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Author: John G. Cawelti
Publisher: Popular Press
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 232
ISBN-13: 9780879727857
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTo this structural analysis he adds a new account of the genre's history and its relationship to the myths of the West which have played such an influential role in American history."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Andrew Patrick Nelson
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2013-10-10
Total Pages: 202
ISBN-13: 081089257X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThough one of the most popular genres for decades, the western started to lose its relevance in the 1960s and 1970s, and by the early 1980s it had ridden into the sunset on screens both big and small. The genre has enjoyed a resurgence, however, and in the past few decades some remarkable westerns have appeared on television and in movie theaters. From independent films to critically acclaimed Hollywood productions and television series, the western remains an important part of American popular culture. Running the gamut from traditional to revisionist, with settings ranging from the old West to the “new Wests” of the present day and distant future, contemporary westerns continue to explore the history, geography, myths, and legends of the American frontier. In Contemporary Westerns: Film and Television since 1990, Andrew P. Nelson has collected essays that examine the trends and transformations in this underexplored period in Western film and television history. Addressing the new Western, they argue for the continued relevance and vibrancy of the genre as a narrative form. The book is organized into two sections: “Old West, New Stories” examines Westerns with common frontier locales, such as Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, Deadwood, and True Grit. “New Wests, Old Stories” explores works in which familiar Western narratives, characters, and values are represented in more modern—and in one case futuristic—settings. Included are the films No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, as well as the shows Firefly and Justified. With a foreword by Edward Buscombe, as well as an introduction that provides a comprehensive overview, this volume offers readers a compelling argument for the healthy survival of the Western. Written for scholars as well as educated viewers, Contemporary Westerns explores the genre’s evolving relationship with American culture, history, and politics.
Author: Brady Harrison
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2020-06-01
Total Pages: 335
ISBN-13: 149622129X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn this volume experienced and new college- and university-level teachers will find practical, adaptable strategies for designing or updating courses in western American literature and western studies. Teaching Western American Literature features the latest developments in western literary research and cultural studies as well as pedagogical best practices in course development. Contributors provide practical models and suggestions for courses and assignments while presenting concrete strategies for teaching works both inside and outside the canon. In addition, Brady Harrison and Randi Lynn Tanglen have assembled insights from pioneering western studies instructors with workable strategies and practical advice for translating this often complex material for classrooms from freshman writing courses to graduate seminars. Teaching Western American Literature reflects the cutting edge of western American literary study, featuring diverse approaches allied with women’s, gender, queer, environmental, disability, and Indigenous studies and providing instructors with entrée into classrooms of leading scholars in the field.
Author: Carter Matthew Carter
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: 2018-09-17
Total Pages: 381
ISBN-13: 1474402836
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhat is the nature of the relationship between the Hollywood Western and American frontier mythology? How have Western films helped develop cultural and historical perceptions, attitudes and beliefs towards the frontier? Is there still a place for the genre in light of revisionist histories of the American West?Myth of the Western re-invigorates the debate surrounding the relationship between the Western and frontier mythology, arguing for the importance of the genre's socio-cultural, historical and political dimensions. Taking a number of critical-theoretical and philosophical approaches, Matthew Carter applies them to prominent forms of frontier historiography. He also considers the historiographic element of the Western by exploring the different ways in which the genre has responded to the issues raised by the frontier. Carter skilfully argues that the genre has - and continues to reveal - the complexities and contradictions at the heart of US society. With its clear analyses of and intellectual challenges to the film scholarship that has developed around the Western over a 65-year period, this book adds new depth to our understanding of specific film texts and of the genre as a whole - a welcome resource for students and scholars in both Film Studies and American Studies.
Author: Paul Varner
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2009-09-28
Total Pages: 288
ISBN-13: 0810870517
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhen the earliest filmgoers watched The Great Train Robbery in 1903, many of them shrieked in terror at the very last clip when one of the outlaws turns directly toward the camera and fires a gun, seemingly, directly at the audience. The puff of smoke was sudden and it was hand colored so that it looked real. Today, we can look back at that primitive movie and see all the elements of what would evolve into the Western genre. Perhaps it is the Western's early origins_The Great Train Robbery was the first narrative, commercial movie_or its formulaic yet entertaining structure that has made the Western so popular. Whatever the case may be, with the recent success of films like 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the Western appears to be in no danger of disappearing. The story of the western is told in The A to Z of Westerns in Cinema through a chronology, a bibliography, and an introductory essay. However, it is the hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on cinematographers; composers; producers; films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Dances With Wolves, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, High Noon, The Magnificent Seven, The Searchers, Tombstone, and Unforgiven; such actors as Gene Autry, Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, and John Wayne; and directors like John Ford and Sergio Leone that will have you reaching for this book again and again.
