Film Review : The Outlaw Josey Wales

The most serious Native American stereotypes are clearly visible in films of the early twentieth century in Hollywood westerns. The big screen stories about western cowboys defeating Native tribes proved to be extremely popular and lucrative. Hollywood then started producing western tales in incredible quantities . In most Westerns, white cowboys represent courageous, brave, and quick witted men while the Indians are the dimming past. Cowboys are logical. “Indians” are irrational. Together, cowboys and Indians are the ego and the heart of the Anglo-Saxon identity. Native American characters in twentieth century films have ranged from stereotypes including the bloodthirsty, raging beast to the noble savage. Still other Indian characters, whether they are heroes, bad guys, or neutral, were the characters with little to no character development or range in their personalities. These stereotypes have their origins in popular American literature dating as far back as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Jacquelyn Kilpatrick, author of Celluloid Indians, notes that popular stories “centered on Native American savagery served as outlets for violence and pent up aggression in an early American society that prided manners and respectability.” (Kilpatrick 2) In these stories, the Native American population was seen as bad, though individual members could be represented as good. These stereotypes continued for years. One author, James Fenimore Cooper, began publishing a series of stories titled The Leatherstocking Tales in 1841. Kilpatrick emphasizes that Cooper

The last scene cuts from the mass executing fields of San Jacinto, highlighting dead Mexican troopers to the extent the eye can see, to the famous figure of Davy Crockett fiddling on the mass of the Alamo. The gore at San Jacinto reviews the butcher at the Alamo and is all the more huge for its conveying Texas from the grip of the domineering Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna. The vanquishing of the brutal and ethically suspect corrupt Mexican pioneer brings into being the Texas republic. Overall, the film relates to history because of the battles fought during the Texas Revolution making the Alamo an iconic

This was a war movie so it contained the violent scene of bombarding and murdering. Although it was illegal to have slaves in Texas but some did carry slave which violated the laws. As well as the film portrayed that the Mexicans are hard hearted, they were so rude in nature. The film was set in The Alamo. The movie set version of The Alamo chapel façade forward 30-40 feet more than exact structure. It was because the director wanted to show The Alamo chapel and interior of the fort in one shot. It was the largest and most expensive set which was overbuilt in North America which comes off 51 acres. The exterior scenes were shot in Texas between Jan-June 2003, near Austin. The film main scene of the Mexican attack on The Alamo was done under harsh weather conditions – battles scenes were shot in cold rain for hours to make scenes realistic. The costumes worn by two different parties were peculiar. The Texans wore long hat, coat, pant, and shoes whereas the Mexicans set of clothes were colorful, they worn clothes composed of different color like red, white, black, and white with peacock like a hat. And finally, I think that this important history is very much relevant in creating Texans who are living in this 21st century. This history helps Texans to be proud of their past and feel great for their

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.

The American western frontier, still arguably existent today, has presented a standard of living and characteristics which, for a time, where all its own. Several authors of various works regarding these characteristics and the obvious border set up along the western and eastern sections have discussed their opinions of the west. In addition to these literary works by renowned authors, one rather convenient cinematic reference has also been influenced by these well-known, well-discussed practices of this American frontier. “True Grit”, a film recently remade in 2010 by the Cohen Brothers, crosses the boundaries of the west allowing all movie-goers to capture one idea of the western world. The movie, along with a few scholarly sources

“Dear John Wayne” by Louise Erdrich is about the stereotype of the Native American, being a savage race on film and how the Native Americans watching the film react to those stereotypes.

The Australian film ‘Jasper Jones’ directed by Rachel Perkins showcases the ideas of racism, prejudice, sexual abuse and bullying. The film is based in the small mining town Corrigan in the year of 1965. In this period, the Vietnam War had Australia sending troops to fight. The war divided cultures, victimising the Vietnamese Lu family because of their race and frequently abusing against them verbally and physically. Sexual abuse and infidelity are other issues that lurk throughout the film as the truth of Laura Wishart’s disappearance displays how prejudice occurs within the small town in outback Australia in the 1960s.

This reaction paper is based on a film by the name of “Lone Star.” The Director of this film is an independent director by the name of John Sayless. Lone Star is a contemporary film that was created in 1996. This film is a Western based film that. But it is set in the present day was created on the U.S./Mexico border. It describes a sheriff that is trying to get revenge of his father’s Buddy Dee death. In doing so he sorts out to solve a crime. The crime has to do with him and his father, Buddy Dee. The film also details the sheriff's love life and his relations to his high school history teacher. The teachers mother a restaurant owner was one of many people to jump the US border. Towards the end of the movie the Sheriff finds out the love of his life is not only his true love but his sister. He finds out that his father and the teacher’s mother had an affair in which the teacher was conceived. It was ironic because the sheriff had method to the teacher while having sex with her that it felt weird later to find out that they were brother and sister.

