Unforgiven LR

In revisionist film the characteristics of the traditional western are somewhat skewed. There are stronger roles for women, Native Americans, and other minorities such as blacks and Mexicans. In the film Unforgiven, we see this role reversal for a black cowboy (Ned), and for a weathered alpha male cowboy (William). This movie was released in 1992, decades after the civil rights movement, which explains why Morgan Freeman was able to play such a big role in western film, but this still falls under the category of revisionist because in general, traditional western films did not allow minorities to assume a strong role.

This film also presents a much weaker version of the traditional alpha male cowboy. William, who is currently a pig farmer in the outskirts of Wyoming, decides that he is going to follow a young cowboy into the west to capture two cowboys who have assaulted a prostitute and scarred her face. William had an extremely violent past and is well known for his killing ability, but in the movie our alpha male cowboy is older and less competent as a cowboy. Supposedly his fallen wife was the reason that he stopped killing and became a farmer leaving his dark past behind. She was able to sober him up for good and he raised his two children by himself. He had difficulty getting on his horse and even had lost his touch with his pistol. It is clear that he is still the alpha male cowboy because he is willing to leave his kids behind in order to fight for justice, yet he no longer has the power of the traditional alpha male cowboy.

These two examples reveal that this is revisionist film regardless of the time of release. In traditional western film a woman never had control over the alpha male cowboy and certainly would not be able to stop him from drinking or using his gun. In the traditional western the alpha is in his prime fearless of death, yet at one point William reveals to Ned that he is afraid of death. Ned being black and being the sidekick of the alpha male cowboy is the strongest sense of revision in this film because traditional westerns never allowed minorities to have that kind of power. Ned was a sharpshooter with the best skills out of any other cowboy in the film. Ned was able to fool around with the prostitutes and was initially welcomed into big whiskey without restraint regardless of his color. This proves the movie was not quite accurate of the time it portrayed placing it under revisionist film.