The Western Symbols Of The Stagecoach And American Characteristics

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

In the 1953 film Shane directed by George Stevens, mysterious hero Shane helps settlers in the west claim their property against land owners who are greedy for land. The film follows Shane as he meets the Starrett family who are fighting to keep their land. This film is an example of a classic Western film, with elements that reflect a uniqueness about the film in comparison to other Westerns, both cinematically and thematically.

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.

Stagecoach – a movie that is widely accepted as the most damaging movie for the Native identity – helped to illustrate this image to viewers at the time. As a result, many Americans believed Natives were all uncivilized and violent, leading to nationwide stereotyping and prejudice. The Indian was the enemy of America as a result. Stagecoach also shows Natives being hunted like animals, which sends the image of them being non-human and thus they should be treated as such. Stagecoach and movies like it mispresented Natives for decades and caused a loss-of-identity amongst the Native community because Natives were dressed the same throughout various films. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s where Natives were properly represented on

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

[1] The silent film, With Daniel Boone Thru the Wilderness, was produced in 1926: a time of prosperity, an era without the skepticism of the modern American mind. People were not yet questioning the stories and histories they had been taught as children. The entertaining story told in this Robert North Bradbury film is loosely based on the life of an American hero. However, the presence of several insidiously inaccurate historical representations demonstrates how an entertaining film might not be as innocent as it initially seems. This film fails to question certain key issues concerning the Daniel Boone legend. In fact, it does quite the opposite. The creators of this

According to the film critic, Phillip French, “The Western has always been about America rewriting and reinterpreting her own past,” if this is indeed the case, then the two most popular Westerns of the early 1990s reveal that many Americans had rejected the traditional interpretation of the Old West. The critically and commercially successful, Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven, repudiated the patriotic frontier myth that had characterised the Western when it was the preeminent genre in American cinema. Informed by new Western historiography, itself an expression of political concerns that had been moving into the American mainstream since the 1960s, the movies display a complex and nuanced understanding of the frontier experience. Dances with Wolves rejected the traditional narrative of the inherent superiority of the Anglo-American hero conquering both Native Americans and the wilderness, and also focused on the environmental destruction that accompanied the ideology of Manifest Destiny. Unforgiven would similarly reject the frontier myth, replacing the democratic, civilised frontier town, with a brutal regime in which white men’s property rights prevail over any sense of justice. The film is noted for its self-reflexive nature, with a writer documenting and embellishing the tales of the Old West before the viewer’s eyes. This self-reflexion indicates that Americans were re-evaluating the myths of the frontier, and seeing them for what they were, creations by the

Stagecoach represents Native Americans as noble savages, a typical Hollywood Indian in western movies. A noble savage is a racist term used to describe a character as a wild person who symbolizes the goodness of humanity. They are an outsider who has not been civilized yet. This representation of Indians is completely stereotyped and is completely inaccurate but was created for the entertainment of white audiences who watch western films. The film Stagecoach is a complete western style film with scenes of cowboys versus Indians, in which the Indians are helpless, and cowboys seem to come out of the middle of the desert (Ford, 1939). These types of western films portray the American Indians through basic stereotypes such as riding horses with bows and arrows, they are always outnumbered, and they are portrayed in a dehumanizing style. These films act as if Indians are wild animals and not as actual people. The cowboys always are the heroes and the Indians always are incapable of surviving. Due to western movies, America now has the image of the Hollywood Indian that some people still believe Indians are in today's society. The representation of Indians in Stagecoach creates a visual that Indians are impotent and not humane. American Indians are always seen as the bad guys in western films which allows today's society to use the image of Indians as costumes for Halloween and allows people to see Indians as an object and not

American western movies were a thing of the 1950’s but they were no longer captivating in the 1970’s. It was apparent that guns, cowboys, and American heroes were no longer seen as a point of interest for the viewing public. Mel Gibson’s film entitled, Blazing Saddles, debuted in 1974 and seemed to fit the bill of the post-1960’s western. Blazing Saddles is a film that is able to take on racism and utilize it as an important reflection of the time. The film goes where no film has gone before in terms of discussing race and Hollywood. Blazing Saddles was able to seemingly integrate elements of Blaxploitation and introduce the film industry’s first interracial buddy comedy.

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.

Western, a genre of short stories that are set in the American west, primarily in the late of the 19th century (“Western” 598), and still being told until today by films, televisions, radio, and other art works. The major of moving to the west was because of the Homestead Act, 1862 (“U.S. Statues at Large” 392) which would give lands to people who stayed there for five years. This lead to a huge wave of immigrants moved to the West, and they had to face to many hardships and conflicts such as Indian attacks, tornadoes, blizzards, and illnesses.

Typically referred to as ‘Indians’ in popular culture, Native Americans were traditionally seen in Westerns as the antagonists. The Western genre typically tells the story of the colonisation and discovery of America, which saw the major Hollywood studios revive the interest in the Western. Westerns draw on “historical actuality, a romantic philosophy of nature, and the concept of the […] savage” (Saunders, 2001, p. 3). Westerns often split the “depiction of the Indian, with the cruel and treacherous [Indian] balanced by the faithful [Indian]” (Saunders, 2001, p. 3) which resulted in the portrayals of Native Americans witnessed in films today.

The “classic” elements of The Western as a genre is dominated by the differences and relationship between society and the lone hero. As the narrative captures this relationship other “classic” elements of The Western are put on display. According to Will Wright, these elements include the secondary class that women hold to men in society as the Easternization of the world, the root of good versus evil, and wilderness versus civilization. These elements are directly correlated to The Western film Shane (1953) where the “classic” plot plays out when Shane comes into civilization on his horse with his moleskins and six-shooter to inevitably defeat the villains threatening society. There are 16 parts to the classical plot according to Wright with some optional, but Shane follows these actions almost perfectly.

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.”).

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