The Harder They Come: American Influence

    In the film The Harder They Come, the main character, Ivanhoe Martin, is largely influenced by American culture and media while also drawing upon images from Jamaican music, reggae, which leads to his character being a combination of negative badness and positive badness. Positive badness results from political repression,
is used to bring about a constructive change, and was utilized by antislavery freedom fighters. However, negative badness, while popular in American culture and film, is destructive and generally unhelpful. Martin is torn between these two views of masculinity and often contradicts himself because of this split. When the two views meet, representing cultural nationalism and cultural imperialism, the product is a “combination of race pride and criminality” that is neither Jamaican nor American (Thomas 95). Thomas discusses literary critic Carolyn Cooper’s idea that the Jamaican filmmakers are so strongly influenced by American media that they then produce media that reflects it, creating a self-enforcing loop that continues to expose Jamaican youth to American beliefs of masculinity: “The influence of U.S. versions of heroic masculinity and gun violence are inescapable…Jamaican filmmakers cannot help but reproduce ‘these distorted images,’ which ‘are greedily imbibed by gullible Jamaican youth” (94). In the beginning of the film, Martin represents that naïve, young Jamaican that starts out singing about oppression and fighting against those forces, yet he quickly deteriorates into a self-serving, violent gunslinger like that of an American Western film. The Harder They Come serves an example of the negatives and positives that come with following American ideals. The film seemed to be critical of the violent American influences on youth in Jamaica, but appeared to have the opposite of its wanted effect (Thomas 94). Martin appeared heroic to audiences despite, or maybe because of, his Americanized actions. In “Spectacular Bodies”, Thomas refers to political scientist Obika Gray’s belief that because Jamaicans associate America with a mostly material and higher class of living, they seek to escape there through any outlet including film (96). Until these ideas become more separated, Jamaica is going to continue to be strongly influenced by American media and more accepting of the negative badness that is promoted by it.

Ivanhoe carries a resemblance to many American Western movie protagonists. Several start with good motives only to descend into unlawful ways. Many fight oppression in one form or another. 

The Harder They Come seems to present a satiric view of American influence on Jamaicans by showing flashes of an audience, possibly in a movie, during the final shootout of Ivanhoe Martin. The final scene of The Harder They Come mimics the shootout scene in many famous Westerns, especially Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  The spectacle of the scene draws attention to the influences from American media. 

Discussion Questions:

1.  Explain the difficulties that arise when a newly independent nation tries to redefine their culture separate from Empire while still maintaining political and economic ties to the colonizer (97).
2. Why do most reggae songs mention slavery if not as a reminder of the abuse they received (109).

Fact:  Although emancipation of slaves in Jamaica was granted in 1834, many slaves had to endure apprenticeships in order to gain their freedom. The day apprenticeships ended in 1838 was the day the slaves were truly freed.

Works Cited                                                                                        

Tortella, Rebecca. The Road to Freedom.  Jamaica Gleaner, n.d. Web. 2 March 2014.

Recommended Literature:
"Spectacular Bodies" by Deborah Thomas
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Jimmy Cliff, at the age of 62, singing "The Harder They Come" written for the movie in 1972, when he was 24.