Tag: Masculinity

Shane: Manliness and Independence by Lea Millio

In a random selection, I chose to watch the Western film Shane. I have never taken the opportunity to watch a Western film but I had some idea about what I was going to see in this movie.  The first scene was exactly what I expected to see: mountains, horses, a big blue sky, and a cowboy.

To shortly w-shanesummarize the film: The cowboy, Shane, is wandering through the West on his horse as he comes across a family living on the homestead.  Shane befriends the family, especially the little boy, Joey. Joey thinks Shane is invincible and is mesmerized by him. However, Shane is very mysterious and the father of the family, Joe, is reluctant to trust him. There are also some subtle feelings between Shane and Joe’s wife, Marian.  The movie includes classic Western scenes of saloon fighting and drinking just as I had expected it would. The family that Shane meets is struggling to keep hold of their “claim” (land) along with other people on the homestead. A greedy man named Ryker claims that Joe is on his land and he has come to take it back. One by one, other families on the homestead leave their land but Joe is determined to stay.  Ryker recruits a notorious gunman, Jack Wilson, to help him fight off the people on “his land”.  Joe plans to fight Ryker and Wilson but Shane’s inner cowboy and previous gunfighting experience surfaces as he knocks out Joe and goes to fight Ryker and Wilson. Shane ends up killing Wilson in a saloon shootout.  To Joey’s disappointment and Marian’s relief, Shane rides off just as any true cowboy would too.  w-shane-9

Two themes that I found most prevalent in Shane, are manliness andindependence.  There are two instances in the film when Shane is asked to leave the saloon because he is not fit to drink with the men.  It is obvious that the Western men pride themselves on their “manliness.”  I’m assuming that most of them have built their homes and started their families out west.  This also fits in with the theme of independence.  The men on the homestead want to be independent and keep their “claim” without being controlled by land barons.  Also, Shane is very independent. He enters this story alone, and leaves alone.

Significant images and icons I identified were horses, guns, mountains, saloons, whiskey, cowboy attire including hats, and wagons.  All of these images are consistent throughout the film and are what I would describe as classic Western images.

Because I can identify these images as “classic Western” images, I stand by my opinion that the West is an icon. I already knew what to expect before I watched this film and I think that says something about the West being an American icon.  The West has its own style and iconic images that the majority of people across the United States and elsewhere could identify.

Picture Sources:

http://shauncostello.com/tag/lawrence-kasdan/

Hondo and the 1950s Western Hero by Deja Sloan

hondo-movie-poster-1954-1020258317After watching the 1953 adventure film Hondo, I can safely say it follows the pattern of many American Western films, and heavily reinforces to the idea of the overall icon of the “West.” The movie shows the adventures of a very mysterious, very masculine, cowboy/outlaw/gunman, Hondo Lane (played by John Wayne), who develops an unlikely relationship with a New Mexican housewife (Mrs. Lowe) and her young son. The movie deals with themes such as masculine bravery, territory, ways of life, and surprisingly, love.

All of Hondo’s heroism is accredited to his sheer bravery and unapologetic boss attitude. He travels alone accompanied by his dog Sam (Man’s best friend) and is not afraid to stand up to any man—White or Native. Another sub theme in the movie was death, which comes close to Hondo almost every scene. This, accompanied by his leather-ish shirt, handkerchief, rugged appearance, and extensive knowledge on Apache culture and gun use, makes him the epitome of the stereotypical Cowboy contemporary society that has come to associate with the old west. (That and Hondo’s ability to take shots of straight whiskey and win a saloon fight against three other men without breaking a sweat). The movie also emphasizes how the Apache value bravery as well, so much so that they spare the life of a young boy who shot at one of their own because he was protecting his mother.

The protection of one’s territory is also a huge theme in the movie. In this case, Mrs. Lowe represents the All American family protecting its home with a gun when she first meets Hondo. The Native Americans are trying to protect what is left of their land (reservation) from white people, and Hondo represents the West in general as he is brave, wild, and doesn’t have a territory of his own, but protects whoever he needs to as a “good” cowboy. There are a number of lengthy war scenes in the movie that begin over a dispute of territory and who it belongs to. This tension over ownership of land also feeds into the idea of the “American West” as they depict it being extremely iHondo22mportant, and worth dying for.

Another re-occurring theme that caught my attention over the course of the film was the idea of a “Way of life.” Hondo, who is a loner is very anti-social, and chooses to travel alone and make up his own rules. Mrs. Lowe stays quiet about her husband’s affairs, even when she’s aware of all of his unfaithfulness in order to protect her son in a cloud of oblivion. There is also a scene in the movie where Hondo refuses to let Mrs. Lowe feed his dog because “He’s independent…that’s the way to be.”  Even the Apaches are given a moral standard of how to live bravely, and reward whites for living up to it

Surprisingly, the theme of love also made its way into the film a number of times. In the beginning of the film, Mrs. Lowe is depicted as a loving mother that will do anything to protect her son, and is faithfully awaiting the return of her husband. Later on, the Apaches develop so much love for her son that they almost demand she remarry so he has a father to look up to. And in the end, of course, Honda and Mrs. Lowe end up together, as an unlikely couple with a strong tough man capable of protecting a weak, beautiful, delicate, young woman.

These themes are known across many western films, and perfectly fit the iconic “Western” image so many of us have. Images of “savage” Indians with colorful face paint, dark reddish skin, long hair and “tribal yelling” are some of the stereotypes used to depict the Indians in the film. The image of a strong American family and complete male dominance are also used to depict other iconic images associated with the west. What makes this film American is its sense of pride over “heroes” such as Hondo and the “Perfect” American family. What makes this film western is its open backdrop, shoot-outs, Indian slaughter, and a brave cowboy who gets the girl.