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 .