PREFACE

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“The truth about my life is nobody’s damn

business but my own.” 

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John Ford

 

John Ford (1894-1973) gave the impression that he did not enjoy analyzing his work or having it intellectually dissected. He was also notoriously private about the details of his life, his beliefs and his creative process. This reflected his commitment to the creation of an enigmatic persona that served as a mask and shield. Ford’s vision is equal parts creative, historical, political and mystical. The last of these aspects is the least appreciated and most easily misunderstood. To his ardent admirers Ford’s work emits a distinctly poetic and spiritual potency which has deeply impacted the world. His inspired ineffability and the sacred nature of his films seems to derive from a realm far removed from logic or explanation and free from the rigid trappings of either artistic or religious dogma. 

 

Each generation reinterprets human mythology and in doing so reinvigorates our dim awareness of the basic laws of the universe. Religious texts echo the ancient narratives of long forgotten cultures most notably. Flood myths which connect Gilgamesh to Plato’s Atlantis, the Brahman creation story to Noah’s arc. King Arthur’s fall from grace echoes the fall from Eden and demise of Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon, Greece and Rome. Every empire in history is encapsulated by the story of Icarus falling to Earth. The pattern repeats with Prometheus stealing fire from the gods and King Midas turning his family into golden statues. Such parallels ripple out over time aiding our ability to distill life to its primary essence, also known as the ten archetypes that make up the Tree of Life. 

 

Ford’s vision embodies the belief that humanity can heal the psychic damage done by our overzealous ancestors. His films point to moments of clarity in which realists and romantics work together to transcend an imbalanced world. He helps us face the reality that when cooperation between counterpoints breaks down we are sent careening into lives dominated by self-defeating struggles for power, prestige and ego gratification. Every generation makes its revisions to the collective consciousness which shapes our perspective of reality. The nature of sanity itself is ever shifting, ever fluctuating, with new insights and moments of awakening continually springing forth from the firmament of our imaginations. Broad concepts such as good and evil often distract us from the unity and simplicity of nature’s life cycle which perpetually flows with regenerative growth. Dreams and conspiracies that seem irresponsible and unhinged in one era become the accepted norms of the next. As we embrace new paradigms and shed inherited baggage. The norms of previous empires give way and our perception seems to blossom. The golden opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past is eternally with us as individuals and as a human family. 

 

Ford’s ambitious dreams for humanity were tempered by a humble acceptance of the stage of evolution he was living in. He enjoyed breaking rules and experimentation as much as emulating the achievements of the past. Ancient Brahman texts suggest that we are currently living within a stage of our development they call Kali Yuga, a time of conflict and discord. Hopi traditionalists of North America call the period Koyaanisqatsi, which means: “life out of balance.” Godfrey Reggio made an experimental film entitled Koyaanisqatsi in 1982 made up of manipulated footage of everyday life to help audiences see the world through fresh eyes. Despite the surface appearance of Ford being a conventional director of classic genre films, his artistic aspirations appear to have been similar to Godfrey’s. Expressionists and surrealists helped define the cultural upheaval of Ford’s early life and definitively contributed to shaping his aesthetic.  

 

If civilization represents our attempt to return to the Garden of Eden then empire building embodies a repetition of our fall from grace. If the best use we can find for technology is to explore new ways of torturing and enslaving one another we may be better off living “primitive” lives as custodians of the Earth. Indigenous people have warned European invaders for centuries that breaking the laws of nature always leads to self-destruction. Although it can be easily missed, Ford expresses these life lessons with heroic clarity, gleaning wisdom from a rich tapestry of influences. His entire life was an inspired artistic pilgrimage which he carefully disguised as a “job-of-work” in part because he hated public life as much as he hated having to explain his films. 

 

Ford has been called the greatest filmmaker of all time, yet tastes have fluctuated and appreciation of his work has waned. Humanity is far from grasping the vastness of his contribution which has been largely misunderstood despite the many efforts to tell his story. He and his screenwriters relentlessly focused on the reconciliation of opposites, bridging the great divides of: gender, class, religion, nationality, ideology and ethnicity. It is common and understandable to miss the depth of his films on first or even second viewing. From our compartmentalized contemporary perspective it takes time to attune oneself to his peculiarities before his magic begins to have its full effect. 

 

Ford presided over the brief convergence of high and lowbrow sensibilities that became known as Hollywood’s golden era. He demonstrated a deep belief in human potential far more than any other director, and can be considered one of the 20th century’s most prolific humanists. Ford reminds us of our ability to transcend suffering and in doing so, begin to overcome thousands of years of mental constructs that feed our senseless conflicts. He spoke for the dreams and aspirations of everyday people and is owed a tremendous debt of gratitude which is long overdue. Perhaps the message he would send us about his work from the beyond the grave would might be: “take what you like and leave the rest.” The modestly of his approach has been called deceptively simple. When asked once about courage Ford responded:

 

"I’ve always found that the quiet little man, that nobody pays attention to, usually has more guts … and courage, than the big blowhard, noisy outspoken fellow. It’s the little man that does the courageous things. Courage is a thing that does not belong to any nation, nor any class of people." 

 

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