Academic Journal 15 - Quiet Reflection

I began watching ‘The Quiet Man’ before going to Dublin, but I turned it off. It just felt too schlocky – all of my research had made it clear that while vast portions of Ireland were very rural, it was in many ways as cosmopolitan (especially in Dublin) as anywhere in the USA or mainland Europe. ‘The Quiet Man’ just sat poorly with me, and while in Ireland, I wondered at times why the program asked us to watch the film; I couldn’t figure it out, so when I got back I decided to knuckle down and watch the damn thing. Having done so, I have a few ideas on why it was on our films list.
Obviously, the film is set (and was filmed) in Ireland, and has some fantastic views of the landscape. Passing through rural Ireland on train and bus rides, it’s easy to see that much of the country does still look that way. Perhaps part of the goal was to remind us of that fact, since we were spending the majority of our time in cities and towns rather than the countryside and it would be easy to forget the agrarian roots of the country. It could also have been a subversive move by the faculty to see I we would fall into the trap of thinking that 1950’s Ireland was what we should expect.
Hand in hand with that, the film presents a number of common stereotypes about the Irish. Mary and Red certainly have the famed Irish temper, and even Sean as an ex-boxer (fulfilling another stereotype about Irish athletes, I suspect) embodies this tendency towards violence. The importance of drinking, though not entirely a stereotype, is also featured in the film as Sean and Red become friends over a fight and a pint. Dragging Mary back to town from the train, followed by cheering townsfolk (one of whom provides him with a stick to hit her with) sends an interesting message about the role of women in Irish culture, and quite frankly about the perception of women in America at that time as well; perhaps we’re meant to reflect on that, and to compare that to more recent Irish films featuring strong female characters. The film also features scenes of wealthy people congregating, as contrast to the more “simple” lives of the villagers, which is a theme we returned to often when discussing imperialism.
After thinking on it for a while, there seem to be many potential reasons to watch ‘The Quiet Man’ before, during, or after a trip to Ireland, but I don’t feel that it would have been integral to my visit, or that I somehow missed out by not watching it before going. In fact, I’m glad I watched it after returning home, so that I had an actual context of Ireland to compare it to, instead of vice-versa.