Academic Journal 2 - 'The Butcher Boy'

I noticed that American culture cropped up almost incidentally in this film, primarily in media clips on the television and wireless sets. Footage of nuclear testing is shown, reports on the Cuban Missile Crisis and the voice of JFK are heard, and bits of the famous “Duck and Cover’ instructional film are played during Francie’s rampage at the Nugent house. The most relatable instances I saw were in his viewing of American television shows and films on the family television.
Before his father breaks the TV, Francie is seen watching two American shows – The Lone Ranger and The Fugitive. I wonder if these specific shows are used to highlight his developing personal reality. The relationship between the Ranger and Tonto seems to parallel Francie’s perception of his relationship with Joe, and the idea of a secret crusader putting wrongs right seems to fit right in with his actions towards his perceived enemies. Francies claims of persecution and of being framed could easily match to the premise of The Prisoner, who was wrongly accused of his wife’s murder and escaped police custody to find the real perpetrator. Francie’s attempts to escape and reunite with Joe, even after Joe has pretty clearly moved on, seem almost a mish-mash of the two characters, and his turning to the visions of Mary (initially implied to be lies) a parallel for the higher calling both the Prisoner and Ranger share.
Francie is also shown watching the film The Brain from Planet Arous, an American gem about a brain-shaped alien that takes control of a human body to wreak havoc on the Earth (a second brain later arrives to reveal that the first is a wanted criminal). I think that this too connects to Francie’s development (or degeneration), not because he was in some way possessed, but because he perceives himself as a promising young man who is driven to increasingly horrific acts by forces beyond his control. Perhaps it was just me, but I really got a strong sense of inevitability form the story arc, as if what happened couldn’t have gone differently given the situation – Francie’s father, mother, friends and enemies all coming together to push him in a pre-set direction.