Transcript Stagecoach
Genres: The Western
WHAT IS GENRE?
A category of artistic composition, as in music, film, or literature,
characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter – New
Oxford American Dictionary
Organized categories of texts
Exist in academic, popular and industry discourse
Put into categories by:
Subject matter
Conventions
Themes
Narrative
FUNCTIONS OF GENRES
Leads the audience to interpret texts in
particular ways
Lets viewers know what to expect
Gives creators ideas about how to put pieces
together
Industry strategy of appealing to specific
audiences
EXAMPLES OF GENRE
Science Fiction
Horror
War
Epics/Historical
Action/Adventure
Drama
Comedy
Crime/Gangster
Musicals
Sub genres:
-Biopics
-Detective/Mystery
-Disaster
-Fantasy
-Film Noir
-Melodramas
-Sports
-Supernatural
-Thriller/Suspense
THE WESTERN GENRE
Western Genre Conventions
Historical
Plot
Basis
Elements/Themes
Iconography
HISTORICAL BASIS
The Western is an American genre, which
interprets and represents its history to itself
Set
approximately between 1860 – 1910
Period of American western expansion
Popular characters based on actual individuals:
Wyatt Earp, Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok
THE WESTERN’S PLOT ELEMENTS/THEMES
Central Theme: The Binary of Civilization and
Savagery/Lawlessness
East
vs. West
Culture vs. Nature
Community vs. Individual
Settlers vs. “Indians”
Train vs. Horse
Westerns as American mythology
Foundational
myth – the forging of a nation
WESTERN PLOT ELEMENTS/THEMES
Patterns of action
The nomadic Westerner comes to a town, purges it of
its savage elements, and leaves
A group of gunmen are hired to defend villagers from
bandits
Revenge Plots
Narrative Tropes
The climactic gunfight
Indian attacks
The cavalry rescue
THE TRADITIONAL WESTERN HERO
In
between position: mediates between civilization
and the lawless frontier
Marginalized figure outside of the community
Commonly motivated by revenge and/or sense of
justice
Adheres to a code
Stagecoach
WESTERN ICONOGRAPHY: MISE-EN-SCENE
Geography
An
actual place: the American West
The landscape: deserts, mountains, rivers,
Monument Valley
Symbolic: wilderness as a site of savagery
The frontier: the border of civilization and
lawlessness
WESTERN ICONOGRAPHY: MISE-EN-SCENE
WESTERN ICONOGRAPHY/MISE-EN-SCENE
WESTERN ICONOGRAPHY/MISE-EN-SCENE
GENRE CYCLES
Genres are neither static nor fixed; they
undergo change over time with each new film
either adding to the tradition or modifying it.
Western a popular genre of
B movie fare since 1903
Classical Phase:
Stagecoach
Elevates
(John Ford, 1939)
the Western to A status
Solidifies conventional tropes
GENRE CYCLES
Post-war Phase
High
Noon (Frank Zinnemann, 1952)
Plot
takes place in “real time”
Denies the usual generic pleasures
Kane as an individual with a code
Film editing/framing emphasizes
the isolation of the hero
GENRE CYCLES
Widescreen Westerns
The
Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
Emphasizes the widescreen landscape
More complex protagonist
The salient techniques of
style: cinematography
GENRE CYCLES
The Revisionist Western
The
Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
GENRE CYCLES
‘Spaghetti’ Westerns
A
Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964)
For A Few Dollars More (Leone, 1965)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Leone, 1966)
GENRE MIXING
Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
Jidaigeki
genre
Influenced by the films
of John Ford
Loosely based on Dashiell
Hammet’s Red Harvest (1929)
Basis for A Fistful of Dollars &
Last Man Standing (Walter Hill, 1996)
GENRE MIXING: SCIENCE FICTION & THE
WESTERN
Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
Influenced by the films of John Ford and Akira
Kurosawa: The Searchers & The Hidden Fortress
Westworld (Michael Crichton, 1973)
Outland (Peter Hyams, 1981)
Star Trek (1966-1969)
Based on High Noon
“Wagon train to the stars”
Firefly (Whedon, 2002)
GENRE MIXING
Post-apocalyptic Western
Mad
Max 2: The Road Warrior (George Miller, 1981)
GENRE MIXING
Science Fiction/Horror
Alien
(Ridley Scott, 1979)
Science Fiction/Film Noir
Blade
Runner (Scott, 1982)
Science Fiction/War
Starship
Troopers
(Paul Verhoeven, 1997)