During the 1970's there was a wave of changes concerning women's rights. The steps made changed the view society had on woman as they began to take on different roles. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibited businesses from pay discrimination based on gender in civil service. One year later the Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in the work place not only based on race, religion and national origin but gender as well. This was a time for woman to break out of their shells and enter the working world. Women began to freely express their thoughts, feelings and desires. The film Rooster Cogburn was released in 1975 when women's rights were increasing therefore the role of " the other" was increasingly more dominant.
In the film we see the dominant female as Eula Goodnight. Eula represents the new independent woman of the 70's. She is intelligent and has substantial knowledge of the Bible but she is still able to stand her ground when challenged with a gun by Hawk. She confidently says Bible verses and he shoots at her feet, she is unaffected. This shows her fearlessness and her faith in God, normally a female does not stand up to a man so the fact that Eula holds her ground shows the difference in women in this time.
Eula wants to take par tin the journey with Rooster to hunt down Hawk and his posse, she wants to be treated as an equal and included on the hunt for the criminal. She maintains this idea of herself as an equal when she saves Rooster's life in many occasions. In western films it is very rare that an 'other' much less a woman steps in to save the alpha. This proves that Eula is worthy of being treated like an equal. Although she saves Rooster on more than one occasion she still maintains her femininity by constantly talking, having faith in God.
The film Rooster Cogburn we see the redefining of the role of the other due to societal changes concerning women's rights. These revisions certainly do not follow the classic view of women but they definitely present the changing views of women throughout the 60's and 70's.
The film Rooster Cogburn was released in 1975 when women's rights were increasing therefore the role of “the other," particularly the woman, was increasingly more dominant. Classic westerns are known to have been filmed during the 40’s and 50’s while revisionist westerns are those that have been filmed during the mid 60’s and after. Rooster Cogburn presents the female Eula Goodnight as the new independent woman of the 70's. She is intelligent and has substantial knowledge of the Bible but she is still able to stand her ground when challenged with a gun by Hawk. She confidently says Bible verses and he shoots at her feet, she is unaffected. This shows her fearlessness and her faith in God, normally a female does not stand up to a man so the fact that Eula stands up for herself shows a true revisionist female.
ReplyDeleteEula wants to take part in the journey with Rooster to hunt down Hawk and his posse, she wants to be treated as an equal and included on the hunt for the criminal. She maintains this idea of herself as an equal when she saves Rooster's life in many occasions. Not only does Eula save Roosters life but she also gets his badge back by talking. In western films it is very rare that an 'other' much less a woman steps in to save the alpha. This proves that Eula is worthy of being treated like an equal. Although she saves Rooster on more than one occasion she still maintains her femininity by constantly talking and having faith in God. Rooster says that Eula “is what she is because that’s what she wants to be.”
During the 1970's there was a wave of changes concerning women's rights. Society’s view of women began to change as they took on different roles. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibited businesses from pay discrimination based on gender in civil service. One year later the Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in the work place not only based on race, religion and national origin but gender as well. This was a time for women to break out of their shells and enter the working world. Women began to freely express their thoughts, feelings and desires.
The film Rooster Cogburn we see the redefining of the role of the other due to societal changes concerning women's rights. During the seventies western films were classified as revisionist western because they presented transformed plots as well as characters. Westerns are known to be a reflection of American culture and during the seventies society had changed greatly regarding the equality of minorities through the equal pay act and the Civil Rights act.