Western Schism

it comes to films, I am generally open to almost anything and by almost, I mean, anything with the exception of Westerns. I cannot stand them with everything in my being. None of it makes sense to me, none of it looks real and it just does not appeal to me. Growing up, I seen or should I say, was forced to endure westerns if I wanted to watch television, because my mother was a big western fan. That may be what led to my extreme distaste for them now, having to watch them every day as a child.…

Westerns have come a long way since the silent film days and the original western, The Great Train Robbery in 1903. Today, modern technology has allowed westerns to become more thrilling, more daring, and more action packed than ever before, and none of this is more true than for Django Unchained(2012) directed by Quentin Tarantino and the TV show Firefly(2002), created by Joss Whedon. While both embrace new and interesting twists to the genre, both still feature many of the classic themes…

The concept of myth influences many cowboy narratives. Especially Hollywood movies are full of mythical elements of the American West. Although myths will play a minor role in the analysis of the cowboy biographies, it is necessary to mention some theories of myth and to elaborate on its definition. Historian Richard Slotkin gives an excellent characterization of myth in his book Gunfighter Nation, which will be used for further elaboration. Myths are stories drawn from a society’s history that…

Gizem Kızılcık COMD 322 My Darling Clementine My Darling Clementine (1946), is a Western style of retelling story within shoot-outing at OK Corral. It was directed by John Ford and based on a classic book by Stuart N. Lake. It was transformed from a story by Sam Hellman and it was turned into a screenplay by Samuel G. Engel (also; producer) and Winston Miller. Also, Cyril J. Mockridge made music of the movie. Joseph MacDonald was director of photography and finally,…

played out throughout the decades in film, the Western is no different. While other countries have adopted their own versions, the American Western has qualities can only be interrupted as American. While playing out the the fight against evil, greed, and taming of the frontier, the Western was also depicting America’s thoughts about itself. Like the films, the nation was fraught with conflict for what ideals it should stand for. As time went on the Western took on other themes that were coming…

The Edge of a Western How does a Western film look when it is written backwards and the themes are put on their head? This is how Jim Jarmusch envisioned his take on the Western when he directed Dead Man. The film is about an ordinary accountant William Blake, played by Johnny Depp, who is traveling to the town of Machine to start a new life. When Blake finds that there is no job for him, a set of unfortunate circumstances forces him into becoming a wanted man. Along with an American Indian…

could be as gripping of a western film as ‘Hell or High Water,’ in today’s pop culture, you would tell me that I was crazy. The stellar performances of two unstoppable bank robbers, Chris Pine and Ben Foster, and a Texas ranger out on his last case before retirement, Jeff Bridges, make this dream a reality. Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster, and Chris Pine star in a revolutionary movie that was created to bring back a culture of western films. It is bound to be a classic western heist movie, and might…

One of the greatest myths is; all Cowboys wore cowboy hats, when in reality that isn’t the case. They often wore hats wore hats such as the flat pancake hat or the bowler hat. Another rumor or myth was that all bank robbers such as Black Bart or the Dalton Gang ruled the west. Truth be told is that the towns were so small the Sheriff wouldn’t be very far away, even if the robbers got away with the loot it wouldn’t be but a small fraction of the amount banks today have. More criminals would…

Robert R. Dykstra the professor of history and public policy at the New York State university in one of his books The Cattle Towns, talked about that “ the historical record did not support the violence and lawless and image of wide-open in famous end-of-the-trail communities such as Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City, and Caldwell” (p. 205). He also mentioned that “ the legend of cattle town killings and cowboy violence lived on in public expression and popular fiction” (p. 205).The…

The evolution of these Westerns would have a deep connection with Arizona landscape and also the culture of cowboys and various minority groups that were living in Arizona. This evolution of Westerns brought more sophisticated storylines that image the Arizona culture and society. Films that were being filmed in Arizona locations started to establish cowboys who were admired by audiences as American heroes. While these films were able to shed a positive light on the cowboys, it didn’t do the…