(originally written for ALARM Magazine in June 2005)
"A gun is a tool, Marion, no better or no worse than any other tool, an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that." –Shane
The Western occupies a curious place in the history of American film and television. I have always found Westerns puzzling for a number of reasons, but none so prominent as the fact that so many people just don't seem to like them. When asking about the genre, replies often range from half-hearted enthusiasm to outright disgust. It's similar to the stigma evoked whenever someone says "I like all kinds of music except country." The entire idea of a genre that once ruled our culture instantly turns many people off today.
The definition of the Western as a genre is itself a little confusing because, even though it makes intuitive sense to put all Westerns on the same shelf at the video store, objectively it's more of a setting than a genre. I'll concede that many Westerns deal with similar themes, and that they tend to reference a specific place and time in American history. But, when rattling off a list of common TV or film genres – romantic comedy, horror, police dramas – "Western"
always strikes me as the odd man out. You can take any story, set it in the old west, and that immediately becomes its defining characteristic.
Part of the aversion to Westerns reflects the way attitudes about that period of American history have changed in the last fifty years. The Wild West used to represent the glory of American expansionism. Great adventurers trekking into the unknown in search of a promised land of freedom and prosperity, cowboys conquering the untamed wilderness, and lone sheriffs bringing order and morality to a lawless land were icons of the American dream. It is harder to glorify and romanticize parts of that history today as we have increasingly recognized that westward expansion brought with it the genocide of millions of Native Americans. Playing cowboys and Indians just never held the same excitement for a generation of kids who grew up knowing that, in reality, the cowboys gave the Indians blankets infected with smallpox.
Even if we didn't know as much about the Trail of Tears as we do about Lewis and Clark, the glorification of the old west was born out of a much different ideological time in our culture. Classic westerns are surrounded by an elusive air of nostalgia for a time that we don’t even remember anymore. Starting with the end of World War II, every generation has become a little further removed from spirit of the old west. There's no more untamed wilderness to left to tame, and the only people "Go West, young man" applies to anymore are people looking to get into the film and technology industries.
Also, the whole aesthetic of the old west can be a little unappealing today. We've become a culture of technocrats, obsessed with our cable modems, plasma TV's, GPS navigational systems, cell phones with digital cameras, and 60gb color iPods. The level of technophilia we've reached makes it harder and harder to imagine a time before indoor plumbing, much less want to romanticize it.
However, perhaps the most significant reason so many people are turned off by Westerns today is the preconception of Westerns as simple morality tales. The stereotypical Western features a lawless Dodge City caught in the grip of a bunch of gun wielding jerks with no likable qualities whatsoever. A sheriff or weary drifter with a fierce sense of morality confronts the bad guys and runs them out of town, once again making the land safe for decent people. There are countless variations on this story, but the basic idea is often the same. The bad guys are reckless, violent, unfeeling, and often unshaven. The good guys live by a strict code that forces them to defend the innocent under any circumstances.
The major attributes of these stories came about because of the way film was emerging as a popular art form in the 1930's and 40's. Well on its way to becoming the most pervasive form of entertainment in the land, many people, politicians in particular, became concerned about how films might influence the public. Children especially enjoyed adventure tales of the old west, and so arose the same kind of debate we have today over whether violent and amoral video games will teach kids to be killers. In an attempt to diffuse the situation and remove any doubt that Hollywood had America's best interests at heart, the major studios formed the Hays Production Codes, a strict set of regulations about how certain topics and themes were to be dealt with on screen.
The document reads like a recipe for what I've described above as the stereotypical Western. There must be crystal clear distinctions between good and evil. Under no circumstances should the viewer be made to feel sympathy for criminals or those engaged in wrongdoing.
All of the hero’s actions should reflect a high sense of morality as well as reinforce standards of "correct living." Violence is to be treated only when absolutely necessary to the plot, should not be glorified or endorsed, and must not be graphic. Sex is totally out of the question as the codes even make reference to avoiding any kind of sexually suggestive dancing or body language. In short, the codes would have prevented every frame of a show like The Sopranos.
The Hays codes were the film industry standard through much of the heyday of the classic Western and affected the way the entire genre developed over the next several decades. While any movie buff will agree that there are many Westerns among the finest films ever produced, both while the Hays codes reigned and since, our cultural perceptions of the genre are still largely based on a time when films were sanitized to their own detriment.
HBO’s Deadwood is the best effort to-date to thwart those perceptions. The series boasts gritty realism with conflicted characters steeped in moral ambiguity and as much dramatic complexity as anything on television. Despite all of this, the fact that I’ve still been unable to convince many people to give it chance is what prompted me to consider the strange relationship we have with westerns today.
The New Yorker published a fantastic profile of Deadwood creator David Milch in February. He mentions the Hays codes, how in his research he discovered that most Westerns have very little to do with the actual old west, and why he wanted this show to be different. As far as I can tell, a lack of connection to the actual old West is one of several logical reasons people feel an almost allergic reaction to Westerns today. But, to those people I would say forget everything you know about Westerns. If nothing else, Deadwood proves that a Western can also be as good or bad as the man using it.
