Description

First paragraph:

Night of the Hunter is a film about the strength of children just as it is a film about their implicit weakness. Without good guidance, the story world is presented as being continuously threatening, contradictory, and confusing for children. Their instincts and good sense keep them separate from adults who behave like children, but their need for parental love and leadership makes this distance both difficult to sustain and painful for them to endure. With the guidance of responsible adults, the film shows that an environment can be provided for children in which there is a correspondence between their own abilities, and what the environment offers them. Evil can still be present, but stripped of its greatest power -- disguise -- it is no match for the powers of good. This paper will analyze how the film uses a variety of elements to create and explore this theme. In particular, this paper will focus on how film elements change before and after John and Pearl Harper flee Harry Powell on their river journey.