In her article, Sue Matheson states that although he is dead, John Wayne remains one of the top 10 film stars of all time. She states that John Wayne represented a complex figure, an ultimate father figure, a man who needs no help. She notes how in Wayne’s films, he portrays what a man “should be,” quiet, self-dependant, a loner, and a sufferer. She then goes into great detail of the symbolism of the westerns, and how very subtle things represent so many different ideas.
She eventually goes into detail about the idea of cleanliness in westerns. I found this subject to be very interesting because I myself do not notice these things very easily. She states that cleanliness represents the mental psychology of a character, in that how clean or dirty he is represents how sane or insane the person in as a given time. She also describes how westerns display large amounts of sociopathic behavior. The men in these films are almost unable to create emotional ties with people and it causes them to live a very lonely lifestyle. It suggests that men should be indifferent about friendship and love, and that they are to keep their emotions bottled up inside of them.
Matheson also discusses the role that clothing plays in her article. She explains that much like character, the clothing of a western character never changes. The way that people dress in westerns is very important. For example she says that people who dress in city, “civilized clothes,” usually end of being savages in a “looks can be deceiving” kind of way. The constant similar clothing creates a static character, however, if the clothes seems to change, the character most likely also will.
Sue Matheson uses a simple phrase to describe the existential behavior in westerns, “out here… a man solves his own problems.” This is perhaps the best way to describe the existentialist beliefs that law, science, and objective knowledge do not matter. In the west a man abides by his own law, his own way of thinking. By showing this, westerns show that men are only limited by their personal morals and by their own views of right and wrong. In this “wild” west a man will do all that he can justify to himself. It extends further the idea of the alpha male, in that he is his own decision maker and that he is ignorant to all views and ways of thinking besides his own mind.
In her article, Sue Matheson states that although he is dead, John Wayne remains one of the top 10 film stars of all time. She states that John Wayne represented a complex figure, an ultimate father figure, a man who needs no help. She notes how in Wayne’s films, he portrays what a man “should be,” quiet, self-dependant, a loner, and a sufferer. She then goes into great detail of the symbolism of the westerns, and how very subtle things represent so many different ideas.
ReplyDeleteShe eventually goes into detail about the idea of cleanliness in westerns. I found this subject to be very interesting because I myself do not notice these things very easily. She states that cleanliness represents the mental psychology of a character, in that how clean or dirty he is represents how sane or insane the person is at a given time. She also describes how westerns display large amounts of sociopathic behavior. The men in these films are almost unable to create emotional ties with people and it causes them to live a very lonely lifestyle. It suggests that men should be indifferent about friendship and love, and that they are to keep their emotions bottled up inside of them.
Matheson also discusses the role that clothing plays in her article. She explains that much like character, the clothing of a western character never changes. The way that people dress in westerns is very important. For example she says that people who dress in city, “civilized clothes,” usually end of being savages in a “looks can be deceiving” kind of way. The constant similar clothing creates a static character, however, if the clothes seems to change, the character most likely also will.
Sue Matheson uses a simple phrase to describe the existential behavior in westerns, “out here… a man solves his own problems.” This is perhaps the best way to describe the existentialist beliefs that law, science, and objective knowledge do not matter. In the west a man abides by his own law, his own way of thinking. By showing this, westerns show that men are only limited by their personal morals and by their own views of right and wrong. In this “wild” west a man will do all that he can justify to himself. It extends further the idea of the alpha male, in that he is his own decision maker and that he is ignorant to all views and ways of thinking besides his own mind.