Western : Genre in World Cinema

As said in the earlier introduction, a Genre is born in a particular social and cultural history.

Western Films or Westerns are the major defining genre of the American film industry,
a nostalgic eulogy to the early days of the expansive, untamed American frontier (the borderline between civilization and the wilderness). They are one of the oldest, most enduring and flexible genres and one of the most characteristically American genres in their mythic origins.

The popularity of westerns has grown over the years. Their most prolific era was between the 1930s and 1960s. More recently in the 90s, there was a resurgence of the genre.

"As far as I'm concerned, Americans don't have any original art except Western movies and jazz." — Clint Eastwood classic actor in Westerns

Attempt at defining Western

Westerns are arts works (films, books, television shows, and paintings devoted to telling romanticized tales of the American West.)

Westerns are often set on the American frontier during the last part of the 19th century (1865-1900) following the Civil War, in a geographically western setting with romantic, sweeping frontier landscapes or rugged rural terrain. However, Westerns may extend back to the time of America's colonial period or forward to the mid-20th century, or as far geographically as Mexico. A number of westerns use the Civil War, the Battle of the Alamo (1836) or the Mexican Revolution (1910) as a backdrop.

Typical elements in westerns include:

* Native Americans
* Guns and gun fights
* Violence and human massacres
* Trains (and train robberies) and bank holdups
* Runaway stagecoaches
* Shoot-outs and showdowns between outlaws and sheriffs
* Cattle drives, cattle rustling and stampedes
* Bar room brawls
* 'Search and destroy' plots
* Breathtaking settings and open landscapes (eg: Monument Valley)
* Distinctive western clothing (eg: denim, jeans, bandannas, boots, etc)

Characteristics of main male character:

* Local lawmen or enforcement officers, ranchers, army officers, cowboys, territorial marshals,
or a skilled, fast-draw gunfighter
* Normally masculine persons of integrity and principle - courageous, moral, tough, solid and
self-sufficient
* Independent and honorable attitude
* The Western hero could usually stand alone and face danger on his own, against the forces of
lawlessness

American popular culture loves cultures of honor, as opposed to cultures of law. The Western portrays a society in which persons has no social order larger than their immediate peers, family, or perhaps themselves alone. Here, one must cultivate a reputation by acts of violence, or they can be generous, because generosity creates a dependency relationship in the social hierarchy.
Western movies, usually filmed in desolate corners of Arizona, Utah, Wyoming or Colorado, made the landscape not just a vivid backdrop but a character in the movie.

The western traces its roots back to The Great Train Robbery - 1903, a short silent film directed by Edwin S. Porter. The film is only twelve minutes long, but it is a milestone in film making and is considered the first movie to tell a fictional story.


Stagecoach - 1939 : Directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne. Set in Arizona 1880. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory. Stagecoach was Ford’s first sound western.

What to look for: Humanity against nature, scale of land, American frontier iconography, conflict between law and lawlessness.


Red River - 1948 : Directed by Howard Hawks, giving a fictional account of the first cattle drive from Texas to Kansas along the Chisholm Trail. The dramatic tension stems from a growing feud over the management of the drive.

The Searchers -1956 : 'epic Western' film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is the story of Ethan Edwards, a middle-aged Civil War veteran portrayed by John Wayne, who spends years looking for his abducted niece.
It was named the Greatest Western of all time by the American Film Institute in 2008.

What to look for: Frontier landscapes photography, Use of water ( a natural form) part of Iconography.

Cowboys play a prominent role in Western movies, and often fight with American Indians. Natives die like flies. Westerns are quite ‘racist’ in their approach. Other recurring themes of westerns include western treks, and groups of bandits terrorizing small towns.

Eg. The Magnificent Seven - 1960 : Directed by John Sturges about a group of hired gunmen protecting a Mexican village from bandits. It is a resetting of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film, Seven Samurai.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966 : “Italian epic spaghetti Western” film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood (the Good), Lee van Cleef (the Bad), and Eli Wallach (the Ugly). The film is set in the tail end of the American Civil War and details a race to capture some buried gold. It is perhaps best known for its sparse soundtrack, created by Ennio Morricone.

Once Upon a Time in the West - 1968 : “epic spaghetti Western” film directed by Sergio Leone. The film is generally acknowledged as a masterpiece and one of the best western films ever made.


Examples of "revisionist westerns":
Dances with Wolves - 1990 : Film Developed directed and starred by Kevin Costner which tells the story of a cavalry officer who befriends a band of Dakota Indians, sacrificing his career and his own people.


Unforgiven -1992 : Directed by Clint Eastwood


Open Rage – 2003 : The movie properly belongs to the epic Western genre. Set on probably the Western Slope of Colorado in 1882, directed by Kevin Costner.


Why ‘western’ ends?
The myth of 'frontier' dies. ‘Highway’ the ‘ROAD' which connected the different American states to each other, became the new icon.
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