'The Wicker Man' (1973) - Film Review

Figure 1: The Wicker Man (1973) [Original Poster]

This review analyses Robin Hardy’s well-known mystery horror film The Wicker Man (1973), explicitly focusing on the subject repression, and how the characters within the film represent this. Referring to the works of  Vice Pratt’s article ‘Long arm of the lore: Robin Hardy on The Wicker Man’ (2016) looking at the contrast within the society in the film,  Anthony Trepniak writings entitled  ‘The Myth of 'The Wicker Man'’ (2013) focusing on the character of Sargent Howie, and Elaine Macintyre’s work  ‘The Wicker Man (1973)’ (2014), seeing how repression of sexual desire is shown within the film. The review will explain the different aspects of the film that symbolise attributes of repression and how this is also shown through the characters.

The Wicker Man follows the mission of Sargent Howie, on the search for a missing girl. Howie finds himself in Summerisle, where he meets the villagers who are highly devoted pagans. Here he discovers their different views and morals. How will Howie adapt to these rituals, he is not able to grasp.

Figure 2: The contrast between Sargent Howie and the Villagers (1973)

From the beginning of the film, it is clear to the audience that Howie is a highly religious Christian man, indicated through the opening sequence of him in a church reciting the Bible. With this knowledge in place, it sets the audience with a repressed view, following his journey through Summerisle. “Throughout most of the film, Sergeant Howie acts as a distorting lens, his rigid and unsympathetic personality colouring our view of the people and events he witnesses.” (Trepniak, A (2013)).

Not only is his view on situations arguably repressed, but also his appearance. Howie is constrained to his police uniform, in which he must follow certain procedures, almost representing the pinnacle of ‘morals’. “He's a virgin who adheres to a strict code of Presbyterian morality, a stickler for rules and regulations and he really seems a bit of a dull stick” (Macintyre, E (2014)).

This is then highly contrasted by the inhabitants of Summerisle, who represent a new set of morals, and religious culture. The differences between Howie and the villagers can be highlighted within the way both oppositions present themselves. “(Howie) confronted by a cast of deliberately obtuse comedy villagers, who cheerily deny all knowledge of Rowan, whilst winking knowingly at each other like naughty schoolboys” (Macintyre, E (2014)) Howie’s harsh sturdy almost repressed personality clashes with the much more open and free-spirited behaviour of the villagers.

Later within the film, it comes to the attention how dissimilar Howie is compared to the village in terms of what he believes is morally correct. For example, “The local youngsters beautiful, hairy, hollow-cheeked and horny, unashamedly copulating outdoors in slow motion, and even their elders making the most of a particularly permissive society” (Pratt, V (2016)). This kind of conduct shocks Howie, who believes sex to be only after marriage. It could also be said that Howie has repressed his desires for sexual activity due to his beliefs, and seeing the villagers do this, helps him to realise how repressed he has become in relation to others.

Figure 3: Willow attempting to seduce Howie (1973)

His repressed desires are truly showcased within a scene in which the landlord’s daughter, Willow, begins to perform a seductive dance in order to tempt Howie. However, although he resists, the audience is able to engage with the struggle he is facing trying to repress his desires “(This shows the audience) That beneath the religious fanatic lies a real man with powerful desires that he struggles to repress” (Macintyre, E (2014)) In doing this, it allows the audience to find more sympathy toward Howie as although, he represents ‘the moral high ground’ he still has his own sense of morality.

Yet this refusal of sex could be arguably, him as a Christian facing his own form of sacrifice, supressing his sexual desires until after marriage. “The Wicker Man is unusual, though, in the way it figures sex in relation to sacrifice (that is, in the way it sacrifices those who repress sexuality)” (Horror Homeroom (2015)). 

Figure 4: Beetle represents Howie (1973)

This concept of Howie facing his own kind of sacrifice becomes rather ironic, as he himself becomes sacrifice due to him repressing his sexual desires, allowing him to become the vigil sacrifice the village is searching for. This is earlier foreshadowed in the film, upon Howie discovering a beetle tied to a nail in one of the school desks. “Like the beetle he finds tied to a nail in Rowan's empty desk at the school, slowly winding itself closer to death, he moves inexorably and unwittingly towards his fate” (Macintyre, E (2014)).

To conclude, The Wicker Man highlights repression through religion, by contrasting two in the form of Howie and the villagers, to reveal the differences each have, especially on the subject of sex and sacrifice, which within The Wicker Man are linked together, and is foreshadowed within the film.

Bibliography

Horror Homeroom. (2015). SACRIFICE AND THE HORROR FILM: THE WICKER MAN AND THE CABIN IN THE WOODS. Available: http://www.horrorhomeroom.com/sacrifice-and-the-horror-film-the-wicker-man-and-the-cabin-in-the-woods/ Last accessed 07/04/2019.

Macintyre, E. (2014). The Wicker Man (1973). Available: http://www.elainemacintyre.net/film_reviews/wicker_man.php  Last accessed 07/04/2019.

Pratt, V. (2016). Long arm of the lore: Robin Hardy on The Wicker Man.Available: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/long-arm-lore-robin-hardy-wicker-man  Last accessed 07/04/2019

Trepniak, A. (2013). The Myth of 'The Wicker Man'.. Available: http://necronomania.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-myth-of-wicker-man.html  Last accessed 07/04/2019.

Harvard Illustrations List

Figure 1: The Wicker Man (1973) [Original Poster] IMDb. (1973). The Wicker Man (1973). Available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070917/  Last accessed 07/04/2019.

Figure 2: The contrast between Sargent Howie and the Villagers (1973) Parkin, N. (2016). Shocking Sonnets: The Wicker Man. Available: https://www.comingsoon.net/horror/news/754037-shocking-sonnets-the-wicker-man Last accessed 07/04/2019.

Figure 3: Willow attempting to seduce Howie (1973) Coleman, L. (2016). Wicker Man Deaths. Available: http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2016/07/Wicker-Man-2016.html  Last accessed 07/04/2019.

Figure 4: Beetle represents Howie (1973) N/A. (2011). THE WICKER MAN: Man of Wicker, Feet of Clay. Available: http://doriantb.blogspot.com/2011/10/wicker-man-man-of-wicker-feet-of-clay.html  Last accessed 07/04/2019.