DETAILS

Title: Western

Categories:

Western

Location: Louis L'amour Cormac Mc Carthy, All The Pretty Horses Glendon Swarthout, The Shootist Jack Warner Shaefer, Shane

Pagination: 0

Illustrations: - clear division between hero and villain - conflict between individual and society (the outlaw vs. the long arm of the law) - themes of self-reliance - taming effect of civilisation (i.e. wife and homestead tie the hero to society)

Document Type: Graffiti

Notes:

The western is dominated by frontier landscape and a nostalgic sense of being on the edge of civilisation. The space of the borderlands plays an important role in the themes and ideology of the West; this is a point of contact between peoples, the dividing point between order and anarchy, and a period and place of transition. The western story typically focuses on an individual hero and his struggles against the land and against the codes of society. However, morals are clearly divided and are ultimately upheld as society is reasserted over the "wild" state.