Voices to Faces: The Midnight Cowboy’s Picaresque Journey

John Schlesinger’s 1969 film, Midnight Cowboy, tells the story of Joe Buck, a Texan who dreams of working as a hustler in New York. Schlesinger’s resulting tale follows the framework of the picaresque, wherein a naive rube ventures to the big city to pursue a better life and exposes societal ills along the way. In this article, Patterson reveals how Joe Buck’s internal tension derives from his materialism, symbolized as disembodied voices, and his devaluing of human connection and empathy, symbolized as faces. The voices from his radio’s advertisements and game shows reinforce his flawed assumptions about life. A midpoint empathetic conversation with Rico Rizzo marks a transformative turning point for Joe as the cinematic lighting focuses on the actors’ faces and expressive performances. Following this scene, Joe Buck’s performative hetero-masculinity begins to break down as he discards his radio and cowboy costume—symbols of his materialism. Along his “picaro’s journey,” Joe encounters societal ills including wealth inequality and inhibitions on male intimacy, resulting from societal heteronormative anxiety. Patterson shows that the characters establish themselves as dialogic opposites as Rico emerges as the true picaro who suffers, and Joe as the anti-picaro who overcomes his disillusionment and lives. Patterson concludes by suggesting further analysis of Rico’s downward spiral and the role of queerness and disability in the picaresque framework.