The Good, The Bad and The Ugly/Navajo Joe AP

Spaghetti westerns cast America and classic westerns into a whole new light. We are used to seeing America’s West through the American filmmakers’ eyes. However, in the spaghetti westerns such as Navajo Joe and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, we see how America’s West is seen through Europe’s eyes. There are many clear differences between the classic and spaghetti westerns; ranging from the characters themselves to the scenery. Europe’s view of America comes at a time when America is having problems within the country and with other countries such as Cuba.
The first prominent difference is the alpha male cowboy that is present in classic westerns but not seen in these spaghetti westerns. The classic western has a white alpha male cowboy, who is essentially our hero in the movie. However, in both Navajo Joe and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, a white alpha male cowboy is clearly missing. We see a Navajo Indian as the main character in Navajo Joe, and the white man in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, is not a hero of any sort. This already sets the spaghetti westerns apart from all the other westerns we have seen. In The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the white man is called “the good”, even though he clearly is not a good person since he betrays his Hispanic comrade. And the fact that a Native American is the main character in Navajo Joe, makes the spaghetti westerns just that more intriguing.
Also the labeling that The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has for the two other characters, just shows more of what Europe thought about America. The Hispanic immigrant is labeled as “the ugly”. We can see how Europe sees America as having prejudices. Even though the white man is not a good person, he is not labeled a bad thing like the immigrant. This movie came at the time when the Civil Rights movement was taking up, so it was clearly stating how America was prejudice against immigrants. Especially Hispanics, whose population at the time was greatly increasing and who were starting to protest for rights. Also, the label, “the bad” is given to the man who finishes the job he is paid for. He is a Union sergeant. The fact that he uses torture and kills brutally, may just show how Europe sees America’s sergeants as vicious animals who do anything to get the job done, no matter how many people they may have to step on or kill.
An important part of these Westerns is the fact that the men in both spaghetti westerns seem to be solely driven by money. They are after money all the time and do whatever is in their power to get to that money. This just shows how Europeans think that America and Americans only care about money and power. America was in a crisis with Cuba, and was starting an arms race with Russia. America was perceived as wanting to be at the top, the most powerful nation in the world. This view is translated into the characters.
We see all of the things that Europeans find are wrong with America, depicted in these spaghetti westerns. There is a lot more violence and the characters in these spaghetti westerns are cruel people who are very different from those in the classic westerns.