"I've met hundreds of people out here and I don't ever say a final goodbye. I just say 'I'll see you down the road.'"
—Bob Wells
Nomadland is a 2020 drama film directed by Chloé Zhao based on the non-fiction book of the same name. It had a festival run where it became the first film to win top prize at both the Venice and the Toronto International Film Festival. Disney, the film's producer, allowed a simultaneous wide release in theaters and on Hulu during the COVID-19 Pandemic on February 19, 2021. Outside the United States, the film was released via Disney+'s Star hub in many territories.
Frances McDormand stars as Fern, a houseless widow left jobless after her deceased husband's Company Town in Empire, Nevada, is vacated after the Great Recession. Packing all her belongings in a van, Fern attempts to embrace the wandering nomad lifestyle after attending a seminar in the desert organized by a community of fellow nomads.
Tropeland:
- 20 Minutes into the Past: The film was released in 2020, but is set between 2012 and 2013.
- As Himself: Bob Wells plays himself, and much of the cast is comprised of real-life nomads
with the same names as their characters essentially doing the same. - Audience Surrogate: Fern serves this role, as her travels and lessons about the nomadic lifestyle give the viewer access to the same sights and stories as experienced through her eyes.
- Avoid the Dreaded G Rating: There's a brief scene with the lead character Fern relaxing in a river fully nude to earn the film its R rating. Aside from that one moment, there's practically nothing risqué about the film.
- Book Ends: The movie begins and ends in Empire with Fern going through very similar motions. The difference is that at the end, she gives up all of her belongings that remained in the storage shed.
- But Now I Must Go: A realistic version. Fern has opportunities to settle down with David and her sister at separate times, but she turns both down to return to her van's travels.
- Call-Back: Not explicitly spelled out until the end, but one of the facts of living a nomad lifestyle is that you run into people again - be it days, weeks, or years later. Fern runs into multiple people she wasn't expecting to see again, ranging from her own sister to a random young nomad.
- Company Town: Empire, Nevada, where Fern and her husband used to house a gypsum plant and hundreds of workers but became deserted after the factory closed down. The film shows that, in a sense, these live on - MegaCorp Amazon regularly (and still does) hire loads of itinerant workers living out of their vans or RVs. This is Truth in Television, of course.
- Death by Adaptation: A real life version, no less. The "Swankie" of the book (and... reality) was still alive at the time of release, while she dies in the film.
- Did Not Get the Girl: David really likes Fern and wants her to settle down with him, especially when he moves back in with his family. Unfortunately, Fern is too shaken up by the death of her husband to do so.
- Foil:
- Fern's sister, who was more 'normal' growing up and has a lovely home in the suburbs, in contrast to the unconventional and eccentric Fern who has embraced being a wanderer. Her husband is even a real estate agent while Fern has abandoned traditional housing entirely to live in her van. Later, Fern and her sister's husband have a heated argument about their lifestyles, with Fern saying people dumping their life savings and debt into a house is irresponsible (and the husband saying the same of basically being homeless). Later again, when Fern prepares to leave, her sister semi-bitterly accuses her of never finding the family interesting, and that Fern leaving left a real big hole in her sister's life.
- David. Both of them start off as nomads and form something of a connection, but David abandons the lifestyle and settles in with his family, while Fern continues it.
- Film of the Book: Based on the 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Swankie starts coughing as she and Fern are chatting. Moments after that she is feeling faint and needing to sit down, and right after that she's revealing to Fern that she has terminal cancer.
- Lives in a Van: The Movie! The film depicts the various challenges and rewards of the lifestyle choice of living in a van with great accuracy and attention to detail.
- The New '10s: Taking place in the aftermath of the Great Recession, with Fern's husband losing his job (and his life) in 2011. The movie picks up soon after and covers Fran's travels through 2012 (a movie theater showing for The Avengers confirms this) and into early 2013. There's implications (and it's Truth in Television, as the Nomad lifestyle is going on strong to this day) that this echos even a decade later.
- New Year Has Come: Fern sees in the new year at the Amazon nomad camp, walking around with a sparkler and a "Happy New Year" hat.
- No Place for Me There: Fern is loathe to settle down anywhere after the death of her husband, which is why she keeps moving on. In general, it's a theme running through the nomads, who are often unmoored after some catastrophic loss - ranging from the death of a friend (in Swankie's case), a Vietnam Vet still suffering from PTSD, yearning to explore in the case of a young nomad, and the suicide of the Nomad "leader"'s son.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends with Fern, the nomad, driving down the road after one last visit to Empire.
- Parents as People: Due to his wandering lifestyle even before he took up being a 21st-century nomad, David was an absent father for his son. Fern encourages him to try and be present as a grandfather when his son invites him home.
- Production Foreshadowing: Fern passes by a theater showing the time-period-appropriate Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Avengers, with prominent posters. During Nomadland's production, Chloé Zhao was also in the midst of pre-production for her own MCU film, Eternals.
- Rest-and-Resupply Stop: At David's recommendation, Fern takes a job at Wall Drug, a well-known Real Life one of these in South Dakota.
- Scenery Porn: The movie's narrative regularly takes a pause to revel in the gorgeous natural beauty of the Western wilderness of The United States, particularly its national parks like Yellowstone and Badlands.
- Shout-Out: Fern seems to be a Shakespeare fan. An old student (Fern was a tutor and substitute teacher) rattles off some lines Fern taught her: bits from the "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" soliloquy in Macbeth. Later, Fern recites Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?") from memory.
- Skinny Dipping: Fern takes a prolonged (and uncensored) dip in a river somewhere around Yellowstone.
- Trashy Trailer Home: Inverted in the movie. Aside from some minor issues that obviously come from living in a vehicle, the protagonist and most of the people she encounters find living a nomadic lifestyle in vans, R Vs and trailers to be a fulfilling lifestyle (even the one who calls it quits at the end of the film had it clear from early on that he only wanted to live as a nomad temporarily). Averted in the book, which makes it clear that its subjects are not "trash", but is also blunter about the hardships (such as lack of healthcare).
- Walking the Earth: A deconstruction. Fern and David really strained their relationships with their living families by refusing to settle down, and they've somewhat trapped themselves between lifestyles. David eventually chooses to permanently move back in with his family; Fern keeps wandering but comes to a clearer understanding with her sister. There's a young nomad Fern meets who's doing much the same, and Fern's more concerned about him having a place to stay at first.
