Taking A Look At The Western Film Genre

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The Western film genre
Extending from paintings and illustrations, the Western film genre constitutes another kind of visual representation that also has had a profound impact on the mythic West. Although it no longer occupies the “central position in the system of popular genres that it held throughout most of the twentieth century,” (Cawelti, 2) the genre is still important to include because of its history, influence, and effect on American culture and understanding of the West. As Slotkin notes, American culture “as a whole would remember the West in terms of movie images.” (Gunfighter 237) Because pop culture as previously noted reflects the culture in which it is produced, the Western and its portrayal of the West have changed over the …show more content…

Lenihan, and Cawelti describe undergone many transformations throughout history, defining what constitutes a ‘Western’ film is not that simple. This is also noted by Raymond Durgnat and Scott Simmon who state that it is “hard to square a static image of the genre with its constant and profound response to its changing times.” (69) But as the notion of ‘genre’ suggests there are recurring structural patterns in Western films, a formula that according to Hausladen is repeated in most Westerns with only subtle variations: “(1) the cowboy as hero; (2) the frontier experience as storyline; and (3) the West as landscape/setting.” (Where the Cowboy 297) Although the first two components, the cowboy and the frontier experience, unquestionably are important in Westerns, it is the third component, the setting, which is of particular interest in a discussion of the mythic …show more content…

Because the Western setting is a ‘symbolic setting’, certain elements, themes, and characters have gradually become purely associated with the mythic West. This explains why the historical and geographical setting Springhall referred to has become what is most commonly associated with that of the mythic West: most people’s knowledge of the West primarily derives from that portrayed in Western films and the iconography, conventions, and settings have thus imprinted themselves so powerfully in the audience’s mind and imagination that it has become

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