Carpenter Trio: One Piece of the Formula
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does, however, perish in the end when she is taken over by one of the spirits
seeking a human host.
With Braddock killed early in the story, Ballard assumes command and
it is her relationship with Desolation Williams that eventually forms the
narrative’s core. For Carpenter, Ballard and Williams may be equal, but that does
not mean either of them is invincible. Throughout the initial scenes, when Ballard
and Williams tangle, the two take turns besting each other. Williams initially
defeats Ballard, although the policewoman manages to catch Williams off guard
with a sharp punch to the jaw prompting a victorious Williams to respond,
“Damn, girl. I like you already.” This fight sets off a series of situations in which
the two repeatedly come to each other’s aid, saving their lives while
concomitantly earning respect for each other’s talents. While both Ballard and
Williams are obviously dangerous and street smart in their own way, Carpenter
frequently shows us that neither is invincible individually. While Williams
initially gets the best of Ballard, she returns the favor later when she lures
Williams and his cohorts back to his jail cell and confuses them enough to lock
them up again. All this figurative pushing and shoving culminates in recognition
that Ballard and Williams share the code of the Hawksian West, covering each
other’s backs and coming to one another’s aid again and again. Thus, when
Williams’ brother dies during one of the confrontations between the ghosts and
the humans, Ballard is visibly moved by her compatriot’s loss. Likewise, in a bit
of role reversal, Williams takes up the needle and thread following the final
escape from Shining Canyon to sew the wound Ballard has suffered on her leg.
While showing his two main characters as equals, Carpenter also
manages to make them human by showing their frailties. Ballard, faced with
command when Braddock is killed, finds that her impromptu plans tend to
backfire, and both she and Williams leave themselves open to ambush at different
times. When the police officers, Williams’ criminal brethren, and the others
being held in the jail recognize they have to join together to fight a common
enemy-ala Assault on Precinct 73-Carpenter shows us that putting differences
and personal failures aside and teaming up is the only way for these people to
have a chance of escaping the town.
By the time Melanie Ballard returns to the home base and relates her
story, the ghosts are on the march. The ruling council, however, chooses to
ignore the threat as the head inquisitor implies that the company funding the
colonization would likely replace them if the planet’s problems were reported as
originating with the supernatural. This decision mirrors a number of similar
situations in Carpenter’s work in which the film’s conflict results from the
corrupting influence of power upon one or more of the characters. Often, this
corruption is found within a ruling group as with the Catholic Church in Vampires
and Prince o f Darkness, the alien yuppie business people in They Live, or the
government in Starman. Thus, Carpenter suggests in Ghosts o f Mars that social