The first still black and white image is a screenshot from the final scene in John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946) in which Wyatt Earp leaves Tombstone, Arizona with his brothers to tell his Pa about James death. Clementine represents civility and femininity in her role as future schoolteacher in contrast to Mexican prostitute and saloon girl Chihuahua. In this image, Wyatt Earp and Clementine stand apart from each other leaving the audience to wait for a long overdue kiss between the two, which evidently is only on the cheek. Clementine's hands are positioned low but it looks like she is clenching on to something thereby revealing some anxiousness about Wyatt Earp leaving. In the final scene, Clementine represents civilization in which …show more content…
the man-made fence keeps out the wilderness but at the same time invites us into the town of civility. Henry Fonda portrays Wyatt Earp’s acts of violence as straightforward and acceptable thus making it clear to the audience and town of Tombstone that he is one of the good guys, a Marshall who sought to uphold the law from ‘the Other,’ most notably, the Clanton Gang from terrorizing the town. In lecture, Gillain states that the fence “draws our eyes to the dominating centre of the buttes” thereby providing a “pathway between these two conflicting spaces, yet conjoining them in settlement” in much the same way the conflict between wilderness and civilization and nature and culture arise. Ford's depiction of Monument Valley is a classic setting in the Western genre and therefore sets the ambivalent relationship between frontier and towns.
Here, Ford captures the sky with surrounding empty landscape beyond the town to illustrate a politics of space ready to be filled. This freedom for the taking ultimately justified historical accounts of 15th century American colonization where white European settlers divide and conquer of Native's and Outlaws land. Chapter 1 entitled ‘The Western’ argues that the emptiness of landscape denotes a “politics of space ready to be filled.” Furthermore, the buttes are shown in the front and centre suggesting presence; however, its farsightedness reveals that they are also in the process of disappearing. In this classic Western setting, the viewer is invited to join Wyatt Earp on his voyage in bringing justice, peace, and natural order to America. Note the buttes are closer aligned to Wyatt Earp than Clementine thus re-emphasizing Wyatt Earp association with land. Therefore, Ford's use of iconic oppositions in the image maps out the primary conflict between civilization and the wilderness and according to Gillian, serves as an allegory for America's civilizing of the Western Frontier. Ultimately, I believe Wyatt and Clementine will end up together because he gave her ample reason to return. For example, Wyatt told Clementine he would hopefully stop by again for cattle and visit, thereby prompting a reunion. They end up on good
terms, he kisses her on the cheek, and they say their goodbyes followed by the iconic folk song "My Darling Clementine" which serves as a motif for love and loss. Clementine's character incidentally falls for Wyatt Earp despite her intentions to win back the affection of her former foe, Doc Holiday. The second image is depicted midway through Lawrence Kasdan’s film Wyatt Earp (1994), which captures Wyatt Earp about to kiss his soon to be third wife Josephine. The landscape of trees and skyline is blurred in the background, as the two characters become centerfold. Chapter 1: The Western argues that this re-imagination of the West works to wipe out Native existence. Evidently, Wyatt Earp and his lover are the only ones occupying this space. Throughout the film, Kevin Costner portrays Wyatt Earp as the romanticized idealized controversial American hero. In both images, Wyatt Earp does not wear his cowboy hat showing a type of civility while he is courting a woman for his affections. In lecture, Gillian emphasizes the important of ritual as a feature in Western film. For example, Wyatt Earp takes off his cowboy hat before approaching longtime sweetheart Ursilla and tells her that he will do everything he can to earn her affections in a hand of marriage. In John Ford’s MDC, Wyatt Earp takes off his hat while dancing with Clementine in the church, another ritual embodying faith and peace in contrast to the uncivilized wilderness. These examples demonstrate how church and marriage are among many basic cycles of life. Wyatt Earp and Josie are closer in physical proximity than Wyatt Earp and Clementine in MDC. The second image fulfills a gratifying need for the audience in terms of romance and marriage. Furthermore, the film adopts a semibiographical perspective in which Josephine was actually Wyatt Earp’s third wife. In the first image, Clementine is a character that never existed in Wyatt Earp’s life thereby serving a role to fulfill America’s myth on the politics of gender and femininity. The Western Frontier is notably blurred in the image in contrast to Ford’s MDC depiction. Wyatt Earp’s second wife, who calls Wyatt Earp’s lover offensive names such as, “Jew Whore”, routinely scrutinizes Josie’s character and sexuality. MDC embodies Clementine as pure innocence.
