Genre Revision Definitions of Genre Z Genres Are, First and Foremost, Identified in Terms of Familiar, Codified, Conventionalised and Formulaic Story Structures
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Genre Revision Westerns Definitions of Genre z Genres are, first and foremost, identified in terms of familiar, codified, conventionalised and formulaic story structures. z Plot action is a main focus of genres z The answer to the question, • What fictional genre is this? • is given by a key term which figures the line of plot action to be found in the particular story, as in mystery or thriller or horror or family melodrama. Character z Generic fictions are also associated with highly conventionalized characters: detectives or gangsters, Westerners or lovers-on-the-run. z Genre characters are identified functionally, in terms of their role in a particular story structure, rather than psychologically. z Story is the main focus of genre. z They are fictions of easy access, not usually the sort to make many demands on the reader’s or viewer’s breadth of cultural knowledge. z However, genre films do make demands on the audience’s knowledge of other genres, and the sorts of story patterns that are to be associated with the particular generic category of the text in question. Problems of Definition z 'To take a genre such as the "western", analyse it, and list its principal characteristics, is to beg the question that we must first isolate the body of films which are "westerns". z ‘But they can only be isolated on the basis of the "principal characteristics" which can only be discovered from the films themselves after they have been isolated' (Tudor, 1974). Audiences z 'For a type to be successful means that its conventions have imposed themselves upon the general consciousness and become the accepted vehicles of a particular set of attitudes and a particular aesthetic effect. z One goes to any individual example of the type with very definite expectations, and originality is to be welcomed only in the degree that it intensifies the expected experience without fundamentally altering it' (Warshow, 1970). Iconography z 'Knowing the period and location, we expect at the beginning to find a familiar western town. In fact, the first few minutes of the film brilliantly disturb expectations. As the camera moves around the town, we discover a policeman in uniform, a car, a camel, and Randolph Scott dressed up as Buffalo Bill. z Each of these images performs a function. The figure of the policeman conveys that the law has become institutionalised; the rough and ready frontier days are over. z The car suggests, as in The Wild Bunch, that the west is no longer isolated from modern technology and its implications. Significantly, the camel is racing against a horse; such a grotesque juxtaposition is painful. z A horse in a western is not just an animal but a symbol of dignity, grace and power. These qualities are mocked by it competing with a camel; and to add insult to injury, the camel wins' (Buscombe). Hollywood & the Western z '... Hollywood's West has typically been from 1865 to 1890 or so ... within its brief span we count a number of frontiers in the sudden rush of mining camps, the building of railways, the Indian wars, the cattle drives, the coming of the farmer. z ‘Together with the last days of the Civil War and the exploits of the badmen, here is the raw material of the western' (Kitses, 1969). Andre Bazin z 'Those formal attributes by which one normally recognises the western are simply signs or symbols of its profound reality, namely the myth. The western was born of an encounter between a mythology and a means of expression - . ' Westerns z Western Films are the major defining genre of the American film industry, a eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. z Westerns are characteristically American in their mythic origins. z Western films have also been called the horse opera, the oater, or the cowboy picture. z The western film genre has portrayed much about America's past, glorifying the past-fading values and aspirations of the mythical by-gone age of the West. Westerns (definitions cont.) z Westerns are often set on the American frontier during the last part of the 19th century (1865-1900), in a geographically western (trans- Mississippi) setting with romantic, sweeping frontier landscapes or rugged rural terrain. z However, Westerns may extend back to the time of America's colonial period or forward to the mid-20th century, or as far geographically as Mexico. The western film genre often portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature, in the name of civilization. z Specific settings include lonely isolated forts, ranch houses, the isolated homestead, the saloon, the jail, the small-town main street, or small frontier towns that are forming at the edges of civilization. Western plots z Usually, the central plot of the western film is the classic, simple goal of maintaining law and order on the frontier in a fast-paced action story. It is normally rooted in conflict • good vs. bad, man vs. man • new arrivals vs. Native Americans (inhumanely portrayed as savage Indians) • human vs. nature • civilization vs. wilderness • villain vs. hero • lawman vs. gunslinger • law vs. anarchy • the rugged individualist vs. the unknown • settler vs. nomad • farmer vs. industrialist to name a few. • Often the hero of a western meets his opposite "double," a mirror of his own evil side that he has to destroy. Western elements z Typical elements in westerns include hostile elements, guns and gun fights (sometimes on horseback), violence and human massacres, horses, trains (and train robberies), bank robberies, stagecoachs, shoot-outs and showdowns, outlaws and sheriffs, cattle drives and cattle rustling, posses and pursuit or 'search and destroy' plots, and distinctive western clothing. Western heroes z Western heroes are often local law enforcement officers, territorial marshals, or a skilled, fast-draw gunfighter. z They are normally persons of integrity and principle - courageous, moral, tough, solid and self-sufficient characters (often with trusty sidekicks), possessing an independent and honorable attitude. z The Western hero can usually stand alone and face danger on his own. John Wayne z John Wayne was the most popular and durable of the major western film stars, embodying the great American hero and forever closely identified with the genre. Nine years after his first western, Wayne further developed his western persona in Stagecoach (1939), and then performed in the epic of a mutinous cattle drive in Red River (1948) and in John Ford's cavalry trilogy (see above). z Wayne also starred in his best role in probably the best Western ever made - John Ford's The Searchers (1956), one of the few westerns which has consistently won praise as a work of art. z The film is the tale of a racist, hate-driven man relentlessly searching over a period of years for his Indian-kidnapped niece (played by a young Natalie Wood). z John Ford memorably united two major stars of the genre, John Wayne and James Stewart, in an excellent adult western titled The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). z In later years, Wayne's character matured in such films as True Grit (1969) in which he played Rooster Cogburn, a boozy marshal engaged in a track-down (for which he finally was honored with a Best Actor award) and its sequel, Rooster Cogburn (1975), with Wayne in an African Queen-like role opposite Katharine Hepburn. Sub-genres z Targeted marketing strategies have succeeded in highlighting certain special features or sub-genres of western films. z In the 1960s, two very different filmmakers refashioned the western in new ways - Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone. z In only his second feature film, director Sam Peckinpah brought together two long-time western stars for their final film, Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea in Ride the High Country (1962). z Peckinpah made his biggest impact with The Wild Bunch (1969), an end-of-the-frontier western film set in Mexico which featured bloody, slow-motion, ultra-violent choreographed ballets of death. Spaghetti z Italian director Sergio Leone brought two profound changes to his trio of "spaghetti" western films: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), its sequel For a Few Dollars More (1965), and the best of the three, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966). z The changes were a new European style, and actor Clint Eastwood. z The director's true epic masterpiece was Once Upon a Time in the West (1969), a western which starred American icon-actor Henry Fonda as its hero, and brought together all the themes, characterizations, and experimental visuals from his previous three films. Clint Eastwood z During John Wayne's closing years, his popularity in westerns was matched only by Clint Eastwood, who had graduated from Italian "spaghetti" westerns to Hollywood westerns, first as an actor and then as director (or actor/director). z Eastwood developed and broadened his range in films such as High Plains Drifter (1973), the excellent The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), and the award-winning Unforgiven (1992),only the third western ever to win the Best Picture award. Parody z Western parodies and comedies include Cat Ballou (1965) and Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974). z Sexual frankness brought audiences to McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971). z Title roles for big box-office stars in westerns also helped box-office success (e.g., Paul Newman in Hud (1963) and Hombre (1967) and with Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man (1970), among many others) …this is the end… z In the early 1980s, westerns began to disappear from cinema screens as memories of the trail-blazing past receded and because of changes in public taste.