Genre
Post-western
The author of the essay points
out that it is necessary to distinguish the Western genre
from the Post-Western. Post-Western may be described as
any action film or drama in which action takes place in
the setting similar to that of the classical Western, but
the time period it covers extends from before and immediately
after World War II to the present. Furthermore, its visual
identity has to rely, at least partly, on the iconography
of the mother genre, while the subtext must reflect some
basic tenants of the American myth of the Western Frontier.
However, the author points out that the essay
is not an attempt to establish a new genre since there
are not many films that could be put in this category.
The author of the text is primarily dealing with films
that he labeled as Post-Westerns, such as John Sayles’ Lone Star (1996),
Stephen Frears’ Hi-Lo Country (1999) and Billy Bob
Thorton’s All the Pretty Horses (2001). He also
analyses the evolution of this extension of the Western
genre through the late Western of the ’60s — rodeo films
— as was Sam Peckinpahs Junior Bonner (1972), films
of the ’80s that also belonged to the genre of road movies,
such as Wim Wender’s Paris, Texas, or action thrillers,
such as was Walter Hill’s Extreme Prejudice. All
these films are, although in different ways, dealing with
the myth of the West.
Analyzing contemporary Post-Western the author examines the
differences between the Western and the Post-Western. Starting
with the creators of the above-mentioned films and their attitude
towards the Western tradition, the author points out their
tendency to overlap different genres, for example Western and
melodrama, etc. This could be explained by the fact that once
the West was tamed the action hero of the Post-Western remained
with his hands tied. The author also examines situations typical
of the Western genre and its archetypal protagonists relying
on the layered superstructure of the Post-Western and in view
of the changes in patterns that occurred within the Post-Western
framework.
Most obvious changes seem to have happened in the
approach to the archetypal heroes of the sheriff, teacher and cowboy.
Although once the best witnesses of the myth of the Western
Frontier, in the Post-Western their role has radically
changed, primarily due to the changes in the social context.
More precisely, the primal community has evolved into an
organized society that no longer needed their services.
Relations between the past and present, myth and reality
continue to be an important element of the Post-Western
just as they were of the Western, although their interrelations
have changed.
Tomislav Čegir |
