There Will Be Blood: An Analysis/Essay

I'm really lazy right now, so instead of actually writing something I'll post an essay I wrote last year for an elective Film Criticism course I took. My teacher liked it and gave it a 90 so it must be decent at the very  least. I had to keep it short because there was a word limit,so there's not nearly as much in here as I would have liked, but whatever. If you haven't seen the movie it probably won't make sense, and if you haven't seen the movie you should stop reading here and go watch it because it's a goddamn masterpiece. Anyways, here:

Religion and Capitalism: A Formula For Disaster

Ideological Themes in There Will Be Blood

A bleak, unforgiving landscape. A geyser of fire spewing out of the earth, like an explosion from hell itself. These are just a few examples of the striking images that occupy the screen in Paul Thomas Anderson's meditative, dramatic epic There Will Be Blood. The film documents the experiences of oil entrepreneur Daniel Plainview, from his rise to prominence to his descent into madness and alcoholism. Daniel encounters several problems and obstacles in his pursuit of oil and financial success, including personal injury, corporate rivalry, and the interference of and conflict with religion, which is one of the main ideological subtexts of the film. This collision between capitalism and religion manifests itself in There Will Be Blood in the visual and implied symbolism shown, the actions of the main characters (specifically Daniel) and the general descent into madness that is experienced by both sides of the conflict. There Will Be Blood contrasts religion and capitalism, and portrays extremism in both sides of the conflict. Daniel Plainview is a very business-like, profit orientated man who has no place in his life for religion and is clearly focused on one goal above all else: finding oil, building an empire and making money. Actor Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Plainview is immaculate, his character has been described as “a great oversized monster who hates all men, and therefore himself” (Ebert, 2008). On the other end of the spectrum is Eli Sunday, a preacher and inhabitant of the land that Daniel eventually buys to develop and drill for oil. He is extremely devoted to his religion, and right from the beginning he is cautious of Daniel and his motives for coming to Little Boston and buying the land. The contention between them is a classic example of stubbornness, an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, and throughout the film it snowballs from initial co-operation to a violent showdown at the end, resulting in Daniel brutally murdering Eli. This suggests that capitalism and religion do not mix together well and it is unlikely that they can peacefully coexist.

One of the most effective ways that a film can convey a message to the viewer is to use visual symbolism to communicate. To the discerning audience it can speak volumes about the intent of the movie and the themes that it is trying to explore or express. In There Will Be Blood, symbolism is used to draw attention to the conflict between Daniel and Eli, and the conflict between religion and capitalism happening beneath the surface. This symbolism is evident in the names of the characters in the film. Daniel Plainview is “a representative figure, a man of his times” (Mapping Contemporary Cinema, 2007). As his surname implies, he has a very realist, plain view of the world and is representative of capitalism, the desire for money and little else. On the other end of the spectrum is Eli Sunday, whose last name can be associated with his religion in the fact that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, or day of rest. There are some striking shots that visually foreshadow what is to come in the film, such as when Daniel strikes oil in Little Boston. The geyser of oil becomes ignited and a spew of fire comes out of the ground, burning the giant oil derrick that Plainview constructed to drill with and injuring his son H.W. Daniel sits down and watched the giant, flaming oil derrick snap and fall to the ground, symbolizing a “breaking point”. This is shortly before the relationship between Daniel and Eli turns sour, from tolerance to violence and conflict. Another symbol that is prevalent throughout the entire movie is that of baptism. When Eli confronts Daniel and demands that he give him the money that Daniel had earlier promised to donate to his church, Daniel physically attacks and beats him, eventually throwing him into a puddle of oil and mud, and rubbing it all over his face and body. Later on, Daniel gets baptized at Eli's church in exchange for more land from an old man who previously refused to sell his lot. Eli takes this opportunity to get revenge on Daniel for his humiliation, slapping him repeatedly and making him admit that he is a sinner and has abandoned his child. Finally, when Eli comes to visit Daniel in his mansion at the end of the film their final confrontation ends with Daniel beating Eli to death with a bowling pin, a symbolic baptism of blood and Daniel's victory over his nemesis. These symbolic circumstances are very effective in Anderson's film to demonstrate the underlying theme of the movie, the battle that takes place between business and religion.

