sCott a. mCConnEll The Meaning of the Western Movie emember Shane, Bonanza and The Lone of the country. Ranger? In novel, film and television, west- For more than 150 years, especially since erns once ruled the range. Until the 1960s 1900 when the frontier period was ending, the Rwesterns were the most popular fiction genre and American West was revealed in the western novel. remained popular until the 1970s. In his book The Influential among these were Whispering Smith Searchers the western historian Glenn Frankel tells (Frank Spearman, 1906), Riders of the Purple Sage us that western novels “consistently outsold all gen- (Zane Grey, 1912), Destry Rides Again (Max Brand, res, including the closest competitor, the detective 1930) and True Grit (Charles Portis, 1968). With the story—whose protagonist was, after all, just another arrival of television in the United States in 1947, version of the Western hero”. Frankel notes that “of the western and its view of America dominated the 300 million paperbacks sold in 1956, one third the small screen for many years. Some of the most were westerns”. influential shows and stars during the television Western films were similarly popular. As Frankel western heyday included The Lone Ranger (star- reports, “Westerns by the mid-1950s accounted for ring Clayton Moore), Rawhide (Clint Eastwood), one third of the output of the major studios and half Bonanza (Michael Landon) and Gunsmoke (James the output of the smaller independents.” Incredibly, Arness). “well over seven thousand Westerns have been To most people, however, westerns are movies. made”. The American Film Institute (AFI) has defined Westerns were even more popular on television. the western film as “set in the American West that “From 1949 to the late 1960s, there were over 100 embodies the spirit, the struggle and the demise western series that aired on the networks,” writes of the new frontier”. Film (and western) star Gary Stephen Kiss. Westerns hit their peak of televi- Cooper once stated: sion popularity in the late 1950s: “The 1959 season opened with twenty-seven westerns in prime-time, the western picture tells stories of the pioneer constituting nearly one fourth of prime-time pro- period. The pioneers braved the elements and gramming. In January 1959, eight of the top ten we are brought close to the pioneer people rated programs were westerns.” By 1975, however, by seeing the western picture and we realize Gunsmoke, the most popular television western of our country was and is filled with people who them all, was in its twentieth and final season and believe in America. most westerns had ridden off the big and small screen. The classic period of westerns (1939 to 1969) Another star of many westerns, James Stewart, was over. stated that the western “is really an original of Why were westerns so popular? The answer is American films. This is ours.” John Wayne, the found in the meaning of westerns, and in the mean- greatest western movie star of them all, expressed ing of the culture that gave them birth. The mean- it this way: “When you think about the western ... ing and popularity of westerns are explained by the it’s an American art form. It represents what this American ideals and virtues that westerns repre- country is about.” “Yet,” he added, “we’ve created a sented. This does not mean that these ideals were form, the western, that can be understood in every not dramatised in other story genres. However, the country. The good guys against the bad guys. No vast majority of films and television shows of this nuances.” once prolific western genre are so American in their To understand the nature of westerns, we will content and themes that they became representative examine many western films and multiple television 64 Quadrant March 2018 The Meaning of the Western Movie shows, but I will be focusing on three of the most understand the American approach to life or what critically acclaimed, popular and influential western has been called “a sense of life”. A consequence of films. The AFI ranked The Searchers, High Noon and Americans’ individualistic ideals and practices, this Shane, in that order, as the three greatest westerns. approach is how Americans characteristically view The Searchers, a 1956 Warner Bros film, starred John life: man is an independent free being whose rea- Wayne; High Noon, a 1952 United Artists release, son and hard work will result in success and happi- starred Gary Cooper; and Shane, a 1953 Paramount ness on this earth. Such beliefs underlie the unique movie, starred Alan Ladd. American innocence, optimism and “can do” spirit. Although America’s founding is the most important period in American history—because Individualism it forged the identity of the country and its basic et’s now turn to the American ideals and virtues institutions—this period did not become the coun- that form the character of westerns. To under- try’s most important period aesthetically. It would standL westerns, one must understand America’s be difficult to name one great novel, television show founding. Unique among nations, the United States or film about the Revolutionary War period that of America was founded on explicit principles. It is truly captures the meaning, importance and gravi- this ideology that sets the context for the American tas of those times. How many fictional heroes from expansion westward and the mean- the Revolutionary War period are ing of westerns. household names, even in America? In the Declaration of Indep- Across the Western world, most endence, Thomas Jefferson wrote The key elements people could easily name several, that “all men are created equal, that of westerns—their maybe even many, western “celeb- they are endowed … with certain themes, characters, rities”, real and fictional. From unalienable Rights, that among London to Sydney to Toronto, peo- these are Life, Liberty and the conflicts, locations, ple know about Wild Bill Hickok, pursuit of Happiness”. This is the look and feel—have Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid, and American creed, the essence and many would recognise the names of unique meaning of America. In undergone a long Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane and one word, the meaning of America creative development Laura Ingalls Wilder. Many more is “individualism”. Individualism to produce a would have watched Mattie Ross, is the view that each person is an Matt Dillon and Hoss Cartwright. independent being who owns his distinctive art form. Countless millions would know of own life, can think for himself, the Lone Ranger, Shane and the should take responsibility for his Man with No Name. own actions, and must be free to keep any product Every country and age has its heroes. Heroes of his thinking and actions. That is, each person is reflect the dominant values and ideals of a specific an end in himself with an inviolable right to his life, time and place. Many of America’s most popular liberty, property and pursuit of his own happiness. fictional heroes have been the men and women of American individualism is an expression of what westerns. has been called the Aristotelian side of Western Part of the reason that so many people are civilisation. The Aristotelian worldview stresses aware of the Old West and not the Revolutionary reason, the individual, freedom, science, and life War period is that the American Revolution was a on this earth. (The opposing side of Western civi- time of philosophical heroes and events. The period lisation is the Platonic/Judeo-Christian world- is, consequently, much harder to understand and view, which stresses faith, supernaturalism, dramatise than almost any period in world history. self-sacrifice, the collective and its importance The American founding truly was revolutionary in over the individual.) In the eighteenth century, the its leaders and ideas. The western period of American Aristotelian worldview became dominant and led history was much less so; the Old West was more to the Enlightenment. The pro-reason, pro-indi- the fulfilment of the American Revolution and its vidual, pro-this-world ideals of the Enlightenment ideology rather than anything original in ideals became the philosophical underpinning of the or beliefs. The westward expansion put American United States and its political system of an indi- ideals into action. vidual rights republic. Taking seriously their right Fictional accounts of the American West may to pursue their happiness, Americans marched be the most popular artistic expression of American westward. individualism, but westerns are not usually dra- To further understand Americans one must also mas that explore ideas. Westerns are primarily Quadrant March 2018 65 The Meaning of the Western Movie action stories that dramatise rugged independence. they were so popular. But individualism is a very Although western films are not intellectual, they do broad term, entailing many different values and vir- express, more implicitly than explicitly, the ideals of tues. The dramatising of these values and virtues is American individualism. what makes the western the art form it is. Let’s now look at the key values and virtues of westerns. The individual in the western ince 1894, when the first western film clip was The moral code produced, western films have developed their esterns are famous for their strong, independ- Sown premises and language. The key elements of ent men and women of action: Kirk Douglas westerns—their themes, characters, conflicts, loca- shootingW it out during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, tions, look and feel—have undergone a long crea- Charlton Heston in hand-to-hand combat with an tive development to produce a distinctive art form. Apache leader in Arrowhead, Mattie Ross hunting Westerns have, for example, many varied locations her father’s killer in True Grit.