In Stuart Miller’s Rooster Cogburn, Eula Goodnight in no way follows the classic view of female characters in Westerns. Although, she may dress properly and use lady-like language, she is a very strong female character. First, she is able to convince Rooster, or Reuben as she always calls him, to allow her and Wolf to go on the excursion to bring their fathers’ killers to justice. This is very strange, first because Rooster Cogburn is a very stubborn character as evidenced by his unwillingness to change the way he goes about his business, namely bringing criminals to justice. Secondly, the normal female character does not wish to be an integral part of bringing anyone to justice even if she does want to come along with the alpha male cowboy, but that is exactly what Eula wishes to do. Next, Eula is an excellent shooter. When she shot the man who was trying to gain position on Rooster, who was yelling to Hawk from the top of a cliff, she was able to shoot him in the back from a very long distance. While the possibility of it being a lucky shot is plausible, it is safe to say that Eula knows what she is doing with a gun, otherwise she probably would have told Wolf to take the shot instead. Also worth noting is the fact that Eula takes on the role of a preacher, a role that would usually be occupied by a man.
The time period in which Rooster Cogburn was made coincides perfectly with the second wave of the United States’ feminist movement, so there is surprise that a film like this would be made to have that kind of commentary within it. Feminists at this time were fighting for equal rights including the illegality of discrimination based on sex and abortion rights. This movie, like many of the other films which feature strong female characters, showed exactly why women should be given the same rights as men. It is not because they are the same, because they are not and it would be foolish to claim that they are. It is because they are different that they complement each other so well. Rooster is able to bring Eula’s father’s killers to justice with her assistance and as a complement, Eula is able to convince the judge to allow Rooster to keep his badge.
In Stuart Miller’s Rooster Cogburn, Eula Goodnight in no way follows the classic view of female characters in Westerns. Although, she may dress properly and use lady-like language, she is a very strong female character. First, she is able to convince Rooster, or Reuben as she always calls him, to allow her and Wolf to go on the excursion to bring their fathers’ killers to justice. This is very strange, first because Rooster Cogburn is a very stubborn character as evidenced by his unwillingness to change the way he goes about his business, namely bringing criminals to justice. Secondly, the normal female character does not wish to be an integral part of bringing anyone to justice even if she does want to come along with the alpha male cowboy, but that is exactly what Eula wishes to do. Next, Eula is an excellent shooter. When she shot the man who was trying to gain position on Rooster, who was yelling to Hawk from the top of a cliff, she was able to shoot him in the back from a very long distance. While the possibility of it being a lucky shot is plausible, it is safe to say that Eula knows what she is doing with a gun, otherwise she probably would have told Wolf to take the shot instead. Also worth noting is the fact that Eula takes on the role of a preacher, a role that would usually be occupied by a man.
ReplyDeleteThe time period in which Rooster Cogburn was made coincides perfectly with the second wave of the United States’ feminist movement, so there is surprise that a film like this would be made to have that kind of commentary within it. Feminists at this time were fighting for equal rights including the illegality of discrimination based on sex and abortion rights. This movie, like many of the other films which feature strong female characters, showed exactly why women should be given the same rights as men. It is not because they are the same, because they are not and it would be foolish to claim that they are. It is because they are different that they complement each other so well. Rooster is able to bring Eula’s father’s killers to justice with her assistance and as a complement, Eula is able to convince the judge to allow Rooster to keep his badge using efficient language which is considered to be one of the qualities of the other.