A high school students study of THE GOOD THE BAD and THE UGLY

[bdc28]

My neighbors' son just got his A+ on his paper on GBU, and I had to send you his ideas. Im paraphrasing because I dont have the paper in front of me, but I had to share this with everyone. Comment if you like but please read..the kid is genius.

"The Good and the Bad, in this movie, represent the opposite ideals of man. Either what we aspire to be, or what we fear the most. THE UGLY, Tuco's character, is not in fact ugly, but IS, the representation of man. Man with nothing to hide behind, his raw nature. Greedy, opportunistic and completely along for the ride with no idea how to get to his destination without taking from others.

Tuco is weak, uncomfortable getting too close to either of the polar representations, but he sticks with the representation of the good because he feels he can easiest manipulate him. Tuco's character is like most people feel, uncomfortable, clumsy, uncommited to anything specific.

Tuco likes to see himself as "The Bad", like many tough guys do. But when faced with the awe of what pure, uncomprimising evil looks like, he cowers and seeks to escape. He finds it much easier, even if never believed by THE GOOD, to represent himself in the middle.

In the end, THE GOOD and THE BAD face off, and man's representation is stuck right in the middle of their conflict. Unarmed, and unprepared. His only grace is that neither force saw him as a real threat to begin with, only as THEIR tool to their means."

Say what you will...some kids are doing their homework.

[Lin Sunderland]

That is an interesting take on the movie.   Something not thought of by many, I am sure.  It seems that he has looked at the movie in depth as a representation of humanity.  Certainly not how it would be viewed by most people who watch this movie.   The whole paper would be interesting to read.  Well done on the A+ to someone who has taken a popular movie and dissected it and read it a totally different way.

[Christopher]

Due to a guest viewing this, I believe this is the first time I've read this thread. That does sound like a good reading of Tuco's character!

[cigar joe]

smart kid 

[bdc28]

I actually love his very subtle message...

"Of course you dont like Tuco...he's YOU".

[KC]

[Matt]

First of all, he deserves an A+ for choosing such a great movie to write his paper on, and finding new ways to dissect it and look at the characters. I'd be interested in reading the whole paper too.

And the A+ stands, but I would say in a discussion thread about some of what was in that paper, I would at least want to disagree with some if it, without being disrespectful. It's about Tuco being cowardly and weak:

Tuco is weak, uncomfortable getting too close to either of the polar representations, but he sticks with the representation of the good because he feels he can easiest manipulate him. Tuco's character is like most people feel, uncomfortable, clumsy, uncommited to anything specific.

Tuco likes to see himself as "The Bad", like many tough guys do. But when faced with the awe of what pure, uncomprimising evil looks like, he cowers and seeks to escape. He finds it much easier, even if never believed by THE GOOD, to represent himself in the middle.

Tuco is comedic, and over-the-top, so I think we have a tendency to think he'd be all bravado, and a coward at heart.  But, that's not at all the case. Tuco is a bad-ass. It's true. He's tough through and through. He doesn't have a death-wish. He's not cool and calm, like The Good or The Bad.  He's a little crazy. I've said recently in another thread if they didn't call him Ugly, they could have called him The Crazy.  A Korean version calls the third man "Weird".. "The Good, The Bad, The Weird". 

Tuco puts on his gun, says to Blondie... six men? No problem, I'll kill them -- I'll be back"  (Slight paraphrase) and off he goes, happy to go alone, to take out all of Sentenza's men. He only doesn't go alone because Blondie decides he could use the help.

I also don't think he sticks with Blondie because he's easiest to manipulate.  He's in the partnership for the money. It's all about the gold, or the reward money.  I do agree that he seems clumsy (his weirdness), but he's not that clumsy.... it's more about his oddity than any physical clumsiness... he is sharp with that pistol... "When you gotta shoot, shoot, don't talk."

So again, respect for looking outside the box, and a great paper... but I think Tuco is just a little strange, but definitely not a fearful man who looks for weak people to manipulate.

[bdc28]

I dont think the paper was to say that Tuco was weak, its to say that WE are weak. Tuco is the grand representation of society.

If you wanted to put it in smaller terms, if THE GOOD was pure good, THE BAD was pure evil...the only human side to this story is Tuco's character. Its not as pure as the other two characters.

Yes he did walk off to kill the six men, initially...but before Blondie showed up he gave pause...he realized the gravity of his situation and became afraid. Note in this world he has chosen, the fearful die. Neither the Good or The Bad would have felt fear, they were too diabolical and planning.

[Matt]

Ahhh, that makes a lot of sense. We do see more of a touch of humanity from Tuco, like the visit with his brother. 

[bdc28]

Exactly, and although was Tuco was "tough", he was hardly the toughest on the screen between the three. Honestly I don't see him winning a gunfight between either The Good or the Bad, even in a straight up one to to one.

I think the kid definitely projected his perspective into the movie and went a little "Gay subtext" with his assessment, but its a hell of a take on the story line.

[KC]

bdc, how nice to have you back! What became of your neighbor's son? Promising lad!

[bdc28]

Good to be back KC 

Sadly he went off to college and I moved so I haven't kept up with him. Maybe Ill go onto FB and see if I can find him.

Hopefully all good things.