On The Waterfront

The Movie On The Waterfront opens up right away with the death of Joey Doyle. Talk about a way to start off the movie, it was a nice way to grab my attention that is for sure. Joey Doyle lived in an apartment complex and raised pigeons on the roof of that complex. He worked under Johnny Friendly as a longshoreman, and the rest of the movie goes into depth of a struggle for human dignity. Though this was another black and white movie, I feel that the black and white contrast played a huge role in the themes and ideas of struggle brought throughout the film. It helped me I feel to grasp the tone and emotions of the characters throughout the movie.

Throughout the movie On The Waterfront, there was a lot of different themes, symbols and emotions that helped to shape and bring meaning to this specific era and the battles that people were facing to survive. According to the book The Art of Watching Film page 27 it talks about the movie On The Waterfront under the title struggle for human dignity. It states, " Terry Malloy achieves his dignity by leading the dock workers to rebel against a corrupt union, but Malloy's summary of his boxing career echoes clearly his personal struggle." I not only think that Terry is a perfect example of human dignity and struggle but I also feel that Johnny Friendly dealt with his far share of struggles to. For I was reading an Article on the Internet titled, On The Waterfront the best American film ever produced and it was giving a little background information on Johnny and how he was a man who struggled in his younger years because he was poor and he would do anything he could just to survive and now that he has control and is head of all these longshoreman and he wants to keep his dignity and power that way and not let anyone stand in the way of bringing him down.

Moving on to some symbols throughout the movie I feel there are two major ones that help to shape and bring together the emotions and ideas portrayed throughout the film. The first symbol being the pigeons. The pigeons I feel represented the longshoreman and their work crew. For the pigeons are kept up in a coop and have control under one master and one home to return to just like the men who work the docks. They are cooped up and tied around that one job not having much freedom to say and do what they feel. Terry I feel can also represent a pigeon because pigeon's are fragile and they care about there fellow pigeons, just like Terry is fragile and wants to take care of and stand up for his fellow longshoreman. The hooks that the longshoreman use is the second major symbol that displays how the longshoreman feel. The hooks throughout the movie are draped around the longshoreman's shoulders and that represents the baggage that literally hangs over them day in and day out as they try to work under a leader who is a power hungry man.

Some other interesting pieces of information that I picked up from reading EBSCOhost On The Waterfront article is the relationship between Edie Doyle and Terry Malloy. The article states, "world of men without women." " Their love story, intertwined with his decision to testify, is what makes Terry a man rather then a kid. When Edie follows him into a dangerous alley, a women calling caution after a man, she becomes one of the women of the waterfront community." This was interesting to me and I had to read it a couple of times to really understand an crasp what it was exactly trying to say. But I think what it means is that that with Edie showing care and compassion for Terry and his mission to change the waterfront community it brought Edie a women a part of the community because she supported and cared for her brother who died and she cares for the fellow people and longshoreman of the waterfront community. Also, this article talks again about the meaning behind the film making and a specific scenes that was a turning point throughout the film. It states, "A daylight photo of the alley though which Terry and Edie are chases at night by the menacing truck, for example, illustrates the role cinematographer Boris Kaufman played in creating the claustrophobic feel of many scenes." It showed that Terry's time was running out and that he needed to make the next move in his support to change the waterfront forever. With Edie being there it shows the support that she has for the longshoreman and how they deserve a better life. Aslo sense the movie is in black and white it portrayed the darkness and the feel of doom felt umong the longshoreman. In conclusion, Terry wins over in the end and beats down his stuggle's and gains his human dignity. Thus changing the way the waterfront will be for the rest of time. I feel that I took more away from this film after reading more articles and background information then I did when I first walked away after viewing the film, and I am glad that I did so cause in the end I enjoyed watching the film.