‘The All-American Smile
’ The deconstruction of Robert Redford’s star persona in David Lowery’s The Old Man & the Gun
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21783430 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Terry Penner (0000-0002-8234-8902, University of Manitoba, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1128-1148 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Review of Film and Television Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1740-0309 • E-ISSN: 1740-7923 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17400309.2024.2421684 |
| OpenAlex | W4405640639 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
This paper considers the way Robert Redford’s star persona operates within David Lowery’s The Old Man & the Gun (2018), a contemplative deconstruction of the heist genre, that borrows a great deal from Redford’s persona, while deliberately subverting any elements that could be considered heroic. After establishing a theoretical framework based on the work of Richard Dyer and Richard deCordova, this paper surveys key Redford roles as it traces the parameters of what Dyer calls a star’s ‘structured polysemy’ or what deCordova defines as ‘symbolic identity’. A close reading of Lowery’s film reveals the way that Redford’s persona, and the white male romantic leads it represents, is challenged, problematized, and deconstructed through a blending of Redford’s persona into the life of Forrest Tucker, a septuagenarian bank-robber. The film’s frequent allusions to Redford’s career meld Tucker and Redford together as they expose the hollow nature of Tucker’s pursuit of masculine action. Redford, who was over eighty during production, embodies the futility of Tucker’s quest by being placed in the postures of his youthful roles (astride a horse, for example), offering an ironic contrast to his most iconic characters
Art · Art history · Astrophysics · Humanities · Literature · Persona · Physics · Cinema and Media Studies · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · Engineering · Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis
| Highly cited | No |
|---|