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Stereotypes in western culture
Stereotypes in western culture
Stereotypes in western culture
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Summary Of Beyond Formula: American Film Genres
The passage taken from the book, “Beyond Formula: American Film Genres” by Stanley Solomon, focuses specifically on Western films. Solomon suggests that, “the Western is primarily a genre of location,” (56) which not only suggests the plot of the movie but the characters portrayed in the film as well. If the location is based in a harsh or rugged environment, the viewers automatically assume that the characters in the film will be just as rugged or even unlawful. If location of the film takes place in a small country town the viewer knows that this usually means that that the town is under-populated and industrially inept. The viewer also knows that some sort of trial will present itself to the towns people, typically a group of out-laws, and the citizens of the town will have to muster up what courage they have and stand up to their rivals. In this case the towns people usually are unable to overcome their opponents causing them to rally around a strong spirited leader to lead them to victory.
The location, according to Solomon, of Western films gives a direct view of moral values that both the hero of the story and the villain understand. If these values are broken both the hero and villain knows the consequence of their cowardly deed. Location also adds to the film by giving the characters another source of danger than the villains, causing them to be aware the their surroundings in order to survive. Solomon states that, “the location further determines the moral perspective by inviting sudden violence and the accompanying necessity of perpetual violence” (57).
When the hero or villain arrives in the film, the location makes the viewer aware of the characters past, arousing a curiosity about the character and where he came from. “The arrival of the hero or villain in the Western setting,” Solomon states, “immediately prompts discussion…” (58). According to Solomon, when the hero or villain shows up in the movie it is to be assumed that he has experienced life, and at the peak of his career, he has reached a critical point where he is now faced with a crisis that must be rectified.
Location, characterization and the characters history are the key elements to the Western film genre. According to Stanly Solomon, location is either a simple town, (or settlement) or the wilderness, and both types of locations involve countless attempts to overcome hardships.
In “The Thematic Paradigm,” University of Florida professor of film studies, Robert Ray, defines two types of heroes pervading American films, the outlaw hero and the official hero. Often the two types are merged in a reconciliatory pattern, he argues. In fact, this
In “The Thematic Paradigm,” Robert Ray explains how there are two vastly different heroes: the outlaw hero and the official hero. The official hero has common values and traditional beliefs. The outlaw hero has a clear view of right and wrong but unlike the official hero, works above the law. Ray explains how the role of an outlaw hero has many traits. The morals of these heroes can be compared clearly. Films that contain official heroes and outlaw heroes are effective because they promise viewer’s strength, power, intelligence, and authority whether you are above the law or below it.
Most westerns have a heroic cowboy that fights against corrupt officials to save a small helpless town or a person in need of help. They also have women who are attracted to the cowboy, and Indians who the cowboy usually fights. The cowboy is moral and fights for good because he is free from civilization its deceit and the wilderness (Wright, 2001, pp. 18-58; Belton, 2009, pp. 248-249). Most cowboys who emerge in western films are honest and forthright.
Often, when a story is told, it follows the events of the protagonist. It is told in a way that justifies the reasons and emotions behind the protagonist actions and reactions. While listening to the story being cited, one tends to forget about the other side of the story, about the antagonist motivations, about all the reasons that justify the antagonist actions.
Describe some ways in which business values and artistic values in Hollywood contend with one another.
This stage defines the transformative process of the hero within a larger, and more relevant environment: “ When the panorama of space and nature is faced from the standpoint of the personages ordained to inhabit it, then a sudden transformation overshadows the cosmic scene” Campbell 241). In this manner, the hero is a reborn individual with new powers and spiritual insight that allow him to overcome the last obstacles to the
To fully appreciate the significance of the plot one must fully understand the heroic journey. Joseph Campbell identified the stages of the heroic journey and explains how the movie adheres meticulously to these steps. For example, the first stage of the hero’s journey is the ordinary world (Campbell). At the beginning, the structure dictates that the author should portray the protagonist in their ordinary world, surrounded by ordinary things and doing ordinary tasks so that the author might introduce the reasons that the hero needs the journey in order to develop his or her character or improve his or her life (Vogler 35). The point of this portrayal is to show the audience what the protagonist’s life is currently like and to show what areas of his or her life are conflicted or incomplete. When the call to adventure occurs, the protagonist is swept away into another world, one that is full of adventure, danger, and opportunities to learn what needs to be learned. T...
