Dogvile Review PIF

Dogville

Dogville exposes the fallacy of human selflessness the town when narrated by john hurt is described as a haven of small town ethics and homely acceptance. This is tested by the arrival of a fugitive seeking refuge from the mafia. It is only through the ego of their town preacher and his ability to shame the town people that they agree to shelter the fugitive. At first the façade of goodness is strong it is only as the towns people safety and comfort are threatened the vail is lifted and under is revealed the true essence of man. The fugitive becomes a slave forced to work toil and be subject to the sexual desires of the town’s people. This ties heavily into what Nietzsche called “Herd Morality” which was his great criticism of Christianity. He stated that herd or slave morality is a construct that makes a champion of the mediocre teaches one to embrace ones weakness rather than overcome it and that it regard strength as an evil. Nietzsche found no merit in terms like good and evil because of what he called the “Will to power” which is the drive to maintain control and success in life and it governs all of creation. To the lamb perhaps the bird of prey that snatches it from the sky and carries it to its death is evil. But to the bird of prey it eats the lamb to maintain its will to power. In the case of dogville when the control the town had on the fugitive loosened they shifted from the lamb to the bird of prey. Arrogance is a prominent theme in dogville the preacher is profoundly arrogant he only sides and protects the fugitive from a sense of moral superiority from the other town’s people and when his own selfish desires are exposed he turns on the fugitive for he can never ponder his own shortcomings. The fugitive herself is also guilty of moral arrogance still defending the town’s people from her mafia father even after everything they did to her raising their small town values and poverty on a pedestal out of some financial guilt.

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