Who would've thought that All the King's Men film adaptation was actually derived from the famous nursery rhyme Humpty-Dumpty?
"Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall,
And all the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again."
Based on the song, one would already have a gist on what happened to the story of All the King's Men... Humpty-Dumpty or Willie Stark in the film, is the king who suffered a great fall but his men could not put him back together.
But the story isn't just as simple as that. What would be more intriguing in the film is how Willie Stark became a 'king' and eventually 'fell' just like Humpty Dumpty in the nursery rhyme.
The story begins with the narration of Jack Burden, a young newspaper reporter in Chronicle, who was assigned to write an article about a Southern aspiring politician named Willie Stark in Kanoma City. Willie Stark, who wishes to run as a County Treasurer in Kanoma, campaigned for reform and justice against the local County Commissioners who were corrupt and unjust. And even though Stark knew that he would lose in the elections, he still continued to spread the truth to the people. This gave Jack the impression that Willie Stark is an ideal politician who is honest, sincere and principled. And yes, this was also our impression about Willie Stark as he continued to fight for what is truly right. But that impression only lasted until Willie Stark played "dirty" in politics in order to win. With his new principles, Willie Stark held on to the belief that "something good comes out of evil". Hence, he accepted money and bribery from his opponents to help the poor people. He used that money to put up hospitals, roads, schools and other infrastructures that uplifted the lives of the poor people in his state. And because of that, Willie won the hearts of the masses simply because of the "good things" he had done to them even though he became a dishonest and corrupt politician. Also, Willie Stark used blackmail as a weapon against his opponents to shut them up. Ultimately, Willie had total control over his people. The people closest to him were unable to escape his power and were forced to abide to his principles or ways. However, Willie faced his death when one of his men, Adam Stanton, assassinated him due to the issues involving his sister Anne and his uncle Judge Irwin.
While watching the movie, it may give us a hint that the story of Willie Stark is quite apparent in our time today. We may connect his story to the other life stories of some politicians seated in their "thrones". But what is sad about the life story of Willie Stark is how he embraced the "dark side" in order to make a change in the society. But I do believe that nothing good really comes out of evil. It is because when you start taking the "evil path", there would no longer be no room for any good actions. And even though you promise to yourself that you only have good intentions that's why you're embracing the "dark side", you would still be influenced by the dark ways. So it is like contradicting yourself from believing that good comes out of evil. Another problem with the belief that good comes out of evil is that even if the outcome becomes good, the nature or origin where it resulted from is already done in the bad way. So it would be unjust or unfair to say that the ends were good but the means of doing it were bad.
Just like Willie Stark at the start of the film, many aspiring politicians do have good intentions in making the world a better place. They fight for what they know is right and they always try their best to let the people know about the injustice and corruption happening inside the government. And indeed, just like many of us, they also seek for change. But because politics is such a hard game to play, they eventually had to change their game plan. They become influenced by the system and would ultimately forget what they believed for in the first place. And maybe these aspiring and honest politicians lead to their downfall because the more they lack the power, the more they seek for it. So they have to risk it all that it takes in order to achieve that power. And ultimately, the easiest way to achieve power is through playing the game of politics by how it should be played.
As it turns out, it becomes a sad reality for us, especially those who desperately seek for change, because the people who we thought would change the realm of politics would turn out to be the same people who will betray us once they attain power. And yes, we may blame the system for becoming the root of evil in terms of politics. But I think that the politicians also have to shoulder the blame because they let themselves get influenced by the system instead of initiating for change. They become used and comfortable to the system because it has always been easier to follow the current system instead of changing it and starting again from scratch.
But don't you guys think that we, as citizens, should also take a part from the blame because as Jack Burden portrayed in the film, even though we knew about the corruption and injustice done by "Willie Stark", we still did not do anything about it. We have turned a blind eye to those politicians because we knew that we had no responsibility for the actions of other people. As a result, we become affected by the actions done by those politicians we've turned a blind eye to.
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I saw question from GradeSaver that is something good to ponder on...
"As governor, Willie Stark runs his administration ferociously, using dirty tricks, blackmail, and sometimes bribery to keep his opponents in line. Are such tactics always necessary in politics, sometimes necessary in bad circumstances, or never necessary or justified? "
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References Used:
All the King's Men Movie (1949) Summary: Retrieved from http://www.filmsite.org/allt.html
Grade Saver All the King's Men Study Guide: Retrieved from http://www.gradesaver.com/all-the-kings-men/study-guide/
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