Jordie

http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/western-(genre)/definition.html (Accessed May 14, 2008) The **//Western//** is an **//American//** **//genre//** in **//literature//** and **//film//**. Westerns are art works – **//film//**s, **//literature//**, **//sculpture//**, **//television//** and **//radio//** shows, and **//painting//**s – devoted to telling stories set in the **//American//** West, often portraying it in a **//romanticized//** light.

Definition
Westerns, by definition, are set in the **//American West//**, almost always in the **//19th century//**, generally between the **//Antebellum//** period and the turn of the century. Many incorporate the **//Civil War//** into the plot, or into the background, although the west was not touched by the war to the extent the east was. However, their setting may extend further back to the time of the American **//colonial period//** or forward to the mid-twentieth century. They may also range geographically from **//Mexico//** to **//Canada//**. [|American West] - [|19th century] - [|Antebellum] - [|Civil War] - [|Colonial period] - [|Mexico] - [|Canada] Many westerns involve semi-**//nomad//**ic characters who wander from town to town, their sole possessions consisting of **//clothing//**, a **//gun//**, and (optionally) a **//horse//**. The high technology of the era – such as the **//telegraph//**, **//printing press//**, and **//railroad//** – may appear, occasionally as a development just arriving, and usually symbolizing the impending end of the **//frontier//** lifestyle which will soon give way to the march of **//civilization//**. [|Nomad] - [|Clothing] - [|Gun] - [|Horse] - [|Telegraph] - [|Printing press] - [|Railroad] - [|Frontier] - [|Civilization] The Western takes these simple elements and uses them to tell **//morality//** tales, usually setting them against spectacular American **//landscape//**s. In some movies, scenery becomes almost the star of the movie. Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in a desert-like **//landscape//** for example in //**The Searchers** (1956) and **Open Range** (2003). However, this desert **landscape** is not as evident in **High Noon**// (1952), which is set in a gritty, dirty western town and shows a juxtaposition between the dirty town and the beautiful **//landscape//**. [|Morality] - [|Landscape] - [|The Searchers] - [|Open Range] - [|High Noon] Specific settings include lonely isolated forts, ranch houses, the isolated homestead, the saloon or the jail. Other iconic elements in westerns include Stetsons and Spurs, **//Colt .45//**s, **//prostitute//**s and the faithful steed.
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Common themes
The western film genre often portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature, in the name of civilisation or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of **//honor//**, rather than the **//law//**, in which persons have no social order larger than their immediate peers, family, or perhaps themselves alone. Here, one must cultivate a reputation by acts of violence; or they can be generous, because generosity creates a dependency relationship in the social **//hierarchy//**. [|Honor] - [|Law] - [|Hierarchy] These themes unite the Western, the **//gangster//** movie, and the **//revenge//** movie in a single vision. In the Western, these themes are forefronted, to the extent that the arrival of law and "**//civilization//**" is often portrayed as regrettable, if inevitable. [|Gangster] - [|Revenge] - [|Civilization]
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