In Sue Matheson’s, The West- Hardboiled: Adaptations of Film Noir Elements, Existentialism, and Ethics in John Wayne’s Westerns, she explains how Wayne’s characters often are morally questionable figures and not like the usually heroes that you see in other films. She refers to him as a “Dark knight, damaged and isolated paternal figure which gathers in one place the allure of violence, the call away from home, and the dark pleasures of soured romanticism” ( Matheson 889). Matheson also describes Wayne’s alpha male cowboy character as being “hardboiled” because of his experiences in the west. John Wayne became a cultural icon because of this hardboiled personality that was perfect for the postwar era. In westerns almost everyone is corrupt and this is reflected in the postwar era where people start to see that the world doesn’t seem as good as it used to be. Having a cultural icon like John Wayne gave the people of this era someone to look up to and idolize.
In the next part of Matheson’s article she points out how film noir is used to express a deeper meaning behind what is actually seen on the screen. One way film noir does this is thru the setting. The setting is used to expression the alpha male cowboys “psychological condition.” The psychological condition is also expressed through how dirty or clean a character is. In westerns the dirtier a characters face is the darker their heart is. On the other hand the hero is never dirty but dusty, they never sweat, and they always seem to have just shaved. Clothing is another part of a characters psychology. Characters that dress in “dandy” clothes such as suits and ties are thought as to be weak characters because the “dandy city clothes are inappropriate in the hostile environment of the hero’s west” (Matheson 894).
In Sue Matheson’s, The West- Hardboiled: Adaptations of Film Noir Elements, Existentialism, and Ethics in John Wayne’s Westerns, she explains how Wayne’s characters often are morally questionable figures and not like the usually heroes that you see in other films. She refers to him as a “Dark knight, damaged and isolated paternal figure which gathers in one place the allure of violence, the call away from home, and the dark pleasures of soured romanticism” ( Matheson 889). Matheson puts a lot of information into this one quote. For one the quote talks about the cowboy as being a “dark knight” which means that although the cowboy is viewed as a hero he does still kill people (even if they are villains). If anyone besides the alpha male cowboy kills someone in a western they are immediately considered a villain or bad guy. Also in this quote Matheson talks about the alpha male being an isolate figure which is a quality of many alpha male cowboys’ westerns. Most of them have houses or farms set apart from the rest of civilization. The last part of this quote talks about violence and soured romanticism. When Matheson talks about “soured romanticism she means that the cowboy is so connected to the land and has to be out on his own that when he finds a love interest he can never stay with her because the out on the desert is where he belongs. Matheson also describes Wayne’s alpha male cowboy character as being “hardboiled” because of his experiences in the west. John Wayne became a cultural icon because of this hardboiled personality that was perfect for the postwar era. In westerns almost everyone is corrupt and this is reflected in the postwar era where people start to see that the world doesn’t seem as good as it used to be. The John Wayne and other alpha male cowboy characters stood up against this evil that the new post-war era brought.
ReplyDeleteIn the next part of Matheson’s article she points out how film noir is used to express a deeper meaning behind what is actually seen on the screen. One way film noir does this is thru the setting. The setting is used to expression the alpha male cowboys “psychological condition.” The psychological condition is also expressed through how dirty or clean a character is. In westerns the dirtier a characters face is the darker their heart is. On the other hand the hero is never dirty but dusty, they never sweat, and they always seem to have just shaved. In all of the traditional westerns the alpha male cowboy is never seen sweating even when he is under the most pressure. Also the villains or bad guys in the movie are always either covered in dirt and mud or to clean to be in the west. Clothing is another part of a characters psychology. Characters that dress in “dandy” clothes such as suits and ties are thought as to be weak characters because the “dandy city clothes are inappropriate in the hostile environment of the hero’s west” (Matheson 894). Also some character that is too clean for the west can be the biggest villains in the film. Although Matheson does say that the dirt on a characters face shows the “psychological condition” of the characters, she also points out that there are villains that are clean and dress in proper clothes. This are thought to be the more dangerous villains because they use smarts and cleverness to outsmart people rather impose their force on people