Hollywood Utopia

To frame and activate more intense ecological contemplation, the opening
sequence of Alvin’s spatial journey choreographs the symbolic relationship
between his latent immobility and his psychological journey to find meaning from
and in the cosmos. The scene tracks through a close-up of a continuous yellow
road marking sign followed by a pan over the unconventional rig with its green
cover as it slowly traverses the marked road space and up onto the horizon and
finally directly up to the sky above - a framing shot which is held for what seems
like an inordinately long period - and then back again to the road and the rig,
demonstrating how the vehicle has barely moved. This continuing evocation of the
‘tortoise and hare’ allegory by drawing attention to other speedy vehicles upsetting
his revere counterpoints Alvin’s lack of mobility and becomes strangely infectious
throughout the journey. Particularly because road movies embody and endorse
movement and progression, such apparent lack of movement embodied within his
determined agency in many ways promotes a ‘deeper’ appreciation of nature.
Like the Odyssey, Alvin’s first outing is a false start, getting him no farther than the
Grotto (with its religious connotations), as predicted by his acquaintances in the
town. He has to hitch a lift from a busload of OAP tourists who have the landscape
navigated for them. Alvin cannot accept such passive travel that efficiently
consumes and appropriates rather than experientially engages with nature.
Owing to his lack of sensual awareness, especially his poor sight, Alvin’s stoical
spirit has to work even harder to commune with his environment. Hence his
journey cannot allow randomness and inconsequentiality. This is a luxury
appropriated by the younger traveller within popular film culture. Each incident on
the road, therefore, has added significance both allegorically and thematically,
which serves to extend Alvin’s ability to reconcile memory and identity.
Just to present a flavour of these incidents, I will focus on the first involving a young
pregnant girl, hitch-hiking to get away from responsibility and her family. She
arrives at Alvin’s night camp unable to fulfil her adolescent desire of movement to
escape her lot. At first she exposes her youthful honesty and impetuosity by
dismissing his rig as a heap of junk, at which he gently scolds her to ‘eat your
dinner missy’. Their meeting allows Alvin to articulate the power of blood ties,
particularly those between mothers and their children, like his daughter Rosie, who
is considered ‘a bit simple’. He tells how she had four kids and one night someone
else was watching the children when a fire started and one boy got badly burned.
The state decided that she was not suitable and so they took away her children.
‘Not a day goes by but she does’ent pine for those kids.’ 41 This piece of dramatic
exposition is reinforced by a match-cut of Rose’s face back home looking out into
the night sky and also contextualises her close observation of a child chasing a ball
in an earlier scene. Alvin affirms that a family is like a bunch of sticks tied together:
alone they can be broken but together they are invincible.
3 Westerns, Landscapes and Road Movies 127