in the opening shot of midnight cowboy , we see a close-up of a blank movie screen at a drive-in . we hear in the soundtrack human cries and the stomping of horses' hooves . without an image projected onto the screen , the audience unerringly identifies the familiar sound of cowboys chasing indians and can spontaneously fill in the blank screen with images of old westerns in our mind's eye . even without having seen a cowboys and indians movie , somehow the cliched images of them seem to have found their way into our mental schema . but do cowboys really exist , or are they merely hollywood images personified by john wayne and gary cooper ? exploring this theme , director john schlesinger uses the idea of the cowboy as a metaphor for the american dream , an equally cliched yet ambiguous concept . is the ease at which salvation and success can be attained in america a hallmark of its experience or an urban legend ? midnight cowboy suggests that the american dream , like image of the cowboy , is merely a myth . as joe buck migrates from place to place , he finds neither redemption nor reward in his attempt to create a life for himself , only further degeneration . during the opening credits , joe walks past an abandoned theater whose decrepit marquee reads `john wayne : the alamo . ' as joe is on the bus listening to a radio talk show , a lady on the air describes her ideal man as `gary cooper ? but he's dead . ' a troubled expression comes across joe's face , as he wonders where have all the cowboys gone . having adopted the image of a cowboy since youth , joe now finds himself deserted by the persona he tried to embody . joe's persistence in playing the act of the cowboy serves as an analogue to his american dream . he romanticizes about making it in the big city , but his dreams will desert him as he is forced to compromise his ideals for sustenance . by the end of midnight cowboy , joe buck loses everything and gains nothing . just as the audience can picture cowboys chasing indians on a blank screen , we can also conjure up scenes from pretty woman as paradigms of american redemption and success . but how realistic are these ideals ? joe had raped and been raped in texas . the scars of his troubled past prompt him to migrate to new york , but he does not know that his aspirations to be a cowboy hero will fail him there just as they had in texas . alongside the dream of success is the dream of salvation . the ability to pack up one's belongings and start anew seems to be an exclusive american convention . schlesinger provides us with strong hints as to joe's abusive and abused past with flashbacks of improper relationships with crazy anne and granny . we understand that joe adopts the fa ? ade of a cowboy , a symbol of virility and gallantry , as an attempt to neutralize his shame . he runs from his past only to be sexually defiled this time by his homosexual experiences in new york . in the scene at the diner which foreshadows joe's encounter with the gay student , joe buck spills ketchup on himself . standing up , we see the ketchup has made a red stain running from the crotch of his pants down his thigh . schlesinger visually depicts the degeneration of joe's virility by eliciting an image of bleeding genitals , signifying emasculation . beyond the symbol of castration , the scene may also connote the bleeding of a virgin's first sexual encounter , a reference to joe's first homosexual liaison . the fact that the idea of a bleeding virgin is relegated only to females furthers the imagery of joe's emasculation . it is ironic that joe has trouble prospecting for female clients , but effortlessly attracts men . joe believes his broncobuster getup is emblematic of his masculinity ; new yorkers see his ensemble as camp and `faggot stuff . ' there are two predominant images of new york . the first is that new york is the rich , cosmopolitan city where hope and opportunity are symbolized by the tall skyscrapers and the statue of liberty . the other new york is travis bickle's new york , a seedy , corruptive hell on earth . joe envisions new york as the former , but is presented with the latter . mirroring the irony in which joe envisions his cowboy attire as masculine , he mistakenly buys into the fable that new york is filled with lonely women neglected by gay men . joe thinks he is performing a great service for new york , but the city rapes him of his pride and possessions . the people steal joe's money , the landlord confiscates his luggage , and the homosexuals rob him of his dignity . what has become of joe's american dream ? schlesinger responds to this question with the scene at the party . joe gets invited to a shindig of sorts and at the gathering is exposed to a dizzying array of food , drugs , and sex . at the party , all of joe and ratzo's desires are made flesh ; joe flirts successfully with women and ratzo loads up on free salami . contrasting joe's daily struggles , shots of warhol's crew display wanton indulgence . there is an irreverence in the partygoers' attitude ; we see a shot of a woman kowtowing to nothing in particular , orgies breaking out in the periphery , and drugs passed around like party favors . the party makes a mockery of joe' s ideals . joe believed that hard work and persistence were the elements for success in america ; scenes of the party and his rendezvous with shirley suggest that it is the idle who profit from joe's toils . the american dream , schlesinger suggests , is merely a proletarian fantasy , for those who are content no longer dream , but become indolent . as joe heads to miami , all that was significant of the cowboy image has left him . his masculinity is compromised and his morality is relinquished . for joe , nothing is left of the cowboy hero and commensurately , he surrenders the identity . tossing his boots into the garbage , he returns to the bus for the last leg of his journey to miami . the final shot of midnight cowboy shows joe inside the bus , more introspective , taking only a few glances outside the window . instead of the frequent pov shots of joe excitedly looking out of the bus on his way to new york , schlesinger sets up this final shot from the exterior of the bus looking in through the window at joe . reflections of the palm trees ratzo so raved about run across the bus' window with joe hardly taking notice . the scenery of miami no longer exacts the same excitement from joe as before . the world seems smaller to joe now ; the termination of his journey coincides with the termination of his american dream . no longer does joe aspire to be the enterprising gigolo ; he resolves to return to a normal job and resign to basic means . midnight cowboy presents two familiar incarnations of the american dream . there is the frontier fantasy that if you are brave enough to repel a few indians , you can set up a ranch out west and raise a beautiful family . then there is the jay gatsby dream that a man of humble stock , with perseverance , can make a fortune in the big city . joe's attempt to realize these dreams robs him of his innocence in texas and morality in new york . during his search for an intangible paradise , joe ends up raping a girl and killing a man . an allegory of chasing the promise of the american dream , joe buck's progressive moral atrophy is a warning against the pursuit of illusory icons .
