The Cowboy Complex
In my research of the 1968 Sergio Leone film, Once Upon a Time in the West, and the 2018 blockbuster video game from Rockstar Games, Red Dead Redemption 2, I have discovered a multitude of comparative elements in both of the selected texts which share distinct similarities. Although, despite their differences in mediums, the two bodies of work display great solidarity with one another while providing a deep understanding of the western genre. This cohesion of reoccurring narrative elements gives us insight into the conventions of how the cowboy is portrayed in media texts compared to the reality of our society. While the glorifying imagery of guns, sex, and outlaw mentality is easily commercialized, I believe this is actually hurting our perception of what we should define a cowboy as. Media makers who cleverly utilize innovative and impressive elements of mise en scène, cinematography and story arch effectively create the fictional character archetype in which is by all means unachievable by today’s standards. This misrepresentation can often create a distorted view of what a “real” cowboy is, while being clueless of the activities and life of the modern cowboy.
Depression Hits Hollywood
Since the inception of the western genre in America during the 1930s, the cowboy persona was given a false depiction in terms of their livelihood and character traits. The archetypical scenarios of good versus evil, or cowboys versus Indians, became overly saturated throughout various American markets; essentially instilling a glamorous and fantasy representation of who a cowboy is. When in fact, as mentioned by author Robert L. Cullers, the reality of cowboys during the 1930s was much more somber, “The real West usually had farmers or cattle drivers whose main enemies were the weather. They were typically lonely. In the winter, they might even run out of food. However, this sort of life did not make for good films compared to the glorification of the gunslingers.” (Cullers). While movie studios at the time were not trying to intentionally harm the identity of the cowboy, they have created the stereotype which was followed for decades after; falsifying the legacy of these hardworking men and women. It is important to recognize that Hollywood is the land of fictional storytelling and entertainment produced solely for our enjoyment, where realities are often too boring or sad to show on the big screen; thus, the larger than life films are sought after most. These grandiose pictures appearing across screens around the country stimulates the audiences’ interest, particularly young adolescents. The ability to persuade these children through presumptuous images creates a dissonance between what is expected of a cowboy compared to their real-life duties. In addition, there is also the furthering development of racism towards Native Americans as depicted in early western genre media. This along with the prior decades of hostility directed to indigenous people expands the generational distaste of their cultural heritage. While it is not overt, there is subtle racism shown throughout both of my selected texts; whether it be passive aggressive or acts of intense hostility. Though the use of racial slurs and other innuendos were commonplace and representative of this time period, we must be mindful of such media that can be misconstrued among the minds of our youth. Despite this use of aggression, both media texts in my selection found ways to intuitively bridge the gap of the historical misrepresentation of people of color throughout early forms of the western genre. Natives working together, not against white Anglo settlers proves to audiences that the diverse cultures of cowboys and indigenous people can find common ground with each other.
Rise of the Spaghetti Western
The two media products in my selection both offer a descriptive and striking visual presence, staying true to the traditional methods of a Spaghetti Western. Each of the media texts share some similar elements such as the environment and era of where the story takes place, in addition to the attire and aesthetic of the certain character types. Even though the game starts during a winter storm, and the film during a bone-dry heatwave, they both begin very slowly as tension rise through gang violence. There are differences in much of what takes place throughout the first act of each media text, such as our video game protagonist, Arthur Morgan, having a close relation to a camp, compared to our lone wolf in the film; having no affiliation at all with the town he travels to. Though the narratives of both forms of media seem to overlap through tropes of the typical outlaw ideology; killing rival gang members, drinking and robbing banks or trains. The particular trope of train robbery is apparent in the game and somewhat in the film as well, though these two texts coincide especially in far more minute details than they do in narrative events. These details of typical western genre tropes stem from the birth of the Spaghetti Western, where much of the normally routine and “boring” parts of being a cowboy are exaggerated in a dramatic fashion. As stated by a source on the impact of Spaghetti Western’s in a political sense, the traditional sequences found in the western genre are one in the same, “Furthermore, Corbucci creates a blowout spectacle in each and every scene. Plot has no inherent purpose but to connect these spectacles together. As a result, Corbucci’s film lacks narrative coherence.” (Robè). The author furthers his argument by discussing how the implications of a Spaghetti Western’s overstatement of cowboy antics are due to political reasoning. Though my duction is that the depiction of extravagant acts performed by a mercenary cowboy is prone to a societal misunderstanding that is carried on into the 21stcentury; where cowboys are farmers, wranglers and family men too.
What is a Cowboy?
The “cowboy” many people wish to be is very unlike the cowboy they think they know. While television and film has conditioned us to believe the adventures of a cowboy consist of wild and action-packed events, the reality often proves a stark difference. Psychology researcher, Ronnie Homann, puts it best in his dissertation on cowboy culture, “Many of the people I have interviewed do struggle with the cowboy image in relation to their perception of reality or illusion. Many have developed extensive matrices for identifying realcowboys, and many feel the need to justify their connection to the image regardless of how minute the association.” (Homann). The attributes many people often associate with cowboy culture, is usually related to the idealistic image they first observed from the classical Hollywood western genre. It seems as though these standards of what it means to be a realcowboy have been set so unreasonably high by our media industry that common folk do not easily relate to the new postmodern cowboy culture being forced upon them. Even though over time these standards have changed, as the western genre has shifted from a ragtag and campy sentiment to a more sophisticated and praised aesthetic; much of the themes stay the same. As long as the western genre continues to reinterpret itself, with the likes of postmodern directors such as Quentin Tarantino’s inter-textual references in his recent films, there will be no definitive definition of the “cowboy”. Audiences viewing western films decades from now will find new outlets and meanings behind character archetypes as the postmodernist continues the recycling of references from the western genre’s everchanging history bank.
Sergio Leone’s western epic, Once Upon a Time in the West, in coordination with 2018’s narrative game of the year, Red Dead Redemption 2, have both established their place in the western genre timeline as they share a number of intrinsic elements that follow in line with the tropes of an idealistic cowboy. While there is a significant distinction between their two separate mediums, it important to recognize the relation in which the audience interacts with the media text. The actions of the typical cowboy protagonist are traditionally at the discretion of the director, although through a video game the course of narrative events is now in the hands of the player. This solidarity of reoccurring character motifs from both mediums gives us a special perspective into the methods of how the cowboy is portrayed in media texts compared to the reality of our society. While the glamorizing imagery of guns, sex, and outlaw ideology is profitable, this false misrepresentation is unintentionally damaging our understanding of what we should define a cowboy as. Storytellers who skillfully employ elements of mise en scène, cinematography and story arch successfully fabricate the mythical cowboy archetype that is completely out of reach for the practical cowboy in today’s society. Thus, causing the everlasting fallacy throughout the modern world surrounding the life and legacy of a cowboy.
References:
Cullers, Robert L. “Western Films.” 2011: 1020–1021. Print.
Homann, Ronnie, and Stjepan Mestrovic. “Contemporary Cowboy Culture and the Rise of American Postmodern Solidarity.”ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2006. Web.
Robé, Christopher. “When Cultures Collide: Third Cinema Meets the Spaghetti Western.” Journal of Popular Film and Television42.3 (2014): 163–174. Web.
