Legends of Western Cinema Week || Kick-off + Tag

Mornin', mornin'.  *lifts hat* 

Legends of Western Cinema Week begins today!  Rachel and Heidi and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.  I'll be keeping it simple over here with a handful of reviews, but I know there will be games and giveaways and gizmos a-plenty from other quarters.  

Sounds like a marvelous time, doesn't it? 😉


As usual, we'll get basic logistics out of the way first thing.

This year, the tag is in either/or format, so let's start with that, shall we?  Here's a clean list of the questions:

1) Western movies or Western TV shows?

2) Funny Westerns or dramatic Westerns?

3) Westerns that focus on loners or Westerns that focus on families?

4) Male-centric Westerns or female-centric Westerns?

5) 1930s to 1960s Westerns or 1970s to 2020s Westerns?

6) Westerns that take place in America or Westerns that take place internationally?

7) Family-friendly Westerns or edgier Westerns?

8) Straightforward good guy or conflicted hero?

9) Historically accurate Westerns or Westerns that aren't afraid to take some creative liberties?

10) Bittersweet or happily-ever-after endings?


Next, I'll go ahead and answer the questions for myself. 😉

1) Western movies or Western TV shows?

Western movies.  I don't think I've ever watched a Western TV show, actually (unless we're counting Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), and I don't think I'd like one very much.    

2) Funny Westerns or dramatic Westerns?

On principle, I'd say funny Westerns, but the actual fact of the matter is that most of my favorite Westerns are dramas.  Still, any new-to-me Western will have a much higher chance of earning my affection if it highlights humor along with its pathos. 

Rango, of course, is the stand-out for me when it comes to strictly comedic Westerns, and it's definitely high on my top-ten list.  But take another of my ultimate favorites, the one that is (currently) surpassed only by the infamous Broken Trail:  Tom Selleck's Quigley Down Under.  That show moves from sardonically hilarious to deadly serious and back again in a matter of heartbeats, and I absolutely adore how deftly both styles are blended in its narrative.  (More on this in a few days!)


3) Westerns that focus on loners or Westerns that focus on families?

Typically, the Westerns I watch contain at least some variant on the "found family" theme, so I suppose the technically correct answer would be families.  But "found" is a key distinction for me, here.  I don't tend to like generational sagas, and Westerns are no exception.  Throw a bunch of random people together and watch them form familial bonds?  That I can do.  Plant your focus on one biological family and watch them . . . exist . . . for however many years?  That doesn't interest me so much. 

However, I'm rarely gripped by the "lone gunman" trope, either.  Drifters who have to work with a group of other drifters and become friends with them (or with a couple of them), putting down meaningful roots even if those roots tend to migrate a little?  Sure, absolutely.  Drifters who arrive somewhere, do something, and then drift away again leaving bittersweet pseudo-relationships behind them?  Eh, not so much.

Too long, didn't read:  I'm picky. 😂  So really what I need you to do is collect a group of people — be they whatever assortment of friends, colleagues, acquaintances, relatives, and downright enemies that they may — and let them work out whatever needs to be worked out without focusing too much on any one dynamic.


4) Male-centric Westerns or female-centric Westerns?

Well, there is (*ahem*) a distinct lack of female-centric offerings in the genre, as of now — but there are a few, and I have hope for many more!  (Thanks in part to a couple of friends who are currently writing some pretty smashing Westerns of their own. 😉)

But which do I prefer, personally?

At the risk of sounding trite:  both.  Again, circling back to the idea of an eclectic group of players, I like a story that maintains more or less of an equilibrium when it comes to the division of gender in its characters.  

And I think that, in general, a lot of Westerns actually do a decent job of this.  Is there a clear predominance of male-centric stories in the genre?  Yes.  But I do feel that, even in that sphere, you can often find a fairly reasonable emphasis placed on female characters, too.  You can find stories which take the time to highlight the contributions of women in the Old West, as well — whether that be through a cast of characters in which the women outnumber the men and thus command a unique narrative focus (like Broken Trail), or though a story in which the women have equally (or nearly equally) vital roles to play as the men do (like The Big Country or Quigley Down Under).


Which is not at all to say that there isn't work that needs to be done!  There is plenty of room for improvement, and don't let's forget it.  I just mean that, even as the genre currently stands, there are options that offer that more balanced narrative — they can just, unfortunately, take a bit of digging to find.

(Also, to be clear, there's nothing wrong with stories that focus on one gender or the other.  It's just that they don't tend to appeal to me as often.)

5) 1930s to 1960s Westerns or 1970s to 2020s Westerns?

I used to watch a lot of older black-and-white Westerns, but my interest in those has died off in recent years, and I mainly watch from the 90s forward now.  So, at the present moment, the answer would be 1970s to 2020s Westerns. 

6) Westerns that take place in America or Westerns that take place internationally?

With the exception of the aforementioned Quigley Down Under, I have more American-set favorites.  But I'm always down for an international Western, too!  I just haven't seen as many.


7) Family-friendly Westerns or edgier Westerns?

Again, based on my current favorites . . . I guess I tend to go for edgier ones, given that a lot of them involve human trafficking and other not-so-family-friendly themes.

8) Straightforward good guy or conflicted hero?

"Both?"
"Both?"
"Both."
"Both is good."

9) Historically accurate Westerns or Westerns that aren't afraid to take some creative liberties?

I don't generally know enough about history to be qualified to judge, but I love a purposeful twist or reversal of historical cultural mores. 😜

10) Bittersweet or happily-ever-after endings?

