AnalysisofFilmTextfromtheperspectiveofArchetypalCriticism

I. Introduction

Hacksaw Ridge，a movie concerning war based on the true story of Redmond Doss during the World War II，is directed by Mayer.Gibson. Many of popular movies directed by him such as The Passion of Christ，Apocalypse，and so on are closely connected with The Bible，so is the movie Hacksaw Ridge. In this movie，we can see Doss is the image of Jesus Christ who becomes more and more clear to us as the movie advances. According to Fryes Archetypal criticism，archetype should be characters，plots，themes，and so on. Thus，this study aims to analyze archetype of Doss from the perspective of archetypal criticism，and to make readers get a better understanding of the image of Doss and his belief.

II. A Critical Perspective on Archetypal Criticism

Northrop Frye establishes his archetypal criticism system which develops this newly—starting approach into a comprehensive set of principles not only for the theory of literature but also for the practice of the literary criticism. The myth critic probes for “the inner spirit which gives that form its vitality and its enduring appeal.”（Guerin，167）The mythic pattern—the story of gods—are the most basic pattern in literature works. Frye notices the stability of structural units of literature “the fact that certain themes，situations and character types have persisted with very little change.”（Frye，48）Archetypes cannot be easily recognized in specific literary works，for they are displaced myths. The primitive myths and religious rituals are “displaced” as patterns in modern works and gods as various characters. In another word，literary works use the same myth story or one or several parts of the story in different ways.

III. An Archetype of Doss

3.1 Childhood Memory

The story begun with the naughty child Doss knocking out his old brother Hal with a brick unintentionally and he thought that Hal was dead. He slowly and regretfully went close to the picture about Bible stories on the wall and read “Thy shall not kill”，the sixth commandment in The Ten Commandments，which was regarded as the most powerful principle and ethical doctrine by Judaism. Actually，what happened between Doss and Hal is similar to the story between Cain and Abel. Doss hurt his old brother rather than Hal hurt Doss and he，unlike Cain，was guilty of hurting Hal，which shows the obscure shadow of Jesus for Doss was in possession of love for others.

Dosss father Tom had joined the army during the World War I and had witnessed the cruelty of war，especially the death of his partners，which cast a shadow on his post-war life. For example，he didnt really have much faith in what life was going to after war. He became drunk and violent and had nothing to do except dwell in the past. He quarreled with his wife and even held a gun to her，which was seen by Doss，and he immediately robbed the gun from his father and put the gun to him in return. Actually，he didnt fire at Tom. Later，Doss recalled that he was too distressed about the rude and violent behavior to forgive himself. Obviously，Doss had a kindly heart and virtuous，just as Jesus Christ.

3.2 A Important Decision about Christian Belief

After entering adult，Doss gradually understood the true meaning of love and his faith. There were two important things transpired during this period. Firstly，he knew how to expressed his love to others even the strange. Doss saved a man，hit by a car，by loosing his belt to stop bleeding. Then he sent the man to the hospital，donated blood and stayed with him all the way. Whats more，he determined to join army as a medic in spite of his fathers strong objection and he didnt know that there were all kinds of difficulties waiting for him. Firstly，because of his strong belief，he refused to touch gun，which was misunderstood by both his superiors and comrade-in-arms，who repelled him and thought he was a coward. Therefore，his superiors tried to ask him to leave and told him he would be free from being taken to the military court if he made a apology and took off his military uniform. However he answered “no” without any hesitation and he was taken to the military court owing to disobeying command in war. His partners，who were got involved in his stubborn decision，gave Doss a good thrashing. Doss didnt reveal the one who beat up him，when the superior asked him who did this to him. Later，his superior asked him again that “why do that，you would better go back home，” but Doss refused again and answered a word “no”. All these objection and suspects never let him abandon his strong faith.

Before Doss went to court，his fiancee came to him and said that “who you can save in prison，why dont you pick up the gun，you dont have to use it，you just take it，and give up your pride and stubbornness，dont confuse your will with the Lords.” He refused to do it again. Obviously，the dissenting voice，not only came from his father，but also his superiors，his partners and his fiancee，which was a great challenge for him to stick to his belief，and which was a clear image of Jesus Christ in front of us because Jesus met with opposition from the Romans，his followers and so on. And both of them never gave up their faith and maintained their love for others.

3.3 The Earthly Jesus

When the war began，US army climbed to the high cliff the Hacksaw Ridge to gain the base. However，they suffered heavy casualties and all soldiers failed to retreat in haste. At this moment，Doss stopped in front of the dead in his tracks，saw his partners climbing down the cliff one by one，and heard the despair voice of asking for help. He decided to stay with them to save the wounded. He never gave up anyone whether he was hurt seriously or he may die soon，and said to them that “I am a medic Doss，Im here，believe me and dont be afraid，I will take you to home…” He sent the wounded down to the cliff with the help of the ropes. Struggling for saving the wounded lasted for nearly 24 hours from night to dawn，Doss whispered to himself that “Please，Lord，let me save one more，let me save one more.” Surprisingly，the person without carrying gun saved 75 persons totally，including even two Japanese.

Before entering the field again，all of soldiers waiting for Doss finishing his pray and went to war because they believed that the God had put Hacksaw Ridge into the hand of them，just as the Lord did to Abrahams descendant. Finally，Hacksaw Ridge was successfully taken from enemies and Doss with serious injury laid on a stretcher down from the top of cliff slowly. The Bible given by his fiance in his hand before he joining the army never was abandoned. Doss not only forgave his offenders，but also saved enemy soldiers. When one of his partners gave him a punch and asked him “someone hit you on the left cheek，would you turn your right cheek”，actually Jesus had answered this question that is “ if someone hit you on the left cheek，I will turn your right cheek.”

IV. Conclusion

On the one hand，Doss was innocent and brave like other ordinary people. On the other hand，he，unlike others，saved people without a gun，which reveals western values such as individual right，freedom and so on. Apart from Christian morality，there are unexpected coincidences arranged by the director. For example，we know that Doss applied for a medic as his first choice，it means that he has right to join the army without holding gun. But he was assigned to infantry battalion by chance，there was a possibility of him getting into those troubles later. Besides，Tom with a important letter，wearing military uniform of the World War I，saved Doss from military court. Whats more，it cannot be denied that Dosss wisdom and courage，luck and opportunity play a important role in his achievements. Therefore，these elements we mentioned in the movie make Doss become more familiar and authentic to us and Doss is more like human being or the earthly Jesus. In my opinion，emotion is an internal driving force which comes from the outside world and the conflict between war and Christian faith. The more misunderstanding，the more mock have. Christian belief of Doss is reflected more sincere and firm，which stands out his extraordinary character and the tremendous impact of Christian ethics.

References：

[1]Guerin.Wilfred L.et al.A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.2004.

[2]Frye.Northrope.The Great Cod一Bible and Literature[M].London；Melbourne；Henley；Routledge and Kegan Paul.1982.

[3]諾思洛普·弗萊.批評(píng)的剖析[M].吳偉仁，譯.天津：百花文藝出版社，1998.

[4]朱立元.當(dāng)代西方文藝?yán)碚揫M].上海：華東師范大學(xué)出版社，2014.

[5]張寧.鋼鋸嶺懸崖上的耶穌[J].上海：上海市人民檢察院；中國(guó)檢察出版社，2017.

【作者簡(jiǎn)介】肖瑤瑤（1993.03.24- ），女，江西人，贛南師范大學(xué)，在讀研究生，研究方向：英美文學(xué)。