A core element of the film western is the struggle between the civilizing forces of society and the resistance of the wilderness. This has been used as a common thematic element in the narrative structure of Westerns, and can be seen in the films’ portrayal of society’s expansion to the west. In these films, this expansion, which is a part of the movement to tame the Wild West, is a conflict that is played out as a battle of oppositions on the American frontier. In director John Ford’s My Darling Clementine, this fundamental aspect of the genre comes across in the main character, Wyatt Earp’s, conflict with the Clanton family, whom the audience ultimately finds out are the ones who shot and killed the youngest Earp brother. While Wyatt Earp’s status as the town marshal symbolizes the civility and order of society, the Clantons—a violent, uncivilized family in which the father uses primitive methods of discipline, such as whipping, against his own four sons—represent the wilderness of the untamed West. The symbolic importance of the characters in My Darling Clementine is also connected to Ford’s use of setting and locale. Given the manner in which Wyatt Earp enters the town and sets about bringing justice to it, his character can be seen as the embodiment of the process of civilization of the West. From a cinematographic standpoint, the shots of locations within the town differ from those of the wilderness beyond the town site. The film makes use of its visual style to
For more than fifty years, Clint Eastwood has been actively defining and redefining cinema as an art form. His experiences as an actor on television and in film have greatly influenced his directing style. Across his films, Eastwood incorporates several issues and techniques that help the audience to identify said films with Eastwood's directorial style. Eastwood's aim in his films is to tell stories of the human experience. Francois Truffaut and Andrew Sarris have aimed to define the qualities that make a director an auteur whose works stand out above the rest. The qualities defined by Truffaut and Sarris can be seen in Eastwood films including Unforgiven (1992), Million Dollar Baby (2004), and Changeling (2008) and help to establish Eastwood as an auteur.
John Ford built a standard that many future directors would follow with his classic 1939 film “Stagecoach”. Although there were a plethora of western films made before 1939, the film “Stagecoach” revolutionized the western genre by elevating the genre from a “B” film into a more serious genre. The film challenged not only western stereotypes but also class divisions in society. Utilizing specific aspects of mise-en-scène and cinematography, John Ford displays his views of society.
Ford’s Stagecoach is an epic and revolutionary approach that displays the desert terrain and western inhabitant’s struggles. Stagecoach follows the lives of seven strangers in their attempt to arrive to Lordsburg, New Mexico. Each of these characters reflects the various types of people found in the western world. The film is laced with many American ideals of the time such as xenophobia, chivalry, the conventional standards of women, and much more. Stagecoach defies the conventional western film because it is no longer just men in a desert terrain with rifles.
After being forced to succumb to the destiny of life absent the ranch, John Grady is faced with making a decision that will decide his fate, a decision greatly affected by the Post World War II Texas culture in which he was being raised. John Grady could seize the opportunity that presented itself after the loss of the ranch to start a new life somewhere in Texas. He could try to fight his mother’s decision. However, the stark realization, to John Grady as well as McCarthy’s readers, is that John Grady was “already gone” the minute the ranch was taken away from him (McCarthy 27). The separation of John Grady from his familiar ranch-life was a painful idea, especially during the late 1940’s, when little other but ranching was available to native West Texans. John Grady’s life revolved around the land of “painted ponies” and “wild horses”; a land of “red wind” and “coppering” sun (McCarthy 5). Yet he found himself as a boy in
The world of film has changed dramatically over the last fifty years, both in technology and perceptions on how the industry should work and how it is viewed by the public. The ending of the production code in Hollywood started the cultural change in the industry. With this restrictive institution gone, many directors chose to take advantage of this in many different ways. My favorite of these is Mel Brooks; he chose to break and push boundaries both socially and comedically. Brooks’ style often includes crude humor inlaid with deeper jokes and meaning, many fourth wall breaking moments such as the “We’re in now now” scene of Spaceballs, to stand out in the world of comedy. His masterpiece, Blazing Saddles, is one such film that did just that. Through its new found sense of humor in the post production code era and its twists on common genre tropes of the time, Blazing Saddles was able to find its place into the New Hollywood Cinema.
The story formula for Stagecoach structures around characters in the Tonto and introducing the characters, traveling to Lordsburg, stopping at Dry Fork way station for food and unforgettable dinner table scene, traveling towards Apache Wells in the snow, Mrs. Mallory’s baby born in Apache Wells, finally getting to Lordsburg but got attacked by the Indians, and ended with Ringo Kid in a shooting conflict. Stagecoach did a great job in the characters types. There are the protagonists, prostitute, gambler, schoolmarm. These are the specific character types in Western movies. The setting of the movie is on point. It’s in the American West and takes place in the 1880s. The location of Monument Valley is a favorite location for John Ford. The presentation of Stagecoach has many great exterior shots that collocate the characters with the environment they occupy. The stars in Stagecoach does fit in a Western movie. Like John Wayne, he stars in many Western movies. What makes Stagecoach a western is the traditional western theme. Like the fight between whites and Native Americans. There is a good use of the American West’s open plains and mountains.
