films with all this representational logic as a child, it was just storytelling about plausible people, made by authors in the context of that very history. A dream world, or a theme world?
During the film festival premiere of this film, someone yelled out after the film was over, "Jim, it's a piece of sh**." I disagree. I think it is a great film.
That person was an idiot
Dead Man, at the underlying level, chugging the plot along is about literature scrambled. Egyptian, Grecian, The Sagas, Native American, etc. etc. etc.... up to Blake, obv. The original Nobody was Odysseus...
Hahahaha! When I was watching this film with my bf I turned to him and said, "He's a soul-bird? A guider of souls?" I couldn't remember what they are called. Psychopomps. You guys should check out Midnight Gospels. Things like this are balms to my soul. I'm so glad Johnny won against Amber Turd.
Brilliant!
love how Jarred Harris is just referred to as "this other guy"
The skulls on the wall were antelope and various deer. Not Buffalo. Thanks for a great interpretation. I am coming back to this movie after seeing it some years ago. Google-fuing anything I can find on it and your video scratched that itch.
And the dead Fawn isn't an elk, it's a deer as far as I can tell.
Blake was dead on the train. He didnt know it yet, but he was dead
I have to readings of this film:
- America making peace with it´s past
- The inevitability of death (mortality)
wonderful, thank you!
SPOILERS
Good analysis! Very good!
Did JJ plan this out? Authors do sometimes, but more often they follow their soul.
But from now on, I'll see the symbolism from your reading.
(I think the idea that Bill killed his own child isn't indicated, but yes, Bill's reticence about his engagement has a certain quality.)
Lest not forget William Blakes' The Book of Thel. Thel never really lived as she was terrified of losing her innocence through the act of gaining experience bringing her face to face with her own mortality. That is, if i interpreted that poem right. Its heady stuff.
I'm not sure how that relates to Thel in the movie, but I find the movie, this video, and all the comments here endlessly fascinating.
Definitely in my top 3 movies of all time.
Do you have any tobacco?
It’s a dual metaphor for Thel herself, who wanted to rebuild her life but Charles, the ghost of her past, killed her before she could do so, and for Blake, who struggles to come to terms with the fact that he is dead and constantly finds himself at odds with the bizarre hell around him
Brilliant. Thanks for accompanying William Blake. 🙏
I just discovered this movie, a little difficult for me to understand (I'm from Spain). Thank you very much for your interpretation, it helped me a lot.
Best movie ever made
The DVD has a deleted scene that has Lance Henriksen slowly shooting Micheal Wincott to death before he cooks and eats him
The two most grisled voices
I love this movie
4 stars but it's deserved more .I love it so much I
This is one of my favorite movies.
Excellent! Thank you.
Thank you. Very very!
this is gold
Very interesting and well done , thanks. It does however seen to be pure imagination that William Blake killed his fiancée and son, the movie never says this in any way. This is not based on any "interpretation of art" that storyline just isn't there in any way.
thank you so much for making this ! Did you find all this information on your own or saw it from somewhere?
Seriously, the sound track makes you understand the gravity.
Was that Crispin Glover @1:50?
Apparently yes
He's in purgatory because Jim Jarmusch says he is. End of story.
I love a good film analysis and your interpretation is a very interesting one and may very well be DEAD on. But if you're any bit familiar with Jarmusch's body of work, you'll know he's never been into abstractions or lacing his films with metaphors and so on (although maybe this was his one foray into that such thing) Jarmusch's films are typically much more about people, places and things. Plots are not a big concern of his nor is getting too heady or artsy. I do not see this film the way you do BUT appreciated this video nonetheless
Interesting breakdown…but as a female, I question just 1 of your main suppositions. Blake did not "kill" his fiancé and future son….another man did…..and he is suffering - not his own guilt - but at the hands of inconsiderate men.
Don't tell anyone I told you but...you are fucking brilliant.
I appreciate this. it is well put together. but I would like to interject on the dead child theory. perhaps in the beginning he has murdered his fiance and her other lover. wether child was present is never depicted.
Great job!
Good analysis
What type of mic are you using for this? Sounds really good. Also, your editing software?
Great video. Wonderful movie...
I believe Nobody and William Blake are the same person similar to the characters in Fight Club.