High Noon/The Ballad of Little Jo

In the films, High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo, women are depicted in more interesting and more powerful roles than other Western films. Jane Thomkins argues that, "When the crunch comes, women shatter into words." However these two films depict women who do not shatter into words, but highly intelligent women who are ready to take action.

Amy, in High Noon, serves as a pure women who has just been married, and a testy women who is able to make her own decsions and capable of standing by her beliefs. Although she does tend to wear her emotions on her sleeve, as depicted when she refuses to watch her husband fight, also has a bit of a darker side when she shoots a gang member. This proves her to be more complex than the pure quaker she was at the beginning of the film. The film offers another complex woman in Helen Remirez. Helen is a powerful women in the town and clearly one of the wealthiest. This allows her more power than most. However, Helen is also very intelligent and outspoken. She articulates her thoughts better than most, and has no problem attacking other people, even the men who dominate society. She points out Deputy Harveys immaturity and slaps him as he tries to exert his male dominance over her, and also questions Amy's dedication to her husband.

In the film, The Ballad of Little Joe, again a women creates an interesting character. Jo (short for Josephine), is forced to portray the role of a man in the wild west. Coming from a rich background, she is quickly forced to adopt the ways of an unstructured society. She could arguably be an alpha male cowboy, as her intelligence and dominance proves substantially superior to the other characters in the film. Jo, however, is not immune from her emotional side, which western film usually assosiate them with. She falls in love and becomes emotionally attached to a man, she cries a number of times, and at one point yells out of frustration, "I can't keep living like this." Although according to both films, women can have power but they are unable to fill the boots of a real man.