I certainly like happy endings better!  But I can appreciate a bittersweet or tragic ending depending on the story.

It also depends on your definition of "happily-ever-after".  I generally consider it a "happy ending" if the surviving protagonists are able to stay with their newfound family/friend "group" in at least some capacity, even if a lot of people have been lost along the way. 


And now, to conclude, here's this year's link-up widget!  Don't forget to return to this post (or Rachel's or Heidi's) to drop links to your own Western posts so that we can all read them!



Let's do it!

Comments

  1. Just spotted my post was added the first time, please delete one of the posts!

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    1. I can't remove it, but I'll try to see if one of my cohosts can!

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  2. Your answers are fascinating, and I greatly enjoyed reading them!

    "Too long, didn't read: I'm picky." WELL IF IT AIN'T ME. *immoderate giggling*

    Aw, you're making me blush xD (also, I gotta stop procrastinating and get onto editing and publishing said female-centric Wild West fantasy series ... I gotta ...)

    I definitely want more gender balance in my Western stories. Fewer male-dominated casts. But even setting aside the question of the NUMBER of female characters, I want to see more female DRIVEN Westerns. That is, I want more Westerns where a woman is the protagonist and the point-of-view character; where her quest, her goals, her problems and concerns, drive the story, rather than the usual pattern where she's just "along for the ride" on a man's quest. Because even if she gets plenty of screentime, she's usually not the one leading the story. I want to change that.

    (Of course, I'm primarily concerned with Western books than Western movies, because most Western novels are even older and thus have an even worse record re: their female characters. xD)

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    1. Why, thank you! I had fun with them this year.

      We're choosy little devils, you and I.

      Indeed, indeed. *nods vigorously* The world needs that Wild West fantasy series!

      For sure. And of that -- Westerns which center around a female PROTAGONIST -- there is a definite deficit. I'm actually reviewing one of the few for this party, actually; the post will be up tomorrow. But they're definitely few and far between, alas.

      (Lol, true! I almost never read Westerns, but even from the little I have read, I know what you mean. xD Western movies, while there still aren't enough female-driven stories, at least often feature female characters who are very important to the story itself. Western books? Not as much. xD)

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    2. Ugh, I wrote "actually" twice in that sentence. #frustration

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  3. "Both" is the perfect answer! I gave myself the challenge (not so easily followed I found) of choosing a side and sticking to it. Can't say it was a success but it was certainly an exercise.

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    1. Haha, yep, it's a tricky one to answer. Especially since I don't really like either gender to outnumber the other.

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  4. I'm probably going to end up going around to everyone's posts and just saying YES TO HIDALGO. It's one of the few westerns I've seen (though I'd like to see more), and it's GREAT.

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  5. It seems like the real key to that happy vs. bittersweet question is how well it fits the story, isn't it? Even though I generally prefer happy, if it's hastily tacked on or if everything suddenly resolves a little too magically, it'll feel like an artistic shortcoming even if the story mildly entertained/pleased me. On the other hand, I hate downer endings where it feels like the story absolutely accomplished nothing—nobody learned anything, nobody gained anything, we were headed for unhappiness from the start; hopelessness for hopelessness's sake. No thanks. Anyway...getting all philosophical here. :)

    I think maybe generational sagas are one of the least...exciting?...types of family stories, maybe because the focus is a little more on the broad, the passage of time, than on what's happening in the moment. I wonder if people tend to go for this type when creating Westerns because they associate broad/generational with the size and sweep of the frontier? Now, on the other hand, a more compact story about a nuclear family with a clearly defined conflict, beginning, and ending...more of that for me, please! (Which suddenly makes me think that you might like the novel The Unforgiven by Alan LeMay.)

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    1. Yes, I can love either type of ending; as you say, it really depends on what fits the story, or on what is necessary for the story. If either one would be reasonably believable, I prefer a happy one because using a bittersweet angle when you could just as easily tie everything up satisfactorily does start to feel like useless nihilism. (Not that nihilism can't be productive, in certain small doses . . . but that's a tangent for another day, haha.)

      I think so. And I like slower, "passage of time" stories, but I like their scope to be narrower, not the broadness of the generational saga. (Ooh, I haven't heard of The Unforgiven. I did like LeMay's The Searchers, so I'll look into TU. Thanks for the rec!)

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  6. So interesting that you don't think you'd like western TV shows! I adore them. I remember when we'd visit my grandparents in July every summer, and I would look forward to Saturday mornings with extreme glee because they had cable TV, and Saturday morning was when they showed alllllll the old western TV shows. It's where I fell in love with Heath on The Big Valley, Lucas McCain on The Rifleman, and both the Virginian and Trampas on The Virginian. Not to mention all four Cartwrights on Bonanza... oh, such good times. Later, VHS introduced me to a lot more :-)

    TV shows tend to work super well for me, on a whole, because what draws me to a story is wanting to hang out with the characters. Most movies, unless they're part of a big franchise, I only have one adventure to hang out with characters I love. A TV show can give me dozens, even hundreds of fun opportunities to be with my fictional friends, and I relish that.

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    1. Yep! I have to be in the right mood for Westerns to begin with, so a TV show runtime for one wouldn't suit me, I don't think. (Plus, I'm more of a movie gal in general.) But what a neat set of memories to associate with your grandparents!

      And see, that makes sense, since you're such a character-driven reader/viewer. Whereas, for me, it's not usually the characters that draw me to a story. (Although if I am going to watch a TV show -- particularly a sitcom -- I do need to really like the characters or I won't be willing to spend the time that a TV show requires.)

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