High Noon and Little Jo

In “High Noon” and “The Ballad of Little Jo”, we are given a view of independent women that seem to go against the traditional notion of a woman’s role in the western. In “High Noon”, we are shown Amy, the new wife of marshal Kane. She at first seems the typical woman figure in a Western, getting married and settling down with a husband. However, we are first given a view of how strong she is when she gives Kane an ultimatum. She says that she will leave Kane if he doesn’t leave town with her to avoid the gunfight. The typical western woman would have followed the pattern of waiting at home, while the alpha male goes out to do business. However, Amy decides that she will instead leave Kane, and go on her own. This shows not only defiance towards the alpha male, but independence, that is not normally found in female characters. We are then given another reason why she isn’t a typical female character, when she goes to her husband’s side. While going to her man may seem normal of a western, the fact that she picks up a gun certainly isn’t. Killing a man is usually a job only accomplishable by a man. Also, even though she went to her husband’s side, she did it with courage. No man in the town, except for the one eyed guy, was willing to stand by Kane, but she decided to go. Another example of a strong woman in “High Noon” is Helen Ramirez. She is also independent, leaving town with no man. Not only that, but while in town, she proved to be a successful businesswoman. In “The Ballad of Little Jo”, we are given a woman that would rather live completely independent of men. Josephine, while being Jo, is described as one of the meanest people in the west. This is something that usually only describes the alpha male, which is what Jo becomes in a sense. The point of the movie seems to be the way that she does everything that men were meant to do. She survives in the harsh wilderness, she shoots murderous gunmen, and gains respect. The film seems to imply that women in the west were just as strong as men. This is completely opposite to what the normal western says about women. The normal western paints women as dependent on men, and only able to survive at home or church. Instead, we are given a completely independent woman, who completely defies conventional western gender roles.