Western fiction

American Identity Through the West Two things come to mind when I think of the West; vast open spaces that seem to go on and on and also Clint Eastwood’s movie, “A Fist Full of Dollars” theme music. Whatever vision comes to mind for people, the west has been a part of American identity for decades. Westerns in film have been a huge portion of this identity. First, it began with documentation of Daniel Boone explorations, then on to the dime store novel. Western film would be the biggest influence on American identity. Visual media of the west aroused America’s fascination with unconquered lands and the promise of new beginnings. These visions additionally formed ideals of supremacy, a sense of entitlement, and subjugation. Consistent themes prevailed throughout the Western and formed an ideal of what America was and stood for. Historical events would change the formula of the Western, however, certain…

new ideas, and opinions is the man depicted in the Hollywood Western. That man, or person, is the settler, cowboy, or lonesome traveler who traverses the Western frontier in search of his place in and the promise of America. As America expands its frontier to the West during the nineteenth-century, the depiction of what it means to be a heroic settler formed in the American psyche. When films came to the silver screen the genre of Hollywood Westerns created protagonists who exemplified qualities…

Jane Tompkins’s West of Everything is an energetic and lively account of the most beloved and legendary American genre—The Western. Western films and novels have become a large part of many American’s lives and continues to influence filmmaking to this day. People from all over the world visit western states to have what they think is the cowboy experience. West of Everything expresses a heavy concern with the role of gender in the genre, however, and points out that it is a male dominated…

Many readers that love the western writing genre can argue that Zane Grey is one of the bestselling western writers of all time. His novels The Lone Star Ranger and The Spirit of the Border are two examples of this. In these two novels Grey does a good job at showing the differences of the west during two different time periods when Native Americans roamed the lands and when cowboys and outlaws ruled the west. When examining the two novels, it will show the stereotypical views of the west,…

The film, “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” directed by Sergio Leone, the father of Spaghetti Westerns, is considered one of the best Westerns of all time. It launched Clint Eastwood into stardom as, “The Man with No Name” also known as Blondie “The Good”, through his interactions with his co-stars Lee Van Cleef, Angel Eyes “The Bad”, and Eli Wallach, Tuco “The Ugly”. The hero here, Blondie, is not the typical hero that you would expect, but through an analysis of several scenes, one begins to…

Western’s a genre with a purpose For almost as long as the medium of filmmaking has existed so too has the Western first showcased in Edwin S. Porter film The Great Train Robbery. Though overall a simple film in retrospect the way in which it pushed the medium forward was revolutionary in containing a narrative. Cowboys are the initial American heroes of filmmaking which all others pull from; Westerns as a male focused genre the central genre trope of masculinity have been constructed on a…

The following essay will compare the cinematic language of the two Western classics Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966) while analyzing the claim that both film respectably are pioneers of the Western genre during their times proven on the basis of their original work in editing and narrative, and its influence on other filmmakers. After a brief summary of both movies, I will continue with the analysis of both, in particular with the formal…

Western Film “For over forty years, from 1926 to 1967, Hollywood produced more Westerns than any other kind of film” (pg.243). The western film I chose was one of Sergio Leone’s famous trilogies, which included A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. These are known as Spaghetti Westerns. The film The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly takes place during the American Civil War and follows three men on the hunt for Confederate gold. Many westerns focus…

The Searchers is a “classic” western. It tells the story of Ethan Edwards who is accompanied by his nephew Martin Pawley and their five-year-long search to find his niece after she is captured and her family killed by the Comanche Indians. Little Big Man is a “revisionist” western. It tells the story of Jack Crabbe, a 121-year-old man asked to tell his story about his life, which includes being captured and raised by the Indians and living in a white society with a variety of jobs leading him to…

coming from the back or the side of the main characters” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014, section 6.4). Ultimately, the type of lighting has assessed the impact of high contrast and very deep shadows in many of the indoor/outdoor scenes to establish the western theme. ◦What are the benefits of the style of lighting used? The benefits of the lighting style used to enhance the hardness of life on the Western frontier, therefore, giving the movie viewers a real sense of the western time and its…