Western Films
are the major defining genre of the American film industry, a eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. They are one of the oldest, most enduring and flexible genres and one of the most characteristically American genres in their mythic origins - they focus on the West - in North America. have also been called the horse opera, the oater (quickly-made, short which became as commonplace as oats for horses), or the cowboy picture. 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. Over time, westerns have been re-defined, re-invented and expanded, dismissed, ...
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other mythologies (tales of Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie, Gen. George A Custer, Calamity Jane, and outlaws such as the James Brothers, the original Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Billy the Kid).
Westerns are often set on the American frontier during the last part of the 19th century (1865-1900) following the Civil War, in a geographically western (trans-Mississippi) setting with romantic, sweeping frontier landscapes or rugged rural terrain. 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, or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier. Specific settings include lonely isolated forts, ranch houses, the isolated homestead, the saloon, the jail, the small-town main street, or small frontier towns ...
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- courageous, moral, tough, solid and self-sufficient characters (often with trusty sidekicks), possessing an independent and honorable attitude. The Western hero can usually stand alone and face danger on his own.
The western was among the first film genres, growing in status alongside the development of Hollywood's studio production system. There were only a few great silent westerns, although the best ones established some of the archetypes that are part of the genre even today. The earliest westerns (silent films without the sound of gunfire, horse's hoofbeats, and the cattle trail) are gems of American history. The first cowboy film was titled Cripple Creek Bar Room (1898), ...
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Western Films. (2005, March 10). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Western-Films/23484
"Western Films." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 10 Mar. 2005. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Western-Films/23484>
"Western Films." Essayworld.com. March 10, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Western-Films/23484.
"Western Films." Essayworld.com. March 10, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Western-Films/23484.
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