Asha Richards Green

America was said to have streets paved with gold by immigrants in the 1890s and so was believed by Joseph Donelly and Shannon Christie as they embarked on their journey to the US. However, throughout their journey the two come to realize that not all that glitters is gold and on the contrary, not all that is dirty is bad. Joseph Donelly (Tom Cruise), is an aspirative yet hotheaded sharecropper whose home is burned by Stephen Chase, the landlords arrogant manager, after his father dies. Out of revenge, he goes out to assassinate his landlord, Daniel Christie, believing that he was an evil and corrupt man which was actually not the case. The next morning, he is caught by Mr. Christies daughter, Shannon (Nicole Kidman), while trying to escape. Shannon Christie, was very wealthy and wanted to be modern unlike her extremely civilized mother. She believed that America was the only place she could be herself and sees Joseph as her way out. In the night she asked Joseph, who is challenged to a duel of pistols in the morning by the Chase, to run away with her to America where he can get land only if he goes as her servant. He strongly disagrees to this and goes to the duel the next morning where he finds out that Mr. Christie really is a nice man as stated in the theme. Joseph has no chance of wining and Shannon comes and saves his life and pays his passage on the ship to Boston. On the ship Shannon meets Mr. Maguire who she saw as who would help her through American life. Instead, he ends up being a thief; stealing all her spoons and being killed proving that he was not as good a person as he appeared to be. Joseph then takes charge and finds a room for them to stay and a job for both of them through Ward Boss Kelly and by ling that Shannon was his sister. Joseph thought that Kelly was good offering a place to stay and a job just like that. Joseph then starts night boxing to earn extra money and relieve some of the sexual tension. Now there is a huge fight going where he would gain $200. Both Shannon and Joseph see this last fight as their escape but due to the distraction of one of his backers unwanted advances at

Asha Richards Green

Shannon, he loses and is kicked out of the club. He then sees Shannons family, whose house was burned by rebellious tenant farmers, asking around for Shannon. When he went back to his room, the Ward took all their money and exiled them from the Irish community. In the end boxing and Boss Kelly turned out to be one of the worst things to happen to Shannon and Joseph although they seemed like their pathway to life in America. While searching for food, Shannon and Joseph end up in a house where they both admit that they love each other, even though they hated each others guts in the beginning. When the owners of the house come back, Shannon gets shot and with nowhere else to turn, Joseph returns Shannon to her family. Joseph ends up working on the Transcontinental Railroad and cannot stop thinking about Shannon. He nearly abandoned his dream of owning land until he sees people on their way to Oklahoma which he decides to follow to go to the Land Run of 1893. He sees Shannon, her family and Steven there. He buys himself a rowdy and unreliable horse because the tamed horse died which also shows that what looks the best isnt always the best. The rowdy horse ended up being the fastest horse in the race which demonstrates that some things that seem bad are actually the best. Steven tries to kill Joseph but he comes back to life. Shannon choses Joseph over Stephen and they both put down their marker together. America was not a land paved with gold as Shannon and Joseph thought but through adversity they achieved what they wanted. From the small things such as Mr. Mcguire, boxing, Ward Boss Kelly, and the horse, to the love of Shannon and Joseph, the theme that not all that glitters is gold and not all that is ugly is bad is wonderfully displayed.

The film Far and away is very historically accurate although the characters were not real. The part in Ireland was extremely accurate with the class separation and tenant farming of 1890s

Asha Richards Green

("The Irish." Library.thinkquest.org). Also it is true that many Irish went to Boston and that most irish that left were the poorer Irish due to the famine of 1845 ("The Irish." Library.thinkquest.org) This explains when Joseph said that most of the people here are my kind of people. One in accuracy was the Indian in a sarai walking in Boston. Most Indians would not arrive until after 1965 when strict anti-asian laws were liberalized ("Asian-Indian Immigrants and Their Children in America." People.bu.edu). It was also accurate when the man said I dont hire Irish because Irish were isolated from other cultures and especially American born people ("The Irish." Library.thinkquest.org). Irishmen did tend to go to bars and watched fights a lot as in Maggie (Crane, Stephen. "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets."). Women either had to work or sell their bodies which was also shown in the movie (Crane, Stephen. "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets."). The significance of this movie would most likely be the birthday of John F. Kennedy. JFK was born on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. This movie was released on May 22, 1992. The Irish immigrants, Shannon and Joseph initially immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts. John F. Kennedy was of a wealthy Catholic Irish family from Boston ("John F. Kennedy Biography." Biography.com). This movie was probably done to commemorate John F. Kennedy and his ambitions of which some he did and didnt accomplish.

Various cinematographic techniques are used to increase the viewers awareness of the setting, characters, or plot development by the lighting. In the beginning with Joseph working the fields, and in his home town of tenant farmers the lighting was very gloomy. The gloominess

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makes the audience sad and feel like this is not the right path for Joseph. Another example is when Joseph goes into the duel with Stephen, the fog not only creates the setting of the scene but alludes to the fog in Josephs mind, and his confusion of what is going on. There is a reason that we are Shannon and Joseph are shown in the night of their three day search for food. It makes thing look even worse than they actually are. With little light, the audience kind of feels like there is little hope. Lastly, when Shannon and Joseph are together in Oklahoma on their soon to be land, the lighting is a lot brighter. It alludes to the happy ending that is about to occur. The lighting alone can easily affect the audiences mood. By artisanally lighting certain scenes a certain way, it can help the audience become aware of what is going on

Works Cited Asian-Indian Immigrants and Their Children in America. People.bu.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://people.bu.edu/prothero/ia_immigrants.htm>. Crane, Stephen. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and

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Selected Stories. Ed. Alfred Kazin. New York: Signet Classic, 1991. 1-82. Print. The Irish. Library.thinkquest.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Irish.html>. John F. Kennedy Biography. Biography.com. A+E Television Networks, 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://www.biography.com/people/john-f-kennedy-9362930>.