The Metamorphoses of Fordian Heroes

As John Ford’s heroes wander through lives of conflict, they find themselves confronted with values opposed to their own, which, in an analysis on the subjective level, can be interpreted as repressed contents of the personal unconscious (shadow and complexes) or archetypal contents of the collective unconscious (animus, anima, self). This confrontation, which extends over a long period of time and includes moments of crisis, leads the hero to accept a certain rapprochement or mingling of opposites (conscious/unconscious, masculine/feminine). The quest for self, for a wholer, more paradoxical being, does not exclude either the risk of failure or the pain of loss. In his solitude, the hero discovers within himself the principles of a personal ethic based on complex evaluation or “judgement” of feeling.