From 1864s to the beginning of the 20th century the American economy was transformed from free-market to monopoly and became a typical imperialist country. The economy was quick growing in the new ranges in the nation.This period saw the settlement of Anglo-American in the western fields, which were unlimited unmoving grounds possessed by Indians through The Homestead Act of 1862. The western boondocks had the capacity bring various improvements through commercializing of mining, rail route transport, and cultivating and dairy cattle organizations.
The Wild West: An Analysis of Post-Civil War Tension in John Ford’s “My Darling Clementine”
Scaheffer’s Shane had the perfect plot to incorporate a threat from the frontier that antagonizes a community, which is the first step in creating a work using the guidelines of the Western formula.
Horses in Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses serve as a significant symbol throughout John Grady’s narrative. Horses represent “all that is good and beautiful within the novel” (Mundik 16). McCarthy reveals, however, that horses, like people, must eventually be broken. Throughout the novel, idyllic horses are broken by the taming of John Grady, yet John Grady’s idealism endures as he brings the horses out of cynical Mexico and into optimistic America. All the Pretty Horses uses horses as a symbol to express the theme that while difficulties are ever-present and inevitable, goodness, beauty, and idealism can still remain within the framework of reality.
My Darling Clementine (1946) is a film that follows the classic semantics and syntactics of an original western film through the common traits, attitudes, characters, shots and locations that attribute to the building blocks of the Western genre. My Darling Clementine also includes syntactic elements that incorporate the genres fundamental grammar and the structure into which building blocks are placed. This can be compared and contrasted with the film Unforgiven which represents the revisionist western. The revisionist western includes a less idealistic and more morally ambiguous structure of film. Alcohol, the characteristics and the role of women, and the appearance and features of men can all be compared and contrasted throughout the two films. While My Darling Clementine fits into the classical semantics and syntax of the Western genre, Unforgiven explores the role of women, men and alcohol in a new way in which reversal of the traditional subject.
The movie True Grit is set in a chaotic time period of the American Frontier known as the “Old West,” or the “Wild West.” The American Frontier describes the “edge of a settled area.” Throughout the 18th and 19th century, the frontier continued to expand westward. In the mid-1800s, the frontier had been pushed into Nebraska and Kansas. Gold mines were attractive sources of wealth for many to move West. Eventually, railroads were built that connected the Western states and the East.(“American”). Throughout the West, many towns began to flourish in population due to the attraction of mines. Gambling also became a prominent source of entertainment. Although the West holds many opportunities, it also holds its fair share of difficulties. The climate was dry, the land was difficult to farm. Money was often short. As people struggled for their opportunities, chaotic violence became a telling point of the Old West (“The Western”). The task of controlling the violence of the West often fell into the hands of U.S. Marshals. They became renowned in the latter half of the 19th century for their heroics acts of punishing the lawlessness of the frontier towns (“U.S.”).
In the movie, The Searchers, it is like a old western type of film and you can tell it was at least in the 1940s and up. When the movie first started it played an old song saying to ride along or away. The opening part of the film the intro of the title of the movie was like red and old modern style and said the searchers on it. The first 10 minutes of the film all you really can see is a house in what looks like a desert but it's not and then people would get around on horses and live in tiny wood houses that looks like it was made with logs. In the rising action Debbie was taken by a comanche named scar, and Ethan and Marty come back from looking and end up finding the house burning and then the remains of His brother and His wife. When he
The Western film genre is typically set in a secluded village in the middle of the desert, normally in the American West. The setting includes wooden buildings, tumble weed, cacti, trains, horses and carriages. The storyline for western films is usually the same, namely, a hero travels to a remote village, usually on a horse, and brings peace to the warring villagers.
I believe a lot of young Americans can relate to the 2 main protagonists of the film. First, the main characters who are in High school are in search of their self-identity through subcultures. Momoko with her obsession of the Lolita concept plus the Rococo period and Ichigo with her bike gang. Although not the same subcultures as the film, there are a lot of different subcultures that American young people can pertain to. Thus, young Americans can identify with the main characters or may know someone that does. Therefore, watching the characters evolve and change through their friendship is an enjoyable experience.