Why is only the first episode referred in the movie title?
The movie title The Ballad of Buster Scruggs refers only to the first of the 6 individual episodes shown in the film. Why is that and why was this episode chosen for the title? What makes it more special than the other 5?
Best Answer
- This is (or was) a common thing in literature "... and other stories", where the titled first novella or story was kind of a hook for potential readers. A kind of "single hit" that made people buy the whole record.
- The reason why this story was chosen is, for me, very "coeny brotherly". The movie is kind of an anthology and Ballad of is funny, light, a little magic even. Something that makes people want to watch other stories which are far more dark, sad and gruesome. If they opened with "The mortal Remains" or "Meal ticket" many people might not want to watch other stories.
Also if I remember correctly most of the trailers were made of "Ballad..." snippets making people believe the whole movie will be like that. It also builds a nice structure for the movie from open town, through prairie and mountains to the confined space of a stagecoach.
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The History of Movie Title Sequences
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