The Misfits in The Misfits (1961)

Abstract

The paper focuses on the idea of the misfits in both Arthur Miller’s screenplay, The Misfits (1961), and the film directed by John Huston. It attempts to critically analyze the different kinds of misfits found in the screenplay and movie. The paper begins by defining who/what is a misfit, and then moves on to discuss the multitudinous ways in which one can identify misfit entities and ‘mis-fit’ elements, such as the director who is himself considered a misfit, the not-so-Hollywood run-of-the-mill type commercial production that this film is, and the actors who all are considered misfits in real life as well as on screen. This critical essay follows the methodology of qualitative and subjective literary analysis for the screenplay and Apparatus theory, Genre Studies and Feminist theory (the politics of film representation specifically in the case of Marilyn Monroe) for Film criticism, while looking at the artistic methods, stylistic features, camera work, poster, among other things. The paper follows the transformation, or rather the fall of the “hero” to an unusual, abnormal being in the society who is not ready to be accommodated, and chooses to live “free”. This choice is not available to these characters, which the screenplay and the film go on to reveal eventually. It offers an exposé of the estrangement of the American cowboy in a world that has been urbanized and industrialized. The movie signals towards the impossibility of living “free”, unscathed and unblemished, in a society, which is itself a corrupt, industrial prison.