Somewhere out in the Old West wind kicks up dust off a lone road through a lawless town, a road once dominated by men with gun belts attached at the hip, boots upon their feet and spurs that clanged as they traversed the dusty road. The gunslinger hero, a man with a violent past and present, a man who eventually would succumb to the progress of the frontier, he is the embodiment of the values of freedom and the land the he defends with his gun. Inseparable is the iconography of the West in the imagination of Americans, the figure of the gunslinger is part of this iconography, his law was through the gun and his boots with spurs signaled his arrival, commanding order by way of violent intentions. The Western also had other iconic figures that populated the Old West, the lawman, in contrast to the gunslinger, had a different weapon to yield, the law. In the frontier, his belief in law and order as well as knowledge and education, brought civility to the untamed frontier. The Western was and still is the “essential American film genre, the cornerstone of American identity.” (Holtz p. 111) There is a strong link between America’s past and the Western film genre, documenting and reflecting the nations changes through conflict in the construction of an expanding nation. Taking the genres classical conventions, such as the gunslinger, and interpret them into the ideology of America. Thus The Western’s classical gunslinger, the personification of America’s violent past to protect the freedoms of a nation, the Modernist takes the familiar convention and buries him to signify that societies attitude has change towards the use of diplomacy, by way of outmoding the gunslinger in favor of the lawman, taming the frontier with civility.
Have you ever had one of those days that were so bad that you desperately needed a night at the ice cream or candy store? The 1970’s was that really bad day, while the night of self- indulgence was the 1980’s. Americans love to escape from our daily stress, and of all the products that allow us to do so, none is more popular than the movies. Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a view of American culture and social history. They not only offer a snapshot of hair styles and fashions of the times but they also provide a host of insights into Americans’ ever-changing ideals. Like any cultural artifact, the movies can be approached in a number of ways. Cultural historians have treated movies as a document that records the look and mood of the time that promotes a particular political or moral value or highlights individual or social anxieties and tensions. These cultural documents present a particular image of gender, ethnicity, romance, and violence. Out of the political and economic unrest of the 1970’s that saw the mood and esteem of the country, as reflected in the artistry and messages in the movies, sink to a new low, came a new sense of pride in who we are, not seen since the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950’s. Of this need to change, Oscar Award winner Paul Newman stated,
The story is an Eastern take on the Hollywood western with a dash of satire,
Until recently, most action-adventure films, to some extent, fit Marchetti's general guidelines. In the case of iconography, she states that all action-adventure films are set in exotic locations, for example decaying temples or rainforests. Most modern American films, though, are set in American cities and towns in which much violence occurs. Natural Born Killers is filmed entirely in New Mexico, Arizona, and Illinois, with dry desert land forming most of the visual scenery. Why is America no longer as interested in exotic and foreign places? Perhaps the modern movies are more realistic, and therefore can solve real American social problems in the realm of fantasy.
A set of practices concerning the narrative structure compose the classical Hollywood Paradigm. These conventions create a plot centering around a character who undergoes a journey in an attempt to achieve some type of goal (). By giving the central character more time on screen, the film helps the audience to not only understand the character’s motivation but also empathize with his/her emotional state. Additionally, some antagonistic force creates conflict with the main character, preventing immediate success(). Finally, after confronting the antagonist, the main character achieves his or her goal along with growing emotionally(). This proven structure creates a linear and relatively easily followed series of events encompassing the leading character and a goal.
A typical Western would usually be set in the late 19th century in the mid-west of America in a remote town. The town is usually small, lonely and unwelcoming. Typically a western set looks like it is in the middle of a desert with sand, cacti and tumbleweed which gives a desert look, there are usually never any lakes or rivers around these features make the place look really hot and deserted. The buildings are generally timber board houses with swinging doors and outside the buildings are places to keep their horses, there is also always a General Store and a Saloon. Horses and carriages and cattle are used to give a western feel. The cowboys are typically dressed in western style clothing for example they wear simple shirts and jeans they may also wear ponchos, waist coats, hats, boots with spurs, guns and a belt to hold the gun and bullets, Hero's tend to wear lighter clothing and the villain’s tend to wear darker clothing.
Western movies such as Rio Bravo and El Dorado illustrate America’s rugged and picturesque scenery explaining life as it was in the wide open country, at a time when few laws were in place to safeguard the public. These two films tell the story of four men who arrest and
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.