The Truth about Cowboy Types

The Comanches, exceptional horsemen who dominated the Southern Plains, played a prominent role in Texas frontier history throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Anthropological evidence indicates that they were originally a mountain tribe, a branch of the Northern Shoshones, who roamed the Great Basin region of the western United States as crudely equipped hunters and gatherers. Both cultural and linguistic similarities confirm the Comanches' Shoshone origins. The Comanche language is derived from the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family and is virtually identical to the language of the Northern Shoshones. Sometime during the late seventeenth century, the Comanches acquired horses, and that acquisition

In 1939 John Ford masterminded a classical western film by the name of Stagecoach. This film has the integrity of a fine work of art. Being that it could be considered a work of art, the impression left on a viewing audience could differ relying on the audience's demographics. However, it is conceivable to all audiences that Ford delivers a cast of characters that are built on stereotypes and perceptions conjured from 'B' westerns that preceded this film's time. Each character is introduced to the audience in a stereotypical genre, as the film progresses, these stereotypes are broken down and the characters become more humanized. This is apparent with a handful of characters being

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.

Males are interesting objects. They have to keep their chest high and stand their ground. Cowboys are supposed to have a beer belly, mustache, long comeback boots, and the upper lip mug on their face. This is how a man’s mentality should always be. Males are known to be tough and not show emotion, “Cowboys are just like a pile of rocks – everything happens to them,” (Ehrlich 1045). No matter how much they get attacked, pushed around, and so on; they are told to just stand there and deal with it. “Take it like a man,” something that is said all the time when a young boy or a grown man tries to show a “feminine” emotion. Emotion is a dull thing to a male and should not be shown. They can only be happy, or mad. There is no in between to that. If sadness is shown, then they will be called weak or a wimp, and being called

The mustangs run with a spirit that makes them legendary here in the west. On a bitter cold morning, dozens of wild horses descend off the mountains of eastern Oregon, galloping miles across the rangeland. Stallions and mares, guiding their young. It is an incredible sight, but also one that infuriates many hard working Americans. Horse’s hoof prints in cattle grazing lands, drinking the water supply dry. Farmers are losing their grazing rights before their cattle even step foot on the property. There is another animal taking over the land. Wild horses.

One of the chief culprits, he concludes, is Wyoming's manufacture of a false history around cowboy mythology. While the bucking horse is one of Wyoming's most identifiable symbols (it's on every Wyoming license plate), Western notes that Wyoming's key early settlers were, in fact, wealthy merchants who, from the beginning, had an

Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol' Boys Defined a State. Brooks Blevins. Fayetteville, AR. 2009. 242 pages

Longhorn Cattle have a long history to go with their long horns that they are known for which can grow up to seven feet wide. Their progenitors were acquainted with the New World in 1493 when Christopher Columbus arrived in the present-day Caribbean Islands. As Spanish moved north they carried the cows with them and in the eighteen - hundreds longhorns touched base in the zone that would get to be Texas. These cattle were viewed as wild until tamed in the nineteenth century. (Radke)

Cattle has a reliable significance by being the personification of the Native American people. Although white ranchers rejected the animals, Josiah has his faith and intuition that his cattle would be unique, not the ordinary which have lost touch with their lands. He demonstrates the animals as “any living thing” (Silko, 74), which illustrates that the cattle would lose their origins if they “separate from the land for too long” (Silko, 74). Silko highlights the dissimilarity of treatment of animals by the whites from the Laguna method of hunting animals since the Laguna people expresses their respects and appreciations for the prey through rituals and ceremonies. When the Herefords owned by the white ranchers are about to fall to death because of thirst, the spotted cattle can find water on their own. In other words, they are self-sufficient and close to the lands

Many recognize the classic image of the cowboy in an old western movie: the fearless, stoic hero that stays calm in moments of crisis. In Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, readers witness the protagonist, John Grady Cole, attempt to revive this famous archetype. Beginning as early as when the first pilgrims came to the new continent, Americans have always had a desire to “settle” Native American lands. In the time that followed, the West became a sort of proving ground for the Europeans and their decedents. During the nineteenth century, the image of land being settled by men on horses, who literally took the law into their own hands through their shotguns, became pervasive in the American mind. By

The vaquero?s roping techniques and the way he gathered his cattle are evident in today?s cattle ranches. Much of the same equipment that the vaquero used while taking care of the cattle that he was in charge of are the same as much of the same equipment used today by America?s cowboys in the cattle industry. Though the types of ranches have changed somewhat in comparison to the early missions and the early rancheros, cattle ranches today still depend on their cowboys just as ranchos depended on vaqueros. The modern cattle ranches would not be what they are today without the influences of the Spanish. The Spaniards provided the first cattle, the first vaqueros, the first saddles, and the first round-up.

            Western, Sam. Pushed Off the Mountain, Sold Down the River: Wyoming’s Search for Its Soul.

The question is whether No Country for Old Men and Stagecoach provide adequate examples of the decline in American moral values. From my perspective of today’s world and my interpretation of No Country for Old Men and Stagecoach, I can see how the argument could be made that they have declined or haven’t changed at all. I see a difference between the relationship of Ringo and Dallas vs other members of their traveling group compared to Sheriff Bell vs Chigurh. These relationships, in my opinion, explains a lot about the development of moral values, or lack of, in the western United States. In this paper, I will describe the moral values that are represented in each movie and I will also try to describe my understanding of why American moral values may have declined between No Country for Old Men and Stagecoach.

An eerie flute sounds in the distance. Smack dab in the center of, let’s call it, “A Staple Town in the Wild West™” are two cowboys in the midst of a head to head shootout for God knows what- a spilled drink, malicious comments, a poached lover. The piercing mix of sand and wind scathing your skin, eyes blinded by the high noon sun shining from above, and of course, the token roll of tumbleweed barely in your line of eyesight. “One… two… three… Shoot!” The hero always prevails... quite disparate imagery compared to Mel Brooks’ 1974 classic, Blazing Saddles. The Western motif is one that has been trivialized, heckled, idealized, “subverted”, and replicated exponentially throughout not only American cinemas but motion pictures world-wide. Blazing Saddles serves as both a form of this “subversion” and a burlesque depiction of the genre itself. The film’s complex sense of humor prioritizes aspects that can only be completely relished based on the personal experiences of the viewer- a satirical comedy attempting (and succeeding) at ridiculing copious aspects of an otherwise ideal Western society. Blazing Saddles serves as a mockery of the traditional white westerner archetype, the Ku Klux, and all sorts of minority groups, while simultaneously bringing awareness to the harsh treatment and racial prejudice against African Americans. Brooks utilizes the parodying aspects and themes evident in Blazing Saddles as a method to “subvert” principles of the Western genre.

Howdy! Heee -Hawww! Giddy-Up! There was once a time in America's Theatre, where western films were very popular .Many Hollywood films categorize western movies into the same unimaginative description and role. The plot of the film itself is foreseeable: seven westerners come together to defend a town from morally unethical baron, unsurprisingly become friends along the way, while making sacrifices. As uninteresting as this plot may be, adding diversified characters within the cast made the movie distinct from what many may have seen in western films of yesteryear. The producers of the classic film The Magnificent Seven knew that recreating this movie was not their “first rodeo.” Notwithstanding, the producers did not risk losing the popularity the original film earned but insisted on making the movie appealing in the current Blockbuster's market. Although The Magnificent Seven has diversity within the cast, the movie fails to be racially sensitive which made the remaking of the movie lifeless.