A Ways To Die In The West Film Analysis

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3. WESTERN GENRE
The western genre was developed in the silent era and using the basic same plot lines. The films used black hats to indicate bad guys and white hats to indicate good guys. The elements of tough cowboys fighting Indians while riding their horses was made known to the genre's conventions. The Western films found their rhythm in the 1950s which created the formula for western films as we know them today (Perry 2015 [sp]).
The traditions of western films were well known for engaging pre-world war II history (Agresta 2013 [sp]). For example ‘the westward expansion’ and ‘the cattle drives’ (Winkler 2015:517). Therefore when story-telling occurred it naturally lead to mythologies created by tales told. The greater the tale the more …show more content…

A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST
This film can be discussed a western comedy subgenre. The plot is humour driven (just as a comic usually is) and takes place in the west (Frye 1948:102). The film is about a cowardly sheep farmer (Albert) who tries to win back the woman he loves with the help of a mysterious newcomer to the town called Anna. Humorous death can be seen as a recurring motif throughout the film. For example when a bull comes out of nowhere and runs over a man at the fair (MacFarlane 2014). The film makes use of wide angle lenses which is a typical element of western films to shoot the vast landscapes in which the story takes place.
The western iconography can be seen as the setting is a small town in the west where transportation of horses and trains are used (Sanders 2015). In the film, the characters mention that the town’s location is the frontier and Albert also experiences an encounter with Indians (MacFarlane 2014). The law in this fil is represented by Anna the woman who helps Albert win back his girl by teaching how to shoot and gain new confidence in himself. When we are first introduced to Anna we see how she represents the law of what is right and what is wrong. Anna and her husband (Clinch) come across a prospector and the husband wants to shoot for the gold and ends up killing the old man. Anna protest against her husband that he didn’t have to shoot the prospector reinforces the idea of her representing the law in the …show more content…

Also the end of the film subverts the genre when it is not the skill of how well the Hero can handle a gun but instead his knowledge of nature which he taught himself through reading books (MacFarlane 2014). We see that the hero has book knowledge above the wisdom of weapons that is normally expected from a western ‘gunslinger’. The everyday western Hero presented to an audience has no financial status or employment, where in this film we are shown that Albert is a sheep farmer (Warshow 1962:108). We are also informed of his financial status as sheep farmer (MacFarlane 2014). This subverts the conventions of the western

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