How do we identify a film as part of the ‘Western’ genre?
Onset of ‘new’ civilization
Onset of ‘new’ civilization
- Civilization symbols: train, stagecoach, civic institutions (police, education, elections, courts, property, press)
- Love-interests (women), children, babies, tables and meals, homestead, marriage
- Prostitute versus Quaker; Husband/Brother v. Bachelor Hero; City/Homestead versus Wilderness/Mountains; Law & Order v. Vigilante Justice/Revenge;
- Mysterious origins or history
- Little to no familial ties
- Mixed motivations of hero: love and revenge
- Killing of the outlaw/villain: a heroic “suicide” or “self-sacrifice” of the hero?
- Support and/or critique of American civic institutions and life
- Immigration and American “melting-pot” culture
- Problems with and value of assimilation of immigrants into American way of life (e.g., Mexicans, Indians, Eastern Europeans etc.)
- Appraisals of the ‘Western’ legend
- Use of music
- The ‘Hero’ and his ‘coming of age’ side-kick, who needs to complete his quest in order to “settle down”
- The wild ‘loved’ one and the domesticating ‘loved’ one