At the beginning of the book, Horowitz sets up the background for his spellbinding interest in the American Civil War. Horwitz wrote this book shortly after settling in Virginia following several years as a journalist overseas. The consciousness out of which Tony Horwitz witnessed conflicts in foreign war zones for decades was imbued with an obsession, sustained since childhood, with the legacy of the American Civil War. When Tony Horwitz was 6, in the 1960's, he learned that his 101-year-old great-grandfather, Isaac Moses Perski, an immigrant from czarist Russia, was an American Civil War buff. So was Horwitz's father. Horwitz became one too. One purpose of this book is to reexamine this connection, to question why a liberal Northerner should find himself drawn to stories and figures that represent much that he has worked against in his own life.What explains this non-Southern, nonmilitary family's fascination with a horrible conflict in which their ancestors had no part? That, the first question raised by Horwitz's splendid commemoration of the war and its legacy, is never quite answered. Appropriately so, perhaps, because Horwitz gives us the Civil War in which Americans see all sorts of unresolved strife: over race, sovereignty, the sanctity of historic landscapes and who should interpret the past. One morning, he hears gunfire outside his house. It turned out to be a group of Civil War reenactors, decked out in Confederate uniforms, filming a scene

We see a large contrast between the American characters and Mexican characters in the film. The American characters are chivalrous, courageous and dressed in a typical “Western” fashion; raccoon fur hats, formal wear or button down shirts while the Mexican characters are depicted as cowards and womanizing drunks in sombreros, ponchos or soldier uniforms with darkened skin. These negative depictions of Mexicans are used as a contrast from this perfect image of what it is to be “American”. For example, the General Santa Ana is portrayed to be a weak leader who is detached from the battle and who is preoccupied with exploiting women. In contrast to Davy Crockett who is able to band together with others to fight and protect Texas while on the battle front. Griffin uses these historic Alamo figures to emulate what it means to belong to America. The idea of Americans not backing down against a threat is portrayed through figures like Davy Crocket.

The movie “Gone with the Wind” is about a rich southern girl named Scarlett O’Hara and her life hardships set during the time-period of the Civil War. In the story, Scarlett is forced to watch helplessly as her family’s wealth and lives fade as the confederacy loses the Civil War. Even though, the movie is mainly centered on the dilemmas of Scarlett’s love life, there are many historical accuracies that immerse the viewer in the southern mindset as well as the timeframe. The portrayal of class structures and the confederate attitudes before the Civil War are both accurate and engaging details that the movie successfully implements. In the film, these examples are displayed mainly through the dialogue and setting.

This film by virtue of its independence has shied away from the usual hype associated with American movies. The result is an original screenplay by Billy Bob Thornton that is transformed into a mesmerising tale of the south. Thornton cast actors with ability rather than their image or ‘Hollywood status’. Sling Blade challenges us to re-evaluate our principles and our definitions of right, wrong and of justice.

The southwest is a region of the United States that makes our country unique. Without the southwest, we would undoubtedly lack the spirit, hope, beauty, and truth that this vast region brings to the rest of the United States as a whole. The southwest represents many things, such as journeying, racism, violence, the clashing and cooperation of cultures, and spirituality, as well as primitivism and pastoralism. All of these elements that the Southwest is comprised of is perhaps the reason why the rest of the country feels so captivated by it; why the southwest is considered a place to “find yourself” or to “regenerate”; and why literature and film regarding the Southwest has been and continues to be of the most popular genres. The western film was one of the most popular during the first half of the twentieth century. Audiences far and wide were mesmerized by actors such as John Wayne and Roy Rogers, and their roles as heroes who fought to tame the American frontier. This very concept, ‘taming the frontier’, gives way to a larger theme that was prevalent in many western films and literature of the southwest: ubi sunt, or rather “where are those who came before us?”. Director Sam Peckinpah’s The Ballad of Cable Hogue portrays this idea better than any other western film; the concept of ubi sunt is undeniably the film’s overarching theme, clearly seen through its components.

“Film is more than the instrument of a representation; it is also the object of representation. It is not a reflection or a refraction of the ‘real’; instead, it is like a photograph of the mirrored reflection of a painted image.” (Kilpatrick) Although films have found a place in society for about a century, the labels they possess, such as stereotypes which Natives American are recognized for, have their roots from many centuries ago (Kilpatrick). The Searchers, a movie directed by John Ford and starred by John Wayne, tells the story of a veteran of the American Civil War and how after his return home he would go after the maligned Indians who killed his family and kidnapped his younger niece. After struggling for five years to recover

[1] Before I start this essay, I feel the need to remind the reader that I find slavery in all its forms to be an oppressive and terrible institution, and I firmly believe that for centuries (including this one) bigotry is one of the most terrible stains on our civilization. The views I intend to express in the following essay are in no way meant to condone the practices of slavery or racism; they are meant only to evaluate and interpret the construction of slavery in film.