Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This wide-ranging book illuminates the importance of the Western in American history. It explores the interconnections between the Western in both literature and film and the United States in the 20th century. Structured chronologically, the book traces the evolution of the Western as a uniquely American form. The author argues that America's frontier past was quickly transformed into a set of symbols and myths, an American meta-narrative that came to underpin much of the 'American century'. He details how and why this process occurred, the form and function of Western myths and symbols

Western stories --- Western films --- History and criticism.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Film --- Western films --- Westerns --- History and criticism --- Histoire et critique --- -791.43 --- Désherbage --- Motion pictures --- Deselectie --- Western films. --- History and criticism. --- 791.43 --- Western films - History and criticism

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Film --- United States --- Western films --- History and criticism --- United States of America

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Men in motion pictures. --- Western films --- History and criticism. --- History and criticism

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

What 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.

Western films --- Myth --- Demythologization --- God --- Gods --- Mythology --- Religion --- History and criticism. --- Social aspects