The Eras of Westerns

Just for a little be of pretext for why I chose to do this as my topic for this week, I recently watched a video on Neo-Westerns, and honestly it was a very interesting topic that mentioned Tarantino breaking down the different "eras" of Westerns. It was also a topic I thought I could realistically spend 90 minutes on without getting bored. If you're interested in the video I'll be embeding it.

(p.s Screened is an incredible channel that is very informative, I'd recommend them for any of your classes!)

What is a Western?

First I'd like a definition of what a Western is. At it's core, Westerns are about a few things. The grey area in the law, a protagonist protecting something or someone, and deal with the themes of either survival or a change in the times, based on which form of Western you're looking at. They contain shootouts and gunslingers/outlaws. With this very loose set of rules I want to go back and looks at the different eras of Westerns.

The Hollywood (Golden) Era (about 1900-1960)

Westerns were one of the first big genres in Hollywood, which isn't surprising since we know who Clint Eastwood and John Wayne are. I'm sure people can even recognize the music by Ennio Morricone. Speaking of music, there are even full blown Western inspired albums, my personal favorite of course being Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins! 

The first Western ever produced with actually a short film made in England called Kidnapping by Indians. Then of course, we have the first Hollywood release with The Great Train Robbery, which may not have been the first Western, but it is the first Western to be admired by the masses. In this "golden era" we have many greats like of course, The Dollars Trilogy with Clint Eastwood and movies like Stagecoach with John Wayne. Of course we also have other classics like Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Johnny Guitar. 

During the Hollywood Era the protagonist tended to be a rustled looking smooth talker, the lawmen were basically a joke and the style was off the charts. Guns were blazing and people were falling left and right, and impressive but  unrealistic gun fighting techniques were plenty during this time. It really did represent a glorified look at America, us seeing ourselves in a romanticized perspective, which we eventually grew out of.

I think the film that really does mark the end of this period is The Magnificent Seven. It's a 1960 Western directed by John Sturges. It was the last of the standard Hollywood films, with a romanticized look at the Americans defending a local village from a band of well, bandits. 

The Watergate (Silver) Era (about 1960-2001)

During this era movies were evolving with people, and so the Western genre evolved. With the growing awareness of government scandals with things like the Watergate scandal and Vietnam growing distrust between the masses and the government, and the genre bends began to come out with films like Blazing Saddles (a parody) and Westworld (a sci-fi Western).

My main point of addressing this era is just to show the transition period and kind've growing pains. Not that the films in this period were bad but most of them seemed to be experimental and dabbled in multiple genres or the tropes of a Western.

The Contemporary (Bronze) Era (about 2001-?)

This is the era we are currently in, and is personally the most interesting era. As the man in the Screened video said, they are mostly bleak and just want to show the world for the cruel beast it is. It is filled with anti heroes and covers a variety of genres. From Logan to Sicario, this is the Western at it's finest, in my opinion. It explores more of the journey it's characters take and the harshness of the world that forces the character's to change. They have to adapt, because if they don't they'll get eaten up by the world around them. The savages are no longer the Native Americans of the Golden Era, but rather the surrounding cast of the protagonist, and sometimes even the protagonist themselves.

Why Does It Matter? What did I learn?

Before I get into the real meat of the discussion I just want to bring up a fact I learned, and that's that the Western and Samurai genres actually had heavy influences on each other, and you can find several films that are very similar between the two.

Now, I'm sure you're thinking "Ok, he likes cowboys, I get it. He's shown up to class dressed all up, so maybe he's just doing this to slack off on the online work." Honestly, you could argue that, but I think Westerns have a deeper meaning than most suspect. They're one of those genres that have basically been around since the beginning, so studying them is like taking a tour through history, most of the films echoing the events of the world around them. You can tell the difference between a Hollywood Western and a Contemporary Western, just like you can tell the difference between Golden Era America, and Modern America. That is the reason I explored this topic.

Bibliography

Davidson, Douglas. “ ‘Logan’ Is a near Perfect Finale for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.” Clture, 20 Feb. 2017, clture.org/logan-wolverine-movie-review/.

“The Magnificent Seven.” This, 27 Dec. 2019, thistv.com/blog/thistory-of-the-magnificent-seven/.

“The Magnificent Seven.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Apr. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Seven.

Queenan, Joe. “The Meaning of Clint: What Watching 40 Eastwood Films Has Taught Me.” The Guardian, 3 Aug. 2017, www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/03/clint-eastwood-what-watching-40-films-box-set-taught-me.

Screened, director. The Neo-Western Genre in Movies. YouTube, 15 Apr. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLxLLmy5Su4.

“Western (Genre).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Apr. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_(genre).

“Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld_(film).