Author: Susan Kollin
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 2019-05-01
Total Pages: 296
ISBN-13: 1496214234
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTracing the transnational influences of what has been known as a uniquely American genre, “the Western,” Susan Kollin’s Captivating Westerns analyzes key moments in the history of multicultural encounters between the Middle East and the American West. In particular the book examines how experiences of contact and conflict have played a role in defining the western United States as a crucial American landscape. Kollin interprets the popular Western as a powerful national narrative and presents the cowboy hero as a captivating figure who upholds traditional American notions of freedom and promise, not just in the region but across the globe. Captivating Westerns revisits popular uses of the Western plot and cowboy hero in understanding American global power in the post-9/11 period. Although various attempts to build a case for the war on terror have referenced this quintessential American region, genre, and hero, they have largely overlooked the ways in which these celebrated spaces, icons, and forms, rather than being uniquely American, are instead the result of numerous encounters with and influences from the Middle East. By tracing this history of contact, encounter, and borrowing, this study expands the scope of transnational studies of the cowboy and the Western and in so doing discloses the powerful and productive influence the Middle East has had on the American West.
Author: Christopher Conway
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2022-06
Total Pages: 326
ISBN-13: 149621899X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Comic Book Western explores how the myth of the American West played out in popular comics from around the world.
Author: Donald V. Gaffney
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Published: 2019-02-24
Total Pages: 192
ISBN-13: 161164917X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKEvery time a shooting makes national headlines, the same debates erupt: Is the problem guns or mental health? Why is the United States unique in its gun violence problem? Can we reduce this violence while protecting the right to bear arms? Newtown, Connecticut, native and Disciples of Christ minister Donald V. Gaffney brings a calm and compassionate voice to these complex questions, offering a guide for individuals and groups to reflect on and discuss guns and gun violence. Common Ground explores the place of guns in our individual and national histories, violence in Scripture, the legal issues surrounding gun rights, and ways in which we as moral, life-valuing people can bridge the divide to help solve the problem of gun violence in the United States. To move beyond the talking points and rhetoric dominating gun violence discussions, Gaffney concludes chapters with questions for reflection and discussion to encourage self-examination, exploration, and evaluation of potential solutions to gun violence.
Author: Kinga Földváry
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2020-12-15
Total Pages: 465
ISBN-13: 1526142112
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe book presents a systematic method of interpreting Shakespeare film adaptations based on their cinematic genres. Its approach is both scholarly and reader-friendly, and its subject is fundamentally interdisciplinary, combining the findings of Shakespeare scholarship with film and media studies, particularly genre theory. The book is organised into six large chapters, discussing films that form broad generic groups. Part I looks at three genres from the classical Hollywood era (western, melodrama and gangster-noir), while Part II deals with three contemporary blockbuster genres (teen film, undead horror and biopic). Beside a few better-known examples of mainstream cinema, the volume also highlights the Shakespearean elements in several nearly forgotten films, bringing them back to critical attention.
Author: Jason P. Vest
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Published: 2010-11-02
Total Pages: 304
ISBN-13: 0313378207
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book offers the only examination of the television writing of David Milch and David Simon as significant contributions to American culture, literature, and social realism. David Milch and David Simon are two of the most prolific and successful television drama writers in the last 30 years. These talented writers have combined real-world knowledge with wild imaginations and understandings of the human psyche to create riveting shows with realistic environments and storylines. Minch and Simon's writing have resulted in television series that have earned both critical acclaim and millions of viewers. The Wire, Deadwood, Homicide, and NYPD Blue: Violence is Power is the most comprehensive text yet written about Milch and Simon, and documents how television dramas of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s mirrored American culture with unprecedented sociological accuracy. The author explains how both individuals are not only capable dramatists, but also insightful cultural critics. This book also examines the full range of Milch's and Simon's authorial careers, including Milch's books True Blue: The Real Stories behind NYPD Blue and Deadwood: Tales of the Black Hills and Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood.