McCarthy’s plot is built around a teenage boy, John Grady, who has great passion for a cowboy life. At the age of seventeen he begins to depict himself as a unique individual who is ambitious to fulfill his dream life – the life of free will, under the sun and starlit nights. Unfortunately, his ambition is at odds with the societal etiquettes. He initiates his adventurous life in his homeland when he futilely endeavors to seize his grandfather’s legacy - the ranch. John Grady fails to appreciate a naked truth that, society plays a big role in his life than he could have possibly imagined. His own mother is the first one to strive to dictate his life. “Anyway you’re sixteen years old, you can’t run the ranch…you are being ridiculers. You have to go to school” she said, wiping out any hopes of him owning the ranch (p.15). Undoubtedly Grady is being restrained to explore his dreams, as the world around him intuitively assumes that he ought to tag along the c...
The Frontier Thesis has been very influential in people’s understanding of American values, government and culture until fairly recently. Frederick Jackson Turner outlines the frontier thesis in his essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”. He argues that expansion of society at the frontier is what explains America’s individuality and ruggedness. Furthermore, he argues that the communitarian values experienced on the frontier carry over to America’s unique perspective on democracy. This idea has been pervasive in studies of American History until fairly recently when it has come under scrutiny for numerous reasons. In his essay “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature”, William Cronon argues that many scholars, Turner included, fall victim to the false notion that a pristine, untouched wilderness existed before European intervention. Turner’s argument does indeed rely on the idea of pristine wilderness, especially because he fails to notice the serious impact that Native Americans had on the landscape of the Americas before Europeans set foot in America.
John Ford’s classic American Western film, Stagecoach (1939) shows many examples of political life and social behavior during it’s time. The plot is about nine travelers onboard a stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona to Lordsburg, New Mexico Territory. In the beginning, the passengers of the Stagecoach are unfamiliar with each other. However, their relationships grow as they get to know each other during their journey. Each character claims a different social position.
According to the thesis of Fredrick Jackson Turner, the frontier changed America. Americans, from the earliest settlement, were always on the frontier, for they were always expanding to the west. It was Manifest Destiny; spreading American culture westward was so apparent and so powerful that it couldn’t be stopped. Turner’s Frontier Theory says that this continuous exposure to the frontier has shaped the American character. The frontier made the American settlers revert back to the primitive, stripping them from their European culture. They then created something brand new; it’s what we know today as the American character. Turner argues that we, as a culture, are a product of the frontier. The uniquely American personality includes such traits as individualism, futuristic, democratic, aggressiveness, inquisitiveness, materialistic, expedite, pragmatic, and optimistic. And perhaps what exemplifies this American personality the most is the story of the Donner Party.
The book starts out with a chapter called “Over the Mountains”, which in my opinion for this chapter the author wanted the reader to understand what it was like to live on the other side of the Appalachian Mountains. This is where he brings out one of the main characters in this book, which is Henry Brackenridge. Mr. Brackenridge is a cultivated man in Pittsburgh. He was wealthy and he was there to ratify the Constitution. He was a Realist. He was a college friend of James Madison at College of New Jersey. He was also in George Washington’s post as a chaplain for the Revolutionary War. He believed that Indians needed to be assimilated into the American culture. “… ever to be converted into civilized ways, their legal rights were to be protected” (Hogeland 19). He will become one of the leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion.
In All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy reveals the limitations of a romantic ideology in the real world. Through his protagonist, John Grady Cole, the author offers three main examples of a man’s attempt to live a romantic life in the face of hostile reality: a failed relationship with an unattainable woman; a romantic and outdated relationship with nature; and an idealistic decision to live as an old-fashioned cowboy in an increasingly modern world. In his compassionate description of John Grady, McCarthy seems to endorse these romantic ideals. At the same time, the author makes clear the harsh reality and disappointments of John Grady’s chosen way of life.
The times are changing and he's unwilling to give up the past. The world is becoming modernized and people like him, cowboys and ranchers, are slowly disappearing. He runs away from home because he desires to find peace within himself as well as a place where he can feel he belongs. Here begins the adventure of John Grady and his best friend Lacey Rawlins. It is important to note here the means of travel. The story is taking place after World War II, a time when cars are fairly common, yet these boys decide to go on horseback, like in the fading old days. This is just another concept of how they are unwilling to give up a fading past. When they first begin their journey, the boys are having a good time. In a sense they?re two buddies on a road trip with no real motive. Rawlins even mentions, ?You know what?I could get used to this life.? Then they meet Blevins, the foil in the plot that veers the two boys of their course and also has plays a role in the lasting change of their personality. Their meeting with him gives an insight into Grady?s character. Rawlins is against letting Blevins come along with them, but because of John?s kind nature he ends up allowing Blevins to come. It?s because of this kindness and sense of morality, he gets into trouble later on.
