Westerns And Social Commentary Essay Research Paper

Westerns And Social Commentary Essay, Research Paper

Throughout history Americans have had a fascination with unexplored, uncharted, and

untamed territory. Never has this been so pronounced as with the American west.

Stories of bravery, new peoples, cultures, and strange new lands have enchanted

Americans for nearly two centuries. This attraction is strikingly prominent in the film

history of the west. Yet, despite it s early and lasting popularity, the Western has not

until recent years attracted the attention of interpretive critics. Many critics viewed

Westerns as an escapist, immature medium. Discussions of Westerns characterized the

genre as endlessly repetitive, utterly simple in form, and naive in its attitudes (Cook 64) .

However, since the late 1960 s Westerns have been recognized, similar to other forms of

popular culture, as a useful barometer of shifting currents in American society and

culture (Etulain 3). The development of the western film genre in American film culture

has progressed in manner, style, and ideology, and can be tracked in association with the

political, societal, and cultural trends of the last 90 years.

The first westerns were the same as many other first films, merely scientific

recordings of actual events such as wild west shows and rodeos. The first Western with

any content was The Great Train Robbery (1903). While still very primitive it gave much of

the stock form to westerns that exists today.

It established the essential formula of crime, pursuit, showdown, and justice,

and within its ten minute running span it included, in addition to the train

robbery itself, elements of fisticuffs, horseback pursuit and gunplay, along with

suggestions of small child appeal, and probably the first introduction of that clich

to be, the saloon bullies forcing a dude into a dance (Everson 15).

As train robberies and similar crimes were not uncommon in the early nineteen hundreds

The Great Train Robbery was immensely popular and even introduced a social

consciousness to film (Etulain 8) . Many of the Westerns that followed were similar in

that they represented the progress of film technology, art, and entertainment. Two early

pioneers of Westerns were D.W. Griffith and Thomas H. Ince. Admittedly, Griffith s

great masterpieces came much later, but they would not have been possible without the

language of film that he evolved in those earlier years (Everson 24). Despite the

technical and developmental elements of their films, both Ince and Griffith were making

films that had something of cultural and social importance (24). The basic value of a

popular western is the triumph of progress and its attendant middle class milieu over

alternative lifestyles that threaten society (Etulain 18). Common themes, as in Griffith s

Fighting Blood (1911), included a likable pioneer family with many helpful children, that

were struggling with life on the frontier. As the films progressed, the family would fight

off the threatening Indians, solve their family disputes, and prosper in their simple but

rewarding life. An evaluation of the historical environment reveals a link between this

typical plot and social and economical climates of the time period. During the early

nineteen hundreds much of America was poor and struggling, yet, the industrial

revolution was changing the lives of most Americans. Transportation, production, and

communication were becoming easier, faster and more efficient. Thus there was a hope

that the culture as a whole could achieve more and with less struggle. This is echoed in

the stock family s early struggle and eventual triumph. Secondly, the Indians in the films

represented resistance to difference. African Americans were receiving more recognition

and, as a result, more discrimination. This is especially true in Griffith s films, which

displayed a highly prejudicial motif. The Indians in early films were depicted as

uncivilized, marauding, peoples with no consciousness of their actions. They symbolize a

collective vision of the white man s prejudice against race and diversified cultures. Films

about Indians were really about a white nobleman proving his superiority in the wilds.

And almost every detail of Indian life is incorrect (Tuska 238). Many of these early

western themes carried and progressed into the 1920 s. With the rise of materialism

associated with the roaring 20 s, films about expansionism and imperialism as a means of

gathering wealth became increasingly popular. Themes of the California gold rush and

get rich quick in the West were notably common.

During 1929 through 1931 much of America was suffering from the Depression.

Yet, the advent of sound changed the role of Western films. However, sound pictures in

an outdoor setting were difficult to produce. Two films, The Virginian and In Old Arizona,

demonstrated that western films were possible, and that sound added colorful nuances

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