Hollywood vs. Cooper
In the great literary pieces of our time, content, depth of character development and uniqueness are the driving forces in creating a classic work; but in Hollywood, sex, famous Hollywood names, and big money making schemes dictate the development of a project. James Fenmore Cooper created the character of Magua as the important antagonist of his novel Last of the Mohicans, portraying him as a strong, violent, cunning, yet extremely seasoned and weathered villain. Director Michael Mann's film version of Cooper's novel was, in many ways, not synonymous with the book's story line and presents Magua as a younger, stronger, and more treacherous character. J.F. Cooper's depiction of Magua can best be summed up by the nickname given to the character in the novel "Le Renard Subtil" or "The Sly Fox." Magua indeed is sly, observant, persuasive, and above all, cunning. Cooper writes "with characteristic stoicism...there was a sullen fierceness mingled in the quiet savage"(p. 17). Magua's ferocity and calculative nature could be observed in his own physical appearance simply through his quiet, sullen, and strong sense of presence in the eyes of those around him. With this inner strength comes also the presentation that Magua was no
At a time when Magua was working for Munro's troops, he went out on a task. 18)This description given by Cooper leads the reader to believe that Magua is much older, more seasoned, and more weathered of a human being. Cooper details very little about Magua's past. Audiences respond more to this ending because they always want to see the good guy overcome the bad guy; especially in this case, Chingagook gets the revenge most people would think they would want against someone who commits a crime of that nature against someone in their family. He offers her marriage on several occasions, but she refused adamantly and eventually dies at the hand of Magua's henchmen for not responding soon enough. In Michael Mann's film presentation, Magua is a man still living in the prime of his life, smart, cunning, strong, and violent. While Cooper gives Magua selfish reasons for revenge against the British (specifically Munro), Hollywood make Magua seem like the victim of a heinous crime which drives him to seek revenge against the British. After spending a night of drinking the "fire water," Magua returns to the camp drunk. The other piece of information given of his past is in reference to his hatred for Colonel Munro. For Magua, He believed that God had given him the fire water to drink as he saw fit, thus believing Munro had no right to beat him for drinking. Hollywood knew they could not profit from having audiences watch an aging Indian attempting to outsmart a group of British fools, so, though keeping somewhat with the original description of Magua that Cooper provides, they change much of the plot that surrounds him.
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Acceptance Essays
