Changing the Western Hero and Women The hero in the Western is as iconic as apple pie in America (Dirks, part 1). He represents the west and all its mystery. In, film the hero has been represented as the wholesome man with ethics and also the antihero starting in the late fifties with all his gruff and attitude. As Western films progressed, the hero became different. Film viewers were looking for a different kind of hero along with the changing times in America. In Gary Cooper’s character, Marshall Will Kane, High Noon portrayed the hero as a humble and respected, keeping the classic hero intact versus John Wayne’s hero in The Searchers, who was a severe racist and a misunderstood character. In the span of just four years the Western
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John Wayne’s, Ethan Edwards is not the hero of yesteryear, he is an anti hero type that is becoming more favored over the classic hero. Unlike Will Kane in High Noon, Ethan is loved, but not respected. The family embraces his return with wide eyed awe, but seem leery of his actions. They question his supposed travel to California, and when he states he wasn’t there, they look at him like he is lying to them. Also, when Ethan hands his brother the gold and it is found to be newly minted, Ethan’s brother queries him on why it doesn’t look used, as if Ethan obtained the gold by less than respectable means. Wayne’s character is boisterous and he has no regard to others feelings when it comes to getting his way. He tells it like he sees it without worrying what people think or say about him. He is abrupt and rude at times “rudely tells an older woman who is talking more than a single sentence to say something”(Tompkins 52). Ethan is not out for some noble cause, he is out for sheer revenge in the savage deaths of his family. He does not hide behind his prejudice of Indians, he clearly lets everyone know, even his adoptive nephew know how is feels about the Native Americans, even though his nephew is Native American. Ethan completes his mission of revenge and saves his niece, however he does it in an antihero
John Wayne’s, Ethan Edwards is not the hero of yesteryear, he is an anti hero type that is becoming more favored over the classic hero. Unlike Will Kane in High Noon, Ethan is loved, but not respected. The family embraces his return with wide eyed awe, but seem leery of his actions. They question his supposed travel to California, and when he states he wasn’t there, they look at him like he is lying to them. Also, when Ethan hands his brother the gold and it is found to be newly minted, Ethan’s brother queries him on why it doesn’t look used, as if Ethan obtained the gold by less than respectable means. Wayne’s character is boisterous and he has no regard to others feelings when it comes to getting his way. He tells it like he sees it without worrying what people think or say about him. He is abrupt and rude at times “rudely tells an older woman who is talking more than a single sentence to say something”(Tompkins 52). Ethan is not out for some noble cause, he is out for sheer revenge in the savage deaths of his family. He does not hide behind his prejudice of Indians, he clearly lets everyone know, even his adoptive nephew know how is feels about the Native Americans, even though his nephew is Native American. Ethan completes his mission of revenge and saves his niece, however he does it in an antihero