The conflict between capitalism and religion is also manifested in the actions of the main characters of the film, specifically Daniel Plainview. He is the embodiment of business, a man who “regets nothing, pities nothing, and when he falls down a mineshaft and cruelly breaks his leg, he hauls himself back up to the top and starts again” (Ebert, 2008). To him there is no other goal worth striving for other than money. When attempting to persuade investors to give him a lease on some land to drill, he claims that he is “a family man” and that his son is his motivation for his life's work. But later on when his adopted son H.W is deafened after being hit by a geyser and attempts to burn down their house out of frustration, Daniel has him sent away to boarding school rather than trying to take care of the child himself. When the incident happens and H.W loses his hearing, Daniel quickly leaves him and seems more excited about his oil strike than he is worried about his own son being injured. He later on disowns H.W when he is grown up and decides to go to Mexico and start his own oil company, saying that he is now his rival and enemy. Daniel is corrupted by money and only cares about becoming rich, and this drives him to alcoholism and madness later on in life. He despises religion, which is the cause of his conflict with Eli. When a man offers Daniel permission to build a pipeline through his land in exchange for him getting baptized and joining the church, Daniel offers him a large sum of money instead, because he is loath to be associated with Christianity. Earlier on in the film Daniel witnesses Eli exorcising an “arthritis demon” from the hands of an elderly woman in the congregation. He is amused, calling it “one goddamn hell of a show”. Daniel sees religion in a very mocking, sarcastic way and has no belief in a specific higher power, saying early on in the film that he belongs to no church and “enjoys all faiths”. This outlook is one of the main differences between Daniel and Eli and further demonstrates how opposite they are to each other, and how religion and business collide in this film.

One of the ways Paul Thomas Anderson illustrates the theme of capitalism versus religion in There Will Be Blood is through the gradual descent into madness and insanity that the main characters experience throughout the film. After Daniel Plainview strikes oil and his son loses his hearing, his sanity seems to go downward from there on. He becomes violent towards Eli specifically, beating him and throwing him into a puddle of oil, humiliating him publicly. After this, Eli loses his temper on his own family, assaulting his father and calling him “a stupid father to a stupid son”. Later on, Daniel meets a man who claims to be his long lost brother. Although suspicious of him at first, Daniel gives him a job and welcomes him as a business partner. A while after this however, Daniel grows doubtful of his legitimacy and finds out that he is not his brother, but a man pretending to be his sibling. Daniel reacts by killing the man and burying him in a shallow grave. This is something that the Daniel that we see at the beginning of the film would never have done. He claimed to be a “family man” and that his family was just as important to him as his business. By the end of the film Daniel has become the polar opposite of what he once claimed to be, becoming a reclusive alcoholic. He even disowns his son H.W and calls him a bastard child when he tells him that he is moving to Mexico to start his own oil company. Finally, Daniel completes his descent into insanity in the film's dramatic climax, where he confronts Eli Sunday for the final time and ends up bludgeoning him to death with a bowling pin. This gradual disintegration of Daniel's sanity illustrates the results of the combination of capitalism and religion: death.

There Will Be Blood is a strikingly philosophical film on several levels. It offers an intimate portrait of a businessman pushed to his limit by the opposition he faces, and the ultimate breakdown that results in his conflict. Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as entrepreneur Daniel Plainview is nothing less than legendary, and he does a spectacular job of portraying this complex character. There Will Be Blood effectively explores the themes of capitalism and religion in America, and what happens when those two forces collide and conflict with each other. As the movie shows, the results are grim. When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, there will be blood.