The Western

was the academy winning Western legend, recognized as one of the best filmmakers of all time, his name was John Ford. He started out his career in film in July 1914 as an assistant, labourman and actor for his brother Francis Ford. It was not until 1917 where he made his debut as a director with the lost film, The Tornado and ended his career in the early 1970s with his last film Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend. During his early years, he was making silent films where Westerns were very popular during

A Western Hero in Shane The western genre plays an important part in the mythologising of American history. The way the western genre and particularly the western hero are put across in such films as Shane, are most likely not how real life in the 1880s was. In Shane the hero arrived on horseback, he was confident, handsome and managed to charm the female character, Marion, almost immediately. Typically, throughout the film the mysterious gunslinger was wearing

I would consider the ‘Walking Dead’ a western but more of a modernized Sci-Fi type of western. In the article by Massik, Solomon “The Walking Dead, Westerns, and the New Westerns” it describes how the ‘Walking Dead’ is a western because of the guns, violence and the lawless frontier. I agree with this because that’s how I imagine most westerns be with people with guns and they were allowed to use them more freely than what they are now. Western males always had guns at hand just like in the ‘Walking

was once a film genre that dominated the silver screens for over 30 years. That genre is the western, a genre that saw its golden age from the 1930’s to the 1960’s with classics like Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy (1964-1966), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and John Ford’s The Searchers (1956), though with such films like James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma (2007) and David Mackenzie’s Hell or High, westerns in the modern stay still have an audience. Films in this genre usually take place during the

Ever since the early 20th century, there had been several attempts and experimentation in creating a new genre of cinema known as the Western. The first well-known Western movie The Great Train Robbery (1903), while not necessarily being the first ever Western, it is by both film historians and theorists definitely considered the pinnacle of the genre, that got it all started and that would be the first step in creating others similar to it, but also very different. Because it was still an unknown

Heroes in Western Film In the genre of western films, the hero plays a key role. Humanity portrays civilization overcoming the hostile country (Miller 66). In many films the American civil war is over, and people have turned their attention to more constructive pursuits. Battling nature to progress America's future, rather than each other. In between this wild country, fraught with danger and corruption lies the role of the hero. A hero is an individual with exceptional skills and through his

varies from location, religion and culture. How western cultures view the body and how the body is treated (our body and others) are different from how non western cultures view and treat bodies. We can see the differences in the western and non western bodies in such works as Anne Fadiman’s account of a Hmong child in America and in articles like Genital Surgeries: Gendering Bodies. Along with the many differences between western and non western thoughts there are also several similarities. Especially

as well as throughout history. There is also a popular opinion in western countries, including the United States, that western religions are better than eastern religions, where eastern religions are often viewed as archaic and undeveloped. This opinion, however, is incorrect and often stems from the major differences between the two different types of religion that people are often not aware of. Eastern Religions differ from Western Religions in that they have different ideology as well as a different

witness the death of a significant role model, mature as they encounter various trials and triumph over their enemies, transforming into adults throughout the process. The Lion King’s story of Simba’s rise to succeed his father as king reflects western attitudes towards growing up and how maturing from a child into an adult is perceived: meeting the expectations of family and society, and accepting the responsibilities associated with adulthood. Unlike The Lion King where the film ends when the

Western and Non-Western Civilizations The past centuries saw a clear distinction between the Western civilization and the non-western culture. The western civilization composed of Greece, Romans, Byzantine Empire, and the European while the non-western civilizations included East Asia, Egypt, Persian Empire, Sassanid Empire, African Societies and Kingdoms, Incas, Mayans, Aztecs, and Mongols. For a long period, the western civilizations prevailed around the world. They influenced, lead and controlled