This book works to complicate and push against common arguments that the Western from its inception is an anti-feminist genre. By focusing on representations of women professionals in Westerns, it shows that women in cinematic and televisual Westerns sometimes do acquire agency and empowerment in the private and public realms, despite our culture’s tendency to gender the former as feminine and the latter as solely masculine. The study reviews the relationship of these progressive Westerns to both explicit and latent feminist ideologies relevant to their times, as the films evolved from the 1930s to the twenty-first century.

Winner of first Prize in the BAFTSS Best Edited Collection competition, this volume examines how different generations of women work within the genericity of audio-visual storytelling not necessarily to 'undo' or 'subvert' popular formats, but also to draw on their generative force. Recent examples of filmmakers and creative practitioners within and outside Hollywood as well as women working in non-directing authorial roles remind us that women are in various ways authoring commercially and culturally impactful texts across a range of genres. Put simply, this volume asks: what do women who are creatively engaged with audio-visual industries do with genre and what does genre do with them? The contributors to the collection respond to this question from diverse perspectives and with different answers, spanning issues of direction, screenwriting, performance and audience address/reception.

In Westerns, women transmit complicated cultural coding about the nature of westward expansionism, heroism, family life, manliness and American femininity. As the genre changes and matures, depictions of women have transitioned from traditional to more modern roles. Frontier Feminine charts these significant shifts in the Western's transmission of gender values and expectations and aims to expand the critical arena in which Western film is situated by acknowledging the importance of women in this genre.

American historians such as Frederick Jackson Turner have argued that the West has been the region that most clearly defines American democracy and the national ethos. Throughout the twentieth century, the "frontier thesis" influenced film and television producers who used the West as a backdrop for an array of dramatic explorations of America's history and the evolution of its culture and values. The common themes found in Westerns distinguish the genre as a quintessentially American form of dramatic art. In Hollywood's West, Peter C. Rollins, John E. O'Connor, and the nation's leading film scholars analyze popular conceptions of the frontier as a fundamental element of American history and culture. This volume examines classic Western films and programs that span nearly a century, from Cimarron (1931) to Turner Network Television's recent made-for-TV movies. Many of the films discussed here are considered among the greatest cinematic landmarks of all time. The essays highlight the ways in which Westerns have both shaped and reflected the dominant social and political concerns of their respective eras. While Cimarron challenged audiences with an innovative, complex narrative, other Westerns of the early sound era such as The Great Meadow (1931) frequently presented nostalgic visions of a simpler frontier era as a temporary diversion from the hardships of the Great Depression. Westerns of the 1950s reveal the profound uncertainty cast by the cold war, whereas later Westerns display heightened violence and cynicism, products of a society marred by wars, assassinations, riots, and political scandals. The volume concludes with a comprehensive filmography and an informative bibliography of scholarly writings on the Western genre. This collection will prove useful to film scholars, historians, and both devoted and casual fans of the Western genre. Hollywood's West makes a significant contribution to the understanding of both the historic American frontier and its innumerable popular representations.

Seminar paper from the year 1995 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1, University of Tubingen (Department of American Studies, Faculty of English Philology), course: Hauptseminar "American West ", 24 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: University of Tübingen, Department for American Studies, HS: The American West Western Myth with gender change: Thelma & Louise (1990) von: Sebastian Hoos Abstract The scientific community widely agrees that no region on earth shaped as many contemporary myths as the American West. The number of definitions of what is meant by "the West" is close to the number of references made to it - in numerous fields. Only by looking at individual examples of western myth at work can we find ways to appoach the myth itself and its consequences. In this paper I want to illuminate the intellectual and cultural web that is worked into and created around the Hollywood-made motion picture "Thelma & Louise". Following a rather broad attempt I want to give a comprehensive overview over all the printed reactions and reviews of this piece of discourse beginning with a few "traditional Westerns" and a piece of generic criticism by a young female American film critic. Following that, the story of the movie will be recaptured, analyzed, and thereby, finally, interpreted. This paper is a revised and extended version of an earlier one presented to Prof. Jeff Bass at Baylor University, Texas, USA. Thanks to the excellent facilities and up to date media access of Moody Memorial Library on Baylor University campus I am apt to say that all relevant publications about this movie have been elaborated in my work. New insight about the recipience and interpretation of the western myth made me rewrite this paper specifically for a course on the American West. Directory of content p. 3 Introduction p. 4 Chapter I: Recent Western Film Reviews p. 5 Chapter II: Generic Criticism p. 8 Chapter I

Master's Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Sociology - Media, Art, Music, grade: 1, University of Dalarna, language: English, abstract: Sergio Leone, the well known Italian Western director, once criticized the woman’s role in the Hollywood Western as follows: [T]he woman is imposed on the action, as a star, and is generally destined to be ‘had’ by the male lead. But she does not exist as a woman. [...] Usually, the woman not only holds up the story, but she has no real character, no reality. She is a symbol. She is there without any reason to be there, simply because one must have a woman [...]. (Leone quoted in Frayling 2006 : 129) This critique of women in the American Western seems to imply that the Italian Leone himself tried to depict women differently in his Western movies: either to let them completely out or to provide them with a real character, with a reason to be in the film. Is his way of depicting women then prototypical for the other Italian Westerns? Is there maybe even a specific Italian way of representing gender roles in Western movies which is different from that of their American counterparts? In general, Western movies have been harshly criticized for their depiction of women. Many authors have argued that the Western in general is a genre that focuses mainly on men and masculinity and leaves only small space with narrow stereotypes for women (see for example Mitchell 1996, Tompkins 1992, French 1997). The research questions are: 1) Is there a difference in the gender depiction in Spaghetti Westerns and Hollywood Westerns? 2) If there is a difference, what are the reasons for this? To answer these questions, different theories of gender in movies are addressed, in order to give an overview of the approaches towards such a topic. Afterwards, the Hollywood and Spaghetti Western in general, as well as the gender depictions in them will be theorized. As a first approach to explain the expected differences, the focus will be on the (visual) cultures of America and Italy. The last point in the theoretical section will deal with the connection between nation and gender because this may well be a crucial variable for the gender depiction in the different Western genres. In the following methodological section, the film analysis that is used to examine movies of the two genres will be explained.

“An excellent study that should interest film buffs, academics, and non-academics alike” (Journal of the West). Hollywood’s West examines popular perceptions of the frontier as a defining feature of American identity and history. Seventeen essays by prominent film scholars illuminate the allure of life on the edge of civilization and analyze how this region has been represented on big and small screens. Differing characterizations of the frontier in modern popular culture reveal numerous truths about American consciousness and provide insights into many classic Western films and television programs, from RKO’s 1931 classic Cimarron to Turner Network Television’s recent made-for-TV movies. Covering topics such as the portrayal of race, women, myth, and nostalgia, Hollywood’s West makes a significant contribution to the understanding of how Westerns have shaped our nation’s opinions and beliefs—often using the frontier as metaphor for contemporary issues.