The Straight Story
In most of the films we've seen thus far in class, the characters tend to use the road as a way to escape where they've been: Stoney used it to escape the projects, Angela Shelton used it to escape her past, etc. In the 1999 film, "The Straight Story," however, the road is not a means for escape as Alvin never leaves where he came from. His journey begins, takes place, and ends within the confines of rural America. Because this road does not change, the changes Alvin goes through and the revelations he encounters are moreso based on himself and the people around him than where he came from and where he's going. For example, when talking about the pros and cons of getting older with the group of bicyclists, he simply verbalizes feelings he's already had, that he's kept inside himself. Because of the people he's met on the road, he is able to bring these parts of him out, something he couldn't do while he was just staying in place. An example of how this is different from other roads comes from Thelma and Louise. Throughout the film, the two women carry with them where they've come from. They carry the baggage of being neglected and battered women as they travel their road to indepenedence. On Alvin's rural road, he has no baggage from his origin. He simply is a body moving through a place, and as it encounters other people, the body can see inside himself because he is finally forced to interact with others. The rural road is a road where the self helps the self, as opposed to a changing road where the location creates the difference in who the character was and who the character has become.