"A gun is a tool, Marion, no better or no worse than any other tool, an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that." –Shane
The Western occupies a curious place in the history of American film and television. I have always found Westerns puzzling for a number of reasons, but none so prominent as the fact that so many people just don't seem to like them. When asking about the genre, replies often range from half-hearted enthusiasm to outright disgust. It's similar to the stigma evoked whenever someone says "I like all kinds of music except country." The entire idea of a genre that once ruled our culture instantly turns many people off today.
The definition of the Western as a genre is itself a little confusing because, even though it makes intuitive sense to put all Westerns on the same shelf at the video store, objectively it's more of a setting than a genre. I'll concede that many Westerns deal with similar themes, and that they tend to reference a specific place and time in American history. But, when rattling off a list of common TV or film genres – romantic comedy, horror, police dramas – "Western"
always strikes me as the odd man out. You can take any story, set it in the old west, and that immediately becomes its defining characteristic.
Part of the aversion to Westerns reflects the way attitudes about that period of American history have changed in the last fifty years. The Wild West used to represent the glory of American expansionism. Great adventurers trekking into the unknown in search of a promised land of freedom and prosperity, cowboys conquering the untamed wilderness, and lone sheriffs bringing order and morality to a lawless land were icons of the American dream. It is harder to glorify and romanticize parts of that history today as we have increasingly recognized that westward expansion brought with it the genocide of millions of Native Americans. Playing cowboys and Indians just never held the same excitement for a generation of kids who grew up knowing that, in reality, the cowboys gave the Indians blankets infected with smallpox.
Even if we didn't know as much about the Trail of Tears as we do about Lewis and Clark, the glorification of the old west was born out of a much different ideological time in our culture. Classic westerns are surrounded by an elusive air of nostalgia for a time that we don’t even remember anymore. Starting with the end of World War II, every generation has become a little further removed from spirit of the old west. There's no more untamed wilderness to left to tame, and the only people "Go West, young man" applies to anymore are people looking to get into the film and technology industries.
Also, the whole aesthetic of the old west can be a little unappealing today. We've become a culture of technocrats, obsessed with our cable modems, plasma TV's, GPS navigational systems, cell phones with digital cameras, and 60gb color iPods. The level of technophilia we've reached makes it harder and harder to imagine a time before indoor plumbing, much less want to romanticize it.
However, perhaps the most significant reason so many people are turned off by Westerns today is the preconception of Westerns as simple morality tales. The stereotypical Western features a lawless Dodge City caught in the grip of a bunch of gun wielding jerks with no likable qualities whatsoever. A sheriff or weary drifter with a fierce sense of morality confronts the bad guys and runs them out of town, once again making the land safe for decent people. There are countless variations on this story, but the basic idea is often the same. The bad guys are reckless, violent, unfeeling, and often unshaven. The good guys live by a strict code that forces them to defend the innocent under any circumstances.
The major attributes of these stories came about because of the way film was emerging as a popular art form in the 1930's and 40's. Well on its way to becoming the most pervasive form of entertainment in the land, many people, politicians in particular, became concerned about how films might influence the public. Children especially enjoyed adventure tales of the old west, and so arose the same kind of debate we have today over whether violent and amoral video games will teach kids to be killers. In an attempt to diffuse the situation and remove any doubt that Hollywood had America's best interests at heart, the major studios formed the Hays Production Codes, a strict set of regulations about how certain topics and themes were to be dealt with on screen.
The document reads like a recipe for what I've described above as the stereotypical Western. There must be crystal clear distinctions between good and evil. Under no circumstances should the viewer be made to feel sympathy for criminals or those engaged in wrongdoing.
All of the hero’s actions should reflect a high sense of morality as well as reinforce standards of "correct living." Violence is to be treated only when absolutely necessary to the plot, should not be glorified or endorsed, and must not be graphic. Sex is totally out of the question as the codes even make reference to avoiding any kind of sexually suggestive dancing or body language. In short, the codes would have prevented every frame of a show like The Sopranos.
The Hays codes were the film industry standard through much of the heyday of the classic Western and affected the way the entire genre developed over the next several decades. While any movie buff will agree that there are many Westerns among the finest films ever produced, both while the Hays codes reigned and since, our cultural perceptions of the genre are still largely based on a time when films were sanitized to their own detriment.
HBO’s Deadwood is the best effort to-date to thwart those perceptions. The series boasts gritty realism with conflicted characters steeped in moral ambiguity and as much dramatic complexity as anything on television. Despite all of this, the fact that I’ve still been unable to convince many people to give it chance is what prompted me to consider the strange relationship we have with westerns today.
The New Yorker published a fantastic profile of Deadwood creator David Milch in February. He mentions the Hays codes, how in his research he discovered that most Westerns have very little to do with the actual old west, and why he wanted this show to be different. As far as I can tell, a lack of connection to the actual old West is one of several logical reasons people feel an almost allergic reaction to Westerns today. But, to those people I would say forget everything you know about Westerns. If nothing else, Deadwood proves that a Western can also be as good or bad as the man using it.
No comments:
Post a Comment