When looking at the vast lands of Texas after the Civil War, many different people came to the lands in search for new opportunities and new wealth. Many were lured by the large area that Texas occupied for they wanted to become ranchers and cattle herders, of which there was great need for due to the large population of cows and horses. In this essay there are three different people with three different goals in the adventures on the frontier lands of Texas in its earliest days. Here we have a woman's story as she travels from Austin to Fort Davis as we see the first impressions of West Texas. Secondly, there is a very young African American who is trying his hand at being a horse rancher, which he learned from his father. Lastly we have a Mexican cowboy who tries to fight his way at being a ranch hand of a large ranching outfit.
Billy and Wyatt of them go through a series of adventures, first stopping off at a motel where they're rejected, regardless of the glowing vacancy sign. This shows that their culture is not accepted in the rest of the world. They leave the motel and camp out in the wilderness. At a point, Wyatt's bike gets a flat, and they stop at a farm to fix it. It is at this point that the film makes a comparison of the bikers to cowboys. As Wyatt is fixing his tire a man in the background is shoeing his horse. This is making the point that Wyatt is the new version of the cowboy and his chopper is the new cowboy’s horse. During this scene there is an exchange between Wyatt and the farmer where Wyatt tells the farmer how much he admires his farm because he built it with his own hands. This is the first time that you get an idea of Wyatt’s values.
This Analysis Paper is an analysis of social problems an issues presented in the film. The film under analysis in this paper is "What 's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993). The topics used as a lens for analysis are family, social roles, deviance, and social groups. This paper will present numerous examples of these social issue topics as they are displayed in the film.
The Nebraskan prairies are beautiful and picturesque and set the scene for a memorable story. Big farm houses and windmills placed throughout the graceful flowing golden yellow grass become a nostalgic aspect of Jim as he leaves his childhood life behind. The frontier includes destructive and depressing winters and luscious summers that affect Jim's family and the immigrants. The gloominess of winter and the suicide of Mr. Shimerda provide memories that associate Jim's recollections with nature's seasons. The Christmas season provided faith to persevere through winter and the exchanging of gifts made happy memories, which Jim could not experience if snow darkness did not exist. The summers were most unforgettable though. The smoldering sun and fertile land made growing crops easy. The immigrants references of roads lined with sunflowers as opportunity inspired Jim to appreciate the splendor and bountifulness of the land. Later Jim encounters these pathways, now concealed because of erosion, remembering that "this was the road over which Antonia and I came when we got off the train . . . the feelings of that night had been so near that I could reach out and touch them with my hand. For Antonia and me, this had been the road of Destiny" (Cather237).
Tompkins, Jane. West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Over the years, the idea of the western frontier of American history has been unjustly and falsely romanticized by the movie, novel, and television industries. People now believe the west to have been populated by gun-slinging cowboys wearing ten gallon hats who rode off on capricious, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the west far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian massacre, avarice, and ill-advised, often deceptive, government programs is even present in the average citizen’s understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the west is epitomized by the statement, “Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the west. The development of the west was, in fact, A Century of Dishonor.” The frontier thesis, which Turner proposed in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition, viewed the frontier as the sole preserver of the American psyche of democracy and republicanism by compelling Americans to conquer and to settle new areas. This thesis gives a somewhat quixotic explanation of expansion, as opposed to Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, A Century of Dishonor, which truly portrays the settlement of the west as a pattern of cruelty and conceit. Thus, the frontier thesis, offered first in The Significance of the Frontier in American History, is, in fact, false, like the myth of the west. Many historians, however, have attempted to debunk the mythology of the west. Specifically, these historians have refuted the common beliefs that cattle ranging was accepted as legal by the government, that the said business was profitable, that cattle herders were completely independent from any outside influence, and that anyone could become a cattle herder.
Artistic ideals in Canada are often difficult to combine into one concise understanding given their changing nature. The colonial era as well as the late nineteenth century was significantly shaped by Pastoralism, a style that often depicted paintings of the countryside (Davis 36). The Homer Watson painting, After the Rain in 1883 is a pastoral style that depicts “nature reach[ing] its highest stage of picturesque beauty [that only occurs] when forests [have] been cleared, meadows or fields created or cultivated and farms established” (36). After the Rain shows a farmer’s field, where the land has been cleared of trees following what looks to be a major storm (38). Watson represents early Canada by placing emphasis on a secure, eerily comfortable, agrarian based society in a photographic-like piece of work. Homer Watson believed in his w...
The cowboys of the frontier have long captured the imagination of the American public. Americans, faced with the reality of an increasingly industrialized society, love the image of a man living out in the wilderness fending for himself against the dangers of the unknown. By the end of the 19th century there were few renegade Indians left in the country and the vast expanse of open land to the west of the Mississippi was rapidly filling with settlers.