Tag: Westerns

The American West: Glorified, Capable, and Adaptable by Nicole Thomas

The Western Film I chose to watch was Once Upon a Time in the West.  This A13galZ0-yL._SL1500_movie was made in 1968, and it is set in a made up-town somewhere in Utah called “Flagstone.” It was filmed in a studio in Italy and in the Spanish desert. The overall theme of this film adheres to what most, if not all of America, believes to be stereotypical of the American West. We drew many of these same themes on the back of our maps in class on Monday. The idea of the American West was created to glorify the American people, especially white American men.  And most of these ideas have made their way into popular icons and themes created by the media through film.

First, I want to discuss the setting. The movie poster really does say it all. The movie is set in the frontier. The land is barren, harsh, and the town of Flagstone is very much isolated. It is equipped with all of the fantastic structures and furnishings that popular culture believes the west should have such as saloons, train stations, and old dusty wooden houses. The setting describes the life of the American Frontier. There are horses, railroads, covered wagons, and dirt roads. Everything that we believe to be “the west.”  The American West is dirty and wild, and in order to survive Americans had to adapt to the wilderness, or die, which makes us a strong and powerful people (maybe/maybe not).

Next, I want to discuss the characters. The characters of this western exhibit certain roles and icons of the “American West” including the role of men, women, and Indians. There are four main characters: three men and one woman. First, there’s Frank, played by Henry Fonda. Frank is a notorious murdering, gang-leading cowboy. Frank is the villain. Then there are the two hero figures, Cheyenne (Jason Robards) and Harmonica (Charles Bronson). Cheyenne is a bandit who has been wrongly accused of committing Frank’s crimes, and of course, he wants Frank dead. Harmonica is a mysterious, sharp shooting, stranger who speaks little and frequently plays sad songs on the harmonica. He also wants Frank dead. The lives of the men in this movie are quite glorified and fantastic.

Then there’s Jill or Mrs. McBain (Claudia Cardinale) who is the only female role in the film. Unsurprisingly, she is a beautiful buxom ex-prostitute who married one of her clients for his money. She plays a helpless role in the film. She ends up getting taken advantage of by Frank, and the only reason she’s alive is because Cheyenne and Harmonica protect her from harm. Remarkably, throughout the movie there are also African American and Native American slaves as well.

This brings me to my point of the idea of the American West being the ideal world for white American men. The idea of the American West avoids all of the contradictory parts of history such as Native American enslavement (driving them out of their lands) and Women’s rights. In this film, and many other western films, the Native Americans and the women are more than happy to be slaves to white men, and everyone seems pretty ok with it.

Much like Betsy Ross, I think the idea of the American West is kept alive because it is made to seem simple, easy, and entertaining.  The idea of good vs. evil, cowboys vs. Indians, and the “final frontier” is entertaining to America, and to the world. I think the reasoning behind the idea of the West makes sense, because although it isn’t really historically accurate, it seems to make America…well… American. In avoiding certain parts of history that make us look bad, through the media and through movies like Once Upon a Time in the West we can bring the image of the America we want everyone in the world to have, which I think is the idea of a durable, adaptable, and capable people.

 

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.