Western Genre Essay

to highlight the films usage and portrayal of sound and music, gender roles, and incompatible desires of the main characters in order to demonstrate the importance of these themes and how they relate the stereotypical confines of the Hollywood Western genre. “When you hear a strange sound, drop to the ground.” (Once Upon a Time in the West, 1969) After an interaction with the station manager, the film begins with the introduction of three men waiting

Almost all movies have characteristics that categorize them in two or more genres. A great example of this being Unforgiven. The film’s dark and cynical characters occasionally resemble that of a film noir while its overall narrative structure depicts itself as a classical western style film. While there is an argument to call Unforgiven a film noir, it is hard to deny the idea that the film is mainly a film of the western genre. The basis of this idea, mostly relies on the portrayal of the lead protagonist

Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight is not a film normally considered a member of the western genre by any means. The western genre is meant to captivate a viewer with action on the frontier of the ol’ west. From bank robberies to mining towns wanted for land, the western brought many new film plots and characteristics to the big screen. The main appeal of westerns started dying off in the late 1900s but that has not stopped modern day film makers from producing them. Films such as

a post-modern version of a Western, Django Unchained (2012) by Quentin Tarantino. The protagonist in both movies by John Ford are John Wayne, Jane Tompkins says: " John Wayne, the actor whose name is synonymous with Western films, became the symbol of American masculinity from World War II to Vietnam" (5). What does this "American masculinity" stand for? This term actually appears to be an underlying factor of Western heroism in the American society. Heroes in Western movies have many common characteristics

were produced. These themes include gender roles, villains, and the issue of justice within a community, glamorization of violence and the genre-typical structure of the Western move. An overall trend in the Western genre is evident in the way that these movies continuously challenge the “progress” that was representative of the frontier West. Initially, western films did not have any social connotations attached to them other than the glamorization of the west, but as the films progressed with time

“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)

Writing Seminar: The Western: Cowpunchers, Gunslingers, and Beyond Unforgiven: The Contradictory Treatment of Violence Violence has always been a crucial factor in many genres of cinemas and film productions. The Western genre and the film in the genre is a fascinating approach to analyze the treatment of violence. Violence in the Western genre has changed multiple times into completely different but interesting view points over the course of history. The traditional western treatment of violence

The movie The Searchers is an excellent representation of the movie genre: Western Films. From the action filled scenes to the time period it set in, there’s many components of this film that heavily qualify it as a traditional western film. Furthermore, It was directed by John Ford and the lead actor was John Wayne, two very influential people in the making of western film. In this film, John Wayne plays “Uncle Ethan” a civil war veteran who is returning home. Shortly after his return an indian

Genre Theory and John Ford's Stagecoach The analytic theory posited by Robert Warshow in his essay "The Westerner", itemizes the elements necessary for a film to belong to the genre of the "western". Most contentiously, he mandates that the narrative focus upon the individual hero's plight to assert his identity, and diminishes the importance of secondary characters and issues, or any tendency toward "social drama." (431) He states that it is subtle variations that make successive instances

storytelling of facts, fiction, history and myths. For a time there was no other genre that has become more important to Hollywood in a culture-driven industry fueled by formulas. As a film genre nothing was so adaptable towards American sensibilities as the Western. Set in the nineteenth century where a large section of the United States was still undiscovered; it is known as the Wild West. The central plot of a western film is the classic goal of maintaining law and order on the frontier in an action