Psychographic Debate
I believe that Moss is definitely correct in believing that Raising Arizona is a psychographic film. Many of the characters within the film are arguably fictional or at the very least a strong figment of Hi’s psyche. Ed for one is a former law woman who suddenly takes the plunge into a criminal mindset in which she can justifiably kidnap a baby simply because another person has more than a family can conceivably handle. Not only does Ed present the idea of kidnapping the baby but she frowns on other illicit actions, such as Hi robbing the corner store, when it is to provide for the very child she chose to abduct in the first place. In these conflicting moments it’s hard for me to believe that Ed is a really in fact doing these acts or perhaps even exists at all in Hi’s life, as it seems much more likely that it’s simply Hi’s mental battle with himself and Ed is a symbol of the life in which he feels he should be working for; not necessarily even what he wants.
Another essential point for me on the debatable issue of whether Raising Arizona is a dream type sequence or reality is the “biker of the apocalypse”, Leonard Smalls, whose entrance denies all plausibility with plants catching fire as he motors past. Leonard also seems to be able to be in the midst of a scene without official or authoritative presences even detected him. Personally if I saw someone walking around with sawed off shotguns, throwing knives, and grenades visibly on their person I’d hope someone would have the good sense to stop them. For Hi’s mental battle Leonard is the counterbalance to Ed; Leonard the epitome of shoot first, ask questions later mentality while Ed is the raise your gun, handcuff the individual, and interrogate the heck out of the prisoner. It’s also hard to conceivably know where the convicts or Hi himself was in every point in the film; which Leonard always knew without explanation. Thus it is hard for a viewer to believe upon diagnosing the film, though maybe not initially, that all or most of the events in this movie actually occurred.
I wonder about that too, whether H.I. really even wants to be a family man with “all things decent and normal from here on out” (Raising Arizona). We’ve been assuming this is a hopeful dream, but maybe it’s a nightmare.