Description
Book Synopsis With fresh appraisals of popular Westerns, this book examines the history of the genre with a focus on definitional aspects of canon, adaptation and hybridity.
The author covers a range of largely unexplored topics, including the role of heroines in a (supposedly) male-oriented system of film production, the function of the celluloid Indians, the transcultural and transnational history of the first spaghetti Western, the construction of femininity and masculinity in the hybrid Westerns of the 1950s, and the new paths of the Western in the 21st century.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Why the Western?
1. Transnational Adaptation, Transculturation and Indigenization: Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest, Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars
Prologue 13
The National 16
The Origins: Local and Translocal 22
The Transnational 26
Conclusion 42
2. Celluloid Indians, 1950s Westerns and the Termination Act: Broken Arrow, White Feather, The Battle of Apache Pass, Devil's Doorway, The Last Wagon and The Last Hunt
Prologue 45
Broken Arrow (1950) 52
White Feather (1955) and The Battle of Apache Pass (1952) 57
Devil's Doorway (1950) 59
The Last Wagon (1956) 67
The Last Hunt (1956) 74
Conclusion 79
3. Heroines in Western Films? Mikhail Bakhtin's "Dialogic Imagination" in Shane, High Noon and Westward the Women
Monoglossia: The Submissive Woman and Shane (1953) 89
Heteroglossia: The Transgressive Woman and High Noon (1952) 93
X-glossia: Transformational Women and Westward the Women (1951) 100
4. Hybridity and (De)Construction of Femininity and Masculinity in Rancho Notorious, Johnny Guitar and Duel in the Sun
Rancho Notorious: The Filmic Text (1952) 111
Johnny Guitar: Paratext 121
Johnny Guitar: Peritext and the Novel (1953) 123
Johnny Guitar: The Filmic Text (1954) 127
Duel in the Sun (1946): Paratext 136
Duel in the Sun: The Novel (1944) 139
Duel in the Sun: The Filmic Text (1946) 141
Patriarchy and Failed Masculinities 143
Patriarchy and Failed Femininities 146
Capitalism and Patriotism 149
5. New Paths of the Western in the Third Millennium: The Lone Ranger, Yesterday and Today
The Western Genre Today 152
Enter The Lone Ranger: Prologue 155
The Lone Ranger Yesterday or How the West Was Conquered 156
The Lone Ranger (2013): Paratext 161
The Lone Ranger Today or How the West Was Lost 164
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
