In early westerns the “others” (women and immigrants) were considered below the alpha male cowboy and not as important to the film as the alpha male cowboy. But as we enter the new generation of western films we see the “others” in these films rising to more important roles and the alpha male cowboy slowly fading into the background. For example in the film Johnny Guitar both Vienna and Emma play important roles in the film. In earlier western films these women wouldn’t have been put in these major roles. Also in this film there is no clear cut alpha male cowboy. The closest characters to an alpha male cowboy are Johnny Guitar and the Dancin’ Kid, but even they are not true alpha male cowboys. In watching this film I saw that women such a Vienna and Emma have become more like an alpha male than earlier women. They are better with guns and Vienna even owns her own saloon which would have never happened in western before this time. I credit this to the time period and what was going on during that time in the United States. Women had been introduced into the workforce during the war and now in the post war era men were coming home and wanting their jobs back. These women though had become accustomed to working and were fighting to keep their jobs. Vienna personifies these women because she had to fight to keep her saloon going when the cattlemen tried to shut her down.
The movie Two Mules for Sister Sara introduced another group of “others” into the westerns films; Mexican-Americans. In this film you can see that the alpha male cowboy (Hogan) respects the Mexican group but does not feel part of them. The Mexicans are portrayed as a weak group that needs the help of Hogan to defeat the French garrison. Hogan on the other hand is only helping this group because he was promised gold if he could overtake the French garrison. When Sara asks him if he is one of the Mexicans he says “till I get paid, yeah.” This film portrays the Mexican group as weaker than the French because in the time period in which this film was made Mexicans were starting to immigrate to the states and were being discriminated against. But as the 1960’s and 1970’s went on Mexican culture began to assimilate itself into the American mainstream. Americans began to welcome Mexican culture into the United States but did not feel part of it. Just as Hogan helped the Mexicans but did not feel like he was one of them.
In early westerns the “others” (women and immigrants) were considered below the alpha male cowboy and not as important to the film as the alpha male cowboy. An “other” is any character that is not the alpha male cowboy; in particular they are usually women, Native Americans, and immigrants. But as we enter the new generation of western films we see the “others” in these films rising to more important roles and the alpha male cowboy slowly fading into less important role than he had in traditional western films.
ReplyDeleteFor example in the film Johnny Guitar both Vienna and Emma play important roles in the film. In earlier western films these women wouldn’t have been put in these major roles. Also in this film there is no clear cut alpha male cowboy. The closest characters to an alpha male cowboy are Johnny Guitar and the Dancin’ Kid, but even they are not true alpha male cowboys. In watching this film I saw that women such a Vienna and Emma have become more like an alpha male than earlier women. They are better with guns and Vienna even owns her own saloon which would have never happened in western before this time. Also this film is basically based around the two women and their dislike for each other. In a traditional western movie the film pits one male cowboy against another male cowboy. But in this one we have a female pitted against another female. I credit this to the time period and what was going on during that time in the United States. Women had been introduced into the workforce during the war and now in the post war era men were coming home and wanting their jobs back. These women though had become accustomed to working and were fighting to keep their jobs. Vienna personifies these women because she had to fight to keep her saloon going when the cattlemen tried to shut her down. Vienna is still a little modern for her time period because women in that time did not usually own their own businesses. But Emma on the other hand personifies the women at that time. As I said before women of this period were beginning to enter the workforce and take jobs that men were also working. In the film Emma is a cattleman (or cattlewoman) just like the other men in the film.
The movie Two Mules for Sister Sara not only portrayed Mexicans-Americans in different roles but also showed that females could outsmart men (even the alpha male cowboy). In this film you can see that the alpha male cowboy (Hogan) respects the Mexican group but does not feel part of them. The Mexicans are portrayed as a weak group that needs the help of Hogan to defeat the French garrison. Hogan on the other hand is only helping this group because he was promised gold if he could overtake the French garrison. When Sara asks him if he is one of the Mexicans he says “till I get paid, yeah.” This film portrays the Mexican group as weaker than the French because in the time period in which this film was made Mexicans were starting to immigrate to the states and were being discriminated against. But as the 1960’s and 1970’s went on Mexican culture began to assimilate itself into the American culture. The woman in this film, Sara, outsmarts the alpha male cowboy throughout the whole movie. Hogan was under the impression that Sara was a nun but in reality she was actually a prostitute in a whorehouse. The fact that she could outsmart the alpha male cow boy shows the women in these westerns were showing how clever they are. During this time period of Two Mules for Sister Sara women were becoming more respected in society and people were beginning to realize that they could be useful in the workforce. Also women were beginning to have success in fields that they were not allowed to enter in earlier decades.