The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies

This film lends itself to multiple readings so efficiently, that I think it might be possible to raise the question of whether part of the satire of this film mocks the audience that makes the effort to dissect this tale only to leave with the finality that nothing is sacred and everything is corrupted and decaying.

I find it interesting to examine this through the framework of an apocalyptic narrative. In this case, the fireman could be seen as the angel that delivers William Blake to this apocalyptic world through prophesy and transport. Blake then assumes the role of prophet, carrying the audience through the west, a lost paradise where Buffalo and Native Americans are ruthlessly massacred. The governing power is that of a Machine both literal and figurative, home of Dickinson Metalworks, and the presence of industrialist power in the west. Blake is persecuted and driven to the promised land, led by Nobody (an inverse of Everyman from Pilgrim's Progress?) who shows our prophet the destruction caused by "stupid fucking white men".

Also fascinating is the cyclical nature of this tale. It could start at any point and complete in full revolution, this is made possible by the fireman's words, particularly his use of "remember", as though these events had happened, would happen, will always happen. In this sense, it also brings the question of free will into play... as the presence of